Girl Time

"I never see you anymore," Faye complained from where she lay on the couch, a tanned arm over her face. "You're always with Jonathan. I haven't even met him yet! How come your best friend can't meet your boyfriend, huh? We could hang out together! It'd be great!"

I inwardly cringed but continued my futile attempt to get all of the fur off me with a lint roller. "I'm not always with Jonathan. I just got off a rather long shift at the animal shelter, hence my looking like I'm wearing a white sweater when I'm actually wearing a blue shirt."

She sat up, put her thick-framed black glasses back on, and gave me her best glare. "You know what I meant."

I sighed because I did. But seeing how Jon wasn't really my boyfriend and I was faking the whole thing, I didn't want Faye to get attached. Besides, what if she brought up one of the times I lied using him for cover? I hoped I never had to introduce them but if I did…I'd have to get my story straight first with both of them. What a mess. Nick was right, this was a bad idea, but what could I do now? I was in too deep. Faye thought I loved him and Jon…who knew what Jon thought.

"First, he isn't my boyfriend. Second, he's busy, Faye. His kids take up most of his time. Most of our hanging out revolves around them." This was a stretch, but I had met them and was going to a birthday party so that counted for something.

She raised a perfectly plucked brow at me. "How is he not your boyfriend? You see each other pretty much every day!"

"We agreed to take it slow," I said defensively. "Think about his kids! It's probably weird for them to suddenly have a female figure around all the time." While this may be true in many cases, his kids actually adored me, which was a problem because I adored them back. I couldn't tell Faye that though, since the real reason we were going slow was that I was incapable of emotional commitment and was faking the whole thing.

"I suppose that's true," she mused. "But really, girl, he sounds like a catch. I can tell you really care about him. Don't let him get away." Suddenly, she shoved a pillow at me, knocking the lint roller out of my hands. "And the second you two make it official, he's coming over for dinner. No excuses. I'll make my world famous rolls."

That was almost sufficient reason to invite him over. Faye's rolls were heavenly and she almost never made them because they took so long to rise. "Deal. Now are we going to watch sappy Hallmark movies or not?"

She perked up. "Ooh, I knew you were secretly a romantic! I'll get the popcorn."

"I read Jane Austen, of course I'm a romantic," I claimed though nothing could be further from the truth. I just liked historical fiction and strong female characters.

"So you say, but you never want to watch chick flicks with me," Faye turned around to grimace as she hunted for the remote. "This is a momentous occasion."

I laughed. "Whatever. I'm just glad I get to spend some time with you. I have been pretty busy lately." A pang of guilt went through me. I was largely avoiding her so I wouldn't slip up and give something away about my current activities. Between Jon, recon missions, and the animal shelter I'd hardly been home and when I was, I was talking to Nick. I'd been neglecting my best friend. I couldn't really fault her for being passionate about her thesis, even if it did put me in a tailspin. I needed to act more normal around her.

She pulled another lovely face at me before squealing, "Ooh I haven't seen this one! Come on!"

It ended up having just about the same plot as every other Hallmark movie I'd ever been forced to watch and I found that I was able to predict what happened next with over 90% accuracy. "It's the ex-fiancé," I inferred when there was a knock at the door that interrupted the main couple's bonding moment. Sure enough, the female lead answered the door and was shocked to see her former fiancé.

"How have you guessed right the past five times?" Faye shook her head in disbelief.

I shrugged. "I'm a good guesser."

"More like psychic," she snorted. "Nobody's that good."

Rather than reveal my true smarts because they might give me away, I elected to throw popcorn at her, successfully cutting off the conversation and beginning a popcorn war. We fell asleep shortly afterwards, covered in popcorn and cat fur, the TV still going in the background.

"Ugh my back," Faye groaned the next morning. Falling asleep leaning off the edge of the couch wasn't comfortable for either of us.

I groggily glanced at the clock before shooting upwards. "Crap! I have to be there in twenty minutes!"

"Be where?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"The animal shelter, I'm supposed to lead the orientation group," I improvised as I yanked a sweatshirt over my head and sloppily braided back my hair. I brushed my teeth so quickly it was probably ineffective, jammed my feet into a scuffed pair of Converse and grabbed my phone. Three missed calls from Nick. Crap, crap, crap.

"Bye!" I hollered behind me as I ran out the door, dialing Nick's number.

"Lori! Where are you? I've been at the park for fifteen minutes!" he accused.

"I'm so sorry, my roommate and I were watching movies until late and fell asleep on the couch. I just woke up," I said breathily as I started my car.

"The same roommate who's out to get us?" he asked in surprise.

"She's not out to get us personally," I defended, though I had no idea why. "She's just doing her job. She's my friend."

"Some friend," Nick remarked.

"Could we please not talk about her?" I practically begged. "We need to focus on making Jace trust you."

"What's not to trust?"

"You're a serial killer."

"So are you."

I rolled my eyes and inwardly cursed the morning traffic. "I also connect with kids for a living. I'm good at it."

He scoffed, affronted. "And you think I'm not? I used to drive all my son's friends to basketball practice or the movies. You're not the only person here experienced with kids."

"That's not what I meant and you know it," I gritted my teeth. Why did he have to be so touchy? It's not my fault Jace didn't trust him sight unseen.

Nick sighed. "I'm sorry, Lori, I'm just nervous. We need this kid on our side."

"I know. We'll figure it out, promise. I'm almost there and we'll do this together, alright?"

"Alright. See you soon."

The phone clicked off in the cup holder, where I'd put it on speaker once I got in the car and I grinned triumphantly as I pulled into a prime parking space a minivan had just vacated. Pulling my hood over my head, I scurried to the bench we agreed to meet at.

"About time," Nick grumbled. "How are we supposed to recognize this kid anyway?"

"Good to see you too," I said dryly. "And he's kind of hard to miss. He has bright pink hair."

"Like that?" Nick pointed. My eyes followed his finger and found the target.

Jace showed up after all. I was a little worried that he wouldn't. He seemed to recognize me by my hoodie and jogged over. "Hey, Lori. Hey, what's your face."

Nick stared at the kid so long without saying anything that I felt the need to intervene. "This is Nick," I said waving in his direction.

"I know you," Nick's voice quavered. "You were on the junior high basketball team two years ago. Your hair was brown then."

Jace looked back and forth between us in confusion. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"My son was on the team," Nick said quietly, looking down at his hands.

Comprehension dawned on Jace's face. "You're James' dad, aren't you? Lori said you lost your family to a gang." His expression grew sad. "I miss James. He was a great point guard and always made the rest of us laugh when Coach was being ridiculous. You do what you do for him?"

"Yes."

His lip trembled a moment before Jace scrunched his freckled nose in determination. "I'm in. What do you need me to do?"

Nick and I exchanged startled glances. We hadn't expected it to be this easy. "We haven't exactly figured that out yet," I hedged. "We were hoping we could all put our heads together and come up with a plan to cover us."

Jace frowned and cupped his chin in his hands. "Well I don't know. I'm not so good at coming up with stuff on the spot. At least that's what my English teacher says about my stupid timed-write essays."

"Let's sleep on it," Nick suggested. "We don't have to come up with a plan right now. We're all on the same page now so we can brainstorm separately and then pitch ideas together later."

I rubbed my hands together in anticipation. Finally, the plan was getting somewhere. "That'll work. Let's meet up to discuss our ideas over food next time. McDonald's on Wednesday night?"

Nick frowned as if the idea of cheap, fake food was offensive to him. "Why McDonald's?"

"I'm craving a McFlurry," I deadpanned. "Because it's cheap and nobody will be paying attention to us there? The place is a madhouse."

"Fair point," Nick shrugged and turned to Jace. "I' m down, unless you have something against Big Macs."

"I love Big Macs," Jace smiled. "But one of you is buying. I don't exactly get allowance these days."

I held my hand out and the boy shook it. "Deal. Well gentlemen, it's been nice seeing you but I need to go home and make myself look decent. I've got a date tonight."