Page 21 of The Problem with Perfect

She glances at me with an amused look. “I work here. I know the menu.”

Something sour tugs at my stomach, and I feel a little bad for taking her on her first date at the restaurant where she works. I could have thought of something nicer.

But I shake away those thoughts. I don’t need to do something nicer. We’re not really dating. She’ll get anotherrealfirst date someday, and that guy can be super thoughtful and do something creative.

Tonight, we’re just ticking boxes: be seen together, sort our story. Tomorrow, more boxes: double date with Connor, begin convincing the douche that someone like Bellamy wouldneverconcern herself with who he is or isn’t dating or engaged to.

I still don’t fully understand her interest in the guy. He seems like a prick, but I guess there’s no accounting for taste.

I return my eyes to my menu then snap it closed and set it down.

“I don’t know why I’m looking at that when I can just ask you your opinions.”

She looks surprised, and I can’t help but notice the way her shoulders go back just slightly.

“Well, my favorite is the fish and chips. It sounds like it’s going to be all greasy and cheap, but it’s actually incredible.”

“Is that what you’re getting?”

She shakes her head. “I’m in the mood for a boujie burger tonight.”

“Alright, then fish and chips it is.”

Bellamy beams at me. “You’re gonna love it. It’ssogood.”

The server arrives, a guy named Dennis who is just a little too friendly with Bellamy considering the fact that she’s clearly here on a date. He takes down our orders and heads off to help other tables.

“Okay, well…I guess it’s time to start talking, huh?”

I take a deep breath and nod. “I guess.”

“So, I was thinking we could say we’ve liked each other for a long time, but we were always worried about Boyd.”

“How long is a long time? Because if you don’t remember, I’m a bit older than you.”

She scrunches her nose. “Oh. Yeah. Okay.”

For whatever reason, she looks dejected, and part of me wants to know why.

“How about you tell me why that was important, and we can try to find another way for it to work.”

Bellamy looks back out at the water, a bit of a blush coloring the apples of her cheeks in a way that tells me she’s a little embarrassed to tell me this story.

“I’ve liked Connor since high school. I guess I was just trying to figure out a way that I could make it seem like he was just some guy.” She shrugs. “Maybe if he believed I was always crazy about you instead, I don’t know…” She trails off.

“Maybe if he thought it was always about me, he’d start to rethink all the things that made him believe you were always mooning over him?”

Bellamy nods but then shakes her head. “It’s stupid. It was a stupid idea.”

“It’s not a stupid idea,” I tell her. “But when you were in high school, I was in my mid-twenties. We just have to find a different story.”

Dennis returns with our drinks—another whiskey for me and a glass of wine for Bellamy—then leaves us to our story searching. We bat around a few ideas but end up agreeing we don’t have anything concrete enough.

We can’t say we met somewhere because we’ve known each other most of our lives. We can’t go back too far if we want things to be legal. We have to make it sound plausible enough that people will believe it, so it can’t be some outlandish tale about saving her life or…

“What if we say I was helping you with financials for Cedar Cider,” she suggests. “I mean, the idea that we’d spend long hours together while I’m doing some bookkeeping or something…that sounds pretty normal, right?”

I think it over, trying to make it work in my head, and it sounds like our most realistic option.

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