Not Yet Yours

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Harriet

I pick my ringing cell phone up from the table beside me and when I see Max’s name on the screen, I immediately answer the call.

“Hello,” I say.

“Hi. Are you busy or can you talk?” Max asks me.

“Both,” I say, pushing my laptop to one side of my desk. “I’m working on my website so I’m more than glad for the distraction.”

“Guess who I’ve just been talking to,” Max says.

“Hmm, I don’t know. The president? Beyonce?” I say with a laugh.

“Better than the president, not as good as Beyonce,” Max replies.

“That’s a hell of a lot of people,” I say.

“Ok, spoil sport, I’ll tell you. Liam,” Max says.

“Okayyy,” I say, dragging the word out. “And you’re telling me this because?”

I ignore the fluttering feeling I get in my stomach and below it when Max says Liam’s name and I ignore the way his gorgeous face flashes up in my mind. And I definitely ignore the memory of the way his naked body felt against mine. And the taste of his mouth, the smell of his skin.

“Well, because you might have come up in conversation. How would you like to be Liam’s date to Carmen’s birthday party next weekend?” Max says.

“Two questions,” I reply. “One. Who the hell is Carmen? Two. Why on earth are you asking me out on Liam’s behalf like we’re in high school?”

“Carmen is Cullen and Liam’s cousin. Liam said you met his Aunt Dorothy at my wedding. That’s Carmen’s mom,” Max says.

“Ok,” I say. “I remember Dorothy.”

“Oh, everyone remembers Dorothy,” Max laughs.

“And you didn’t answer my other question,” I point out.

“Yeah, I was trying to think how to explain. It’s not like a real date,” Max says. “You’d be Liam’s pretend girlfriend.”

“What? That raises more questions than it answers,” I say, refusing to acknowledge the little bit of disappointment that rests within me now that I know that Liam doesn’t actually want me to go on a date with him. Not that I want him to want that because I made it clear I don’t want that. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but that’s just the way it is. “Start from the beginning.”

“You know at my wedding reception when you told Dorothy you two hadn’t been seeing each other for long?” Max says.

I make a hmm sound. I do remember that.

“Well, Dorothy just called Liam to make sure he was still going to Carmen’s birthday party. And she started telling him about some girl she wanted to set him up with. He didn’t want that to happen obviously, so he told her he was already seeing someone, and she asked if it was the girl from my wedding. He said yes without thinking it through and he didn’t realize it would lead to her expecting you to go to the party with him,” Max says.

“What? How could he be that stupid as to think he could show up at the party without me after saying that?” I ask.

“Exactly,” Max says. “But Liam being Liam didn’t think of this until after he had blurted out that he’s with you. So now do you understand what I’m asking you? If you will be Liam’s fake girlfriend for the party?”

“I get what you mean now, but I’m not saying yes to doing it,” I say.

“Why not? Come on Harriet, it'll be fun. And it’s not like Liam is someone you’d be embarrassed to be associated with, surely,” Max says.

“No, of course not. It’s not that. It’s just… I’m not that good at lying and it makes me uncomfortable that’s all,” I say.

“You were good enough at lying at my wedding to convince Dorothy you and Liam were a thing. And you seemed comfortable enough with pretending to be Liam’s girlfriend then,” Max points out.

I can’t tell her the real reason I don’t want to do it, because the more time I’m going to be spending around Liam, especially in a scenario where we have to pretend to be a couple, the more likely I am to fall for him, and I can’t be with him, and I don’t want to get hurt. But if I tell Max that, she’ll want to know why I can’t be with him. My line about enjoying being single works when I’m happily having flings or when I’m happily solo, but if Max thinks I like Liam as anything more than a friend, then I know it won’t make sense to her if I say I don’t want to be with him and she’ll press me for a reason, and I definitely can’t tell her the real reason I choose to remain single, because then I’ll lose my best friend.

I’ve been quiet for far too long, and I know I have and when Max speaks again, I can hear the hope in her voice. She’s taken my silence for me starting to come around to the idea. I don’t exactly like that way of thinking, but it’s better than her guessing the truth I suppose.

“Come on Harriet. Please. It’ll be so much fun to hang out together as a foursome,” Max says. “And I mean it’s only a party. It’s not like you have to go somewhere horrible or anything.”

“I…” I start.

“Please say yes. Liam and I will both owe you one,” Max says.

I know at this point I have lost the argument. I have no plausible reason why I can’t do this and if I just say no for no real reason, I think Max will be upset with me. It’s not like she’s asking me to do something out of the ordinary. If I didn’t have this crush on Liam, I would have agreed to this straight away because I would have thought it would be fun and Max knows me well enough to know I would think it would be a hoot.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” I say with a sigh.

Max actually whoops and that makes me laugh and then she’s laughing too and at least she’ll be there on the non-date, so it won’t be like this intense me and Liam thing.

“You’re the best Harriet,” Max says. “It’s going to be so much fun. It’s been forever since we went away for the weekend together.”

“What do you mean went away for a weekend?” I ask.

“Oh. Did I forget to mention that Carmen lives out of state? Don’t worry, it’s not that far. Cullen said it’s about a two-hour drive. We’ll be leaving Friday afternoon and coming back Sunday,” Max says.

Suddenly the one night of pretending has just become a weekend of pretending and it sounds a lot more full-on than doing it for a couple of hours in a restaurant would be.

“Oh, Max, I don't know about this. I thought it was just a party,” I say. As I say it, I realize something, and I gasp. “And you purposely made it sound that way so that I was more likely to agree to this, didn’t you? Forgot to mention it my ass, you sly little thing.”

“Well, you never would have agreed to it if I’d said it was a weekend thing, would you?” Max says.

“Probably not,” I agree. “And I’m not agreeing to it now either.”

“It’s too late for that because you already did agree to it, bestie. Sorry, no backsies,” Max says.

Hearing that takes me back to when Max and I were in our early twenties and that was our thing. If one of us had to persuade the other one to do something or go somewhere with us and they agreed and then tried to wriggle out of it, we would say no backsies and once that rule was invoked, we were locked into the plans. We are way past that now though and I could say we’re too old for that to count but fuck it. Max is my best friend, and it will be nice to spend a weekend away with her.

“Fine,” I say.

Max giggles in delight and we start discussing outfits for the party and what we’ll wear for the Saturday daytime before the party starts. And I start to let myself get excited for the weekend, and even as I do, I tell myself I am doing this for Max, not Liam. And it is Max I am excited to spend some time with, not Liam. It seems I’m not as uncomfortable with lying as I thought I was, especially not when it’s to myself.