Page 65 of Hell Hath No Fury
"You're right. I don't. But, you see, my dad's name was Harry, so it's a name that kind of sticks out for me," I inform them.
"Maybe it was Henry," Mark offers.
I shake my head. "Try again."
He looks to Alex. "Hank?"
I take a bite of bacon and pointedly stare at Mark. I was right. He's the culprit. He's the one with loose lips.
"What do you want me to say?" Mark asks.
"Admit it. You're the one who's gossiping," I demand, while spooning a bit of jam on my plate, grabbing a croissant, and a handful of bacon.
"If I do, will you stop stealing all the bacon?" he asks.
"Not a chance," I tell him, taking a bite of said bacon. I spoon some fruit salad onto the plate and take a seat next to Derrick.
"Fine. It was me," Mark admits. "I just wanted to cover the bases."
"How so?" I question.
"There were a couple people at The Vault who worked here and I figured if I nipped the gossip in the bud and told the real story before they got a chance to start something sordid, it would be better than the alternative."
I look at Mark and chew my bacon. He stares back.
"Thank you, Mark. I owe you an apology. I thought you just wanted to start shit, but you were looking out for me. I appreciate that," I concede.
Jamie's staring at me, her mouth wide open.
Alex motions to her to close her mouth. "James, I can see your chewed-up food. Close those pretty lips."
She does, blushing a bit.
"I suggest we change our date to Thursday instead of Friday," I announce.
Derrick turns to me. "Why's that?"
"Friday is a real date night. Thursday isn't."
"Flawed logic," Alex points out.
"It's not," I disagree.
"You've never gone on a date on a Thursday?" Derrick asks.
"Sure, I have. But those dates never turned into over-nighters. It's all about perception," I inform him.
"And we all know how you need to keep things straight," Derrick replies, drolly.
"I don't want anyone getting any ideas about what's going on here," I tell him, when it's really me I don't want getting any ideas.
Mark scoffs. "Thursday, Friday—what does it matter? If people see you out together, they're going to think you're banging."
"Hmm. Maybe this Dating 101 thing was a bad idea," I surmise.
"No, no," Alex interjects. "It's a good idea. Derrick needs some help. He was just telling us that one of the women he spent time with, Kristi, was someone he could see actually dating."
My stomach drops and my appetite is gone. I set my bacon on my plate.
