Nick knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer, and he couldn’t say no to her. A bad combination.
“I’m no expert,” he said. “I’ll tell you the same thing that I told Henry. Be yourself.”
She gave him a look. “Being myