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Mason’s response popped up immediately. It really was impressive how quickly he could type. “Do you have some time to talk?”

“Right now isn’t good.” I needed to get back to the table with Liam. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been gone, but I knew I was getting too close to “gone too long” territory.

“OK. Later?” Mason asked.

“Sure,” I texted back quickly.

I stood up and was about to slip my phone into the back pocket of my jeans when it buzzed with a new message. “Are you with Coffee Guy?”

I could feel my heart sink as a terrible feeling surged through me. “Mason, please don’t do this.”

“You are. Are you on a date?”

I wiped my sweaty palm on my jeans before responding. “Mason. Please don’t.”

“You’re out on a date with him, aren’t you? What, are you texting with me right in front of him?”

I sighed. Fuck. The way I saw it, there were two options: I could turn my phone off and ignore him, or I could respond. Bree’s question from the other day about how I would feel if Mason had a “Coffee Girl” flashed through my mind. I wasn’t going to make a bad situation worse by being deceptive. My fingers flew across the screen as I typed out my response. “No. I’m in the bathroom.”

I knew that text wouldn’t be well received, and when Mason’s response came, I saw I was right. “Are you serious? What’s going on, Anna? Are you in a relationship with him?”

“Why are you doing this?” I realized I was completely avoiding the question, but damn, Mason’s question was one I’d been trying, for days, to answer myself and couldn’t. There was no way I was going to be able to answer it on the spot over text. Not when I was feeling guilty for hiding in the bathroom texting Mason when I was on a date with Liam. God, that sounded awful.

I looked down at my phone and hadn’t even realized Mason had responded. “Seems like we need to talk about this at some point. Why not now?”

I sat back on the closed toilet seat and tried to figure out how to diffuse what appeared to be an escalating situation. “Listen, Mason, this really isn’t a good time. Can we please talk later?”

I don’t know why, but I sat there in the bathroom stall and waited for his response to come through. “Problem is, it never seems to be a good time. You’ve been putting off talking about us meeting for weeks, Anna. I want to meet you in person and see what this is between us. I’m trying to be patient, but I’m starting to wonder why.”

I felt tears start to prick under my eyelids. Shit. The conversation was not going well at all. Bree and Sarah had been right—by putting everything off, I’d actually made it all worse.

I put my head in my hands. I tried to stop the tears from falling as I figured out what to do next. My phone was sitting in my lap and vibrated with a new message. “Let me ask you this, Anna. If you’re out on a date with him, then what are you doing hiding in the bathroom texting with me?”

Good fucking question.

I couldn’t do it anymore. I’d been in the bathroom way too long. I needed to get back to the table with Liam before I totally fucked that up too. I quickly typed a message back to Mason and sent it before turning my phone off and sticking it in the back pocket of my jeans. “I’m sorry, Mason. I can’t do this right now. I’ll call you later tonight.”

I let myself out of the stall and did a quick makeup check in the mirror as I washed my hands. I took a few deep breaths before walking out of the bathroom and back to the table.

“Everything all right? You were gone awhile,” Liam asked, his face and voice filled with genuine concern.

I looked down at the table as I spoke. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that. I got an urgent call that I had to take while I was back there.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire, Anna. It was the second time I’d lied to Liam about being in contact with Mason. I felt even worse than I had a few minutes before. I didn’t want to be part of any relationship, friendship or otherwise, that involved lying. Yet there I was, lying to Liam. Again. I was officially the worst.

“Are you sure you’re all right? You seem a little off.” Liam reached across the table and gently took my hand in his.

For the first time since I’d been back at the table I looked up at him. I tried to give him a smile. “I’m fine. Thank you for asking.” Liar! Liar! Liar! I wasn’t fine. I was a giant mess of guilt and confusion.

Liam squeezed my hand. “The waitress came by to take our order while you were in the restroom. I asked her to come back in a few minutes. Do you know what you want to eat?”

I pulled my hand out of his and picked the menu up from the table. “I better look over the menu quickly. I think I must be really hungry.” Again with the lies. Truth was, my stomach felt twisted in knots and the idea of food made me feel totally nauseous.

“Sounds good,” Liam said although he sounded totally unconvinced. “I see our waitress heading back this way.” I buried my face in the menu so I wouldn’t have to talk for a few moments.

SOMEHOW I MADE IT through dinner without telling any more lies and completely ruining everything.

Liam brought me home and gave me a soft kiss on the forehead after walking me to my door. “Hey,” he whispered into my hair as he pulled me closer. “I hope everything from your phone call works out. I can tell you’re still thinking about it. You sure you’re all right?”

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