Believing Lies (3 page)

Surprise colored my face. I felt like a real putz. The guy was just being nice, and the egotistical side of me assumed he was hitting on me.

I smiled politely. “I’m sorry. Let’s start over.” I held out my hand. “Sienna Trudeau.”

He smiled in return, and it was so breathtaking that I was momentarily as giddy as a tween girl at a Justin Bieber concert.
Fiancé. Fiancé. Fiancé
.

“Now that’s more like it. Adam Korbell. Nice to meet you.”

He shook my hand, and tiny goose bumps raced from my palm to my shoulder. He looked at my arm, and I saw what appeared to be confusion, or maybe shock, in his eyes. I promptly released his hand and put my own back in my lap.
What just happened?
I’d never had a physical reaction to someone’s touch like that. I wondered if he’d felt it as well, but hoped that he hadn’t.

An awkward silence hung in the air, and I prayed Sophie would come back soon. My prayer was somewhat answered when Lorna returned with our food. Now Sophie had no choice but to return, and then Adam could go back to the bar.

Lorna seemed flustered when she saw Adam sitting across from me. She tried to be nonchalant, but the red blotches on her neck gave her away. I had a good suspicion that the reason she wasn’t interested in Conner was because of Adam.

“Hey, Adam, I thought you were eating at the bar.” A bit of irritation seeped through the waitress’s tone. “Your food is up now too. I’ll bring it to the bar for you.”
Oh yeah, hit that one on the head
. She was into him big time, and she undoubtedly wanted him away from me. I wished she was as observant as he was and would notice my engagement ring. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel threatened.

“Thanks, Lorna, but I think Conner is enjoying talking to—” He looked at me to fill in the blank.

“Sophie.”

“Right. So I have a better idea. Please take Sophie’s food to her at the bar and bring mine here. That way Conner and Sophie can continue to get to know each other better.” I gave Lorna credit for trying to hide her emotions, but I caught the brief look of disdain she shot me before covering it with a curt smile. Adam leaned his body toward Lorna, her face brightening at the gesture. He lowered his voice and cocked his thumb in my direction. “Plus, this one can’t seem to stop undressing me with her eyes, and it’s too much of a turn-on to leave now.”

The blood drained from my face. Lorna was briefly speechless, and I could see the anger in her eyes.

“Whatever, Adam,” she hissed. She pretty much slammed my plate down in front of me and left with Sophie’s food before I could say anything in my defense. I watched as she brought it to Sophie and said something to her.

Sophie turned on her stool to look at me and mouthed, “Thank you.” She appeared to be so happy that there was no way I would make her come back now. It looked as if I was stuck with Adam for a lunch-mate instead.

I focused my attention back on him and glowered. “Why the heck did you tell our waitress that I was undressing you with my eyes? Now who is full of himself, huh?” My voice raised another octave. “I thought you understood I wasn’t interested! I’m an engaged woman, so you can’t say shit like that. Especially when it’s not true!”

He gave me that half smirk again.
Stupid smirk on a stupid boy
. I let out a deep huff in frustration. He didn’t reply because Lorna chose that instant to bring him his food.

“Thanks. I don’t need anything else,” he told her before she could even ask. “But I think Sienna could use another drink, if you don’t mind?” His words were directed at Lorna, but his eyes stayed on me. A tiny part of me was flattered, but most of me was appalled at how rude he was to her.

Lorna looked at me, daring me to ask her to fetch a drink. “No thank you, Lorna. I’m actually fine. The food looks great.”

She gave me a curt nod and told us to “Enjoy.” Her lips may have said enjoy, but her eyes said, “I should have spit on your burger.” Spinning on her heels, she stormed off.

Adam started to add ketchup and mustard to his burger.
Is he not going to answer me?
As if he’d just read my mind, he replied, “To answer your previous question, I said that to Lorna because she can’t get it through her head that I’m not interested in her.”

“Why not?” I asked incredulously. “She’s gorgeous.”

“True, but psycho trumps gorgeous.”
Ouch. That was a harsh thing to say about her
. “Sorry to drag you into it, but I didn’t think you’d freak out.” He took a huge bite of his burger.

“I didn’t freak out,” I shot back defensively then hesitated. “Okay, maybe a little, but that was kind of a jerk move,” I said as I put ketchup on my burger.

He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m kind of a jerk.”
Well at least he’s honest
. Adam pointed at my burger. “No mustard?”

My nose curled up. “Yuck. Mustard is disgusting. You couldn’t pay me to eat the stuff.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. I’d rather poke my eye out with a fork than eat mustard.” As I said that, I picked up my fork and pretended to poke my eye with it a few times.

“You’re an interesting girl.”

I set down my fork. “Why? Because I don’t eat mustard? It’s not that uncommon. A lot of people don’t like mustard.”

He laughed to himself. “It’s not just that . . . Never mind. Eat up.”

Instead of trying to dissect his meaning, I gave up and took another bite of my burger. It tasted really yummy.
Just like Adam
. My internal monologue needed to put a sock in it.

We spent the next half hour eating and talking. I discovered that, like Sophie and I, Adam and Conner were students at the university and were our age. Adam told me that he and Conner grew up here and had been friends since kindergarten. Adam attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point up until last semester. Conner had moved out of the frat house, which he’d been living in since his freshman year, so that he could be Adam’s roommate.

I informed him that Sophie and I were cousins and best friends. I told him that I’d lived in the dorms before moving in with Trenton, yet had always thought it would’ve been fun to have lived with Sophie. But she hated dorm life, and I’d wanted the dorm experience, so we never did.

Adam said that the house they rented was just up the road from The Turning Point, and that he came in to eat today because Conner had texted him that it was slow at work and to come keep him company. I explained that Sophie and I were here because I’d spent a stressful day wedding planning and needed to unwind.

He finished his last fry and took a drink of his beer. “Let me get this straight. My best friend made me come in here to keep him company and then ditched me for a pretty redhead. Meanwhile, you came in here to de-stress with your cousin and instead got stuck with a tall, dark, and handsome stranger. Quite the turn of events.”

I noticed Sophie was walking back my way. “I don’t know about the handsome part, but you surprisingly did help me de-stress . . . so thanks. And it looks as if Conner and Sophie may have hit it off, so maybe we’ll bump into each other again sometime.”

Adam looked over his shoulder as Sophie approached and then turned back to me. “It seems our time is up, Princess. But as you said, maybe we’ll bump into each other again. Who knows what the future will bring?” He stood up, said goodbye to both of us, and went back to his original barstool.

Sophie sat down. “So?” I asked. She was trying not to smile, but her lips were upturned despite the effort.

“He was really nice. He’s going out tonight with some friends and asked me to come with.” Her smile broke free.

“I’m happy for you. Maybe this one will be the keeper, and next year we’ll be planning your wedding.”

She let out a bark of a laugh. “Unlike you, I have no desire to get married yet.”

“You never know. The right guy can change everything. Did he at least pass the last name test?” I asked. In ninth grade, Sophie dated a boy whose last name was Smofee. I’d teased her so bad, taunting her that she would be Sophie Smofee if they ever married. She dumped him the next day. Ever since then, she refused to even think about dating a guy whose last name was something she wouldn’t want as her own. She declined a date with a seriously hot guy last week because his last name was, unfortunately, Hymen.

“He passed. His last name is Vance. Not only is it not bad, but I actually like it.”

“I agree. It’s a good last name.”

“Anyway, sorry about leaving you for so long. Was his friend okay? He seemed pretty nice, but I hope it wasn’t too awkward for you.”

“No worries. He was fine.” More than fine, but I wasn’t about to admit that to Sophie. I didn’t even want to admit that to myself. “Ready to go?”

“Yep. All set.”

Chapter Three

I dropped Sophie off after lunch and then went home. I changed into a pair of jean shorts and a tank and decided to tidy up the apartment before Trenton got home from his job at his father’s accounting firm.

I chose to vacuum the living room first. I wasn’t a big fan of how this room was decorated, but Trenton loved it. Everything was very masculine—especially the large gray couch and the enormous flat screen on the wall. There wasn’t a single photo or anything personal. In my opinion, it really needed a feminine touch. Even though I had moved in four months ago, almost all of my stuff was still boxed up and sitting in the guest room. I had a few framed photos of us together that I’d make sure to unpack tomorrow.

Just as I turned off the vacuum, I heard my phone go off. The display read Trenton’s name and showed a picture of me kissing him on the cheek.

“Hey, you. Are you on your way?” I asked.

“Sorry, baby. I’m actually running late. I won’t be done here for about two more hours. Are you hungry? I could pick up food for us on my way home if you don’t mind waiting.”

“No problem. I just had a late lunch with Sophie, so I would prefer to wait. How about Chinese?” I hated to cook, so takeout sounded awesome.

“Sure. The usual for you?”

“You got it.” I always ordered sweet and sour chicken.

“Okay. Gotta go. See you later, baby.”

He hung up before I had a chance to say goodbye. I hadn’t been expecting a couple of hours to myself, but I wasn’t surprised either. Trenton had been stuck working late a lot over the last few weeks; a downside of being a newer employee. Even though it was his family’s firm, he didn’t want special treatment. I could appreciate that, but it still stunk that he was at the office so much.

I finished unloading the dishwasher and went to the couch to watch one of my favorite shows,
Game of Thrones
. Trenton thought the show was “crap” and liked to point this out to me whenever I watched it. Therefore, I tried to watch it when he was busy or wasn’t home. After a couple of clicks on the remote, I found the episode I was looking for on my DVR.

I watched two episodes back-to-back, and just as the second one was ending, I heard a click from the door opening. I turned to find Trenton walking in, holding his briefcase in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other. He looked so handsome in his tailored pants and a white button-down shirt. His red tie hung loosely around his neck. He gave me a quick kiss and set down the bag of takeout. My nose was overwhelmed by the delicious smell of sweet and sour chicken that filled the air, and my stomach grumbled noisily. Apparently, I was hungrier than I had previously thought. After eating at The Turning Point, I was shocked I was actually hungry at all.

Trenton chuckled at the protest from my obnoxious stomach. “Hey, baby. Sorry I’m late. Let’s get some food in you.” He glanced at the TV in time to see the preview for the next episode and scrunched up his nose. “
Game of Thrones
again? I don’t get why you love that show so much. Seems like a bunch of crap to me.” I decided to just ignore the comment. It wasn’t worth trying to defend something that we would never see eye-to-eye on.

We chose to eat our food in the living room because it was more laid back and comfortable, but also because the dining room table was still covered in wedding books and folders. I changed the channel to ESPN while Trenton went to get me a soda and a bottled water for himself. He’d just had a long day at work, so I figured it would be nice to watch something that would make him happy. Besides, as soon as I began to eat, I couldn’t have cared less about what we were watching because all of my focus was on the AMAZING pile of pink-sauced chicken in front of me.

As soon as our food was gone, I dug into the paper bag for the fortune cookies. The cookie had always been my favorite part of getting Chinese takeout. Most of the time the quotes were totally vague or irrelevant, but something about that little slip of white paper always made me smile. I let Trenton pick which one he wanted from my hand. I began to open the wrapper on mine when I noticed he was already eating his cookie.
Oh well
. I tried to not be disappointed, but I wished he would have waited for me. I’d mentioned it to him many times in the past that I thought it was fun to crack open fortune cookies at the exact same time, but he never seemed to remember.
Let it go. There’s no use in bringing it up again
. Sometimes I made too big of a deal out of silly little things, and this was most likely one of those things.

“What did your fortune say?” I asked curiously.

“It was pretty lame. Here, you can read it.” He handed me the paper, and I read it.

“
It’s our choices that show who we truly are
.”

He was right. It was lame. I finished breaking open my cookie and pulled out the small fortune. I read my quote to myself.

“
When one door closes, another one opens
.”

It wasn’t the worst fortune ever, but it was pretty general.

“Are you going to tell me yours?” Trenton asked.

I arched my back, so that my breasts pushed out. “Hmmm . . . Very interesting,” I said coyly. “It says, ‘You will find great joy today in bringing great joy to your ever-patient fiancé.’”

An amused grin passed over his lips. “Liar. Let me see that thing.”

“No way.” I gave him my most innocent, doe-eyed expression. “Don’t you trust me?”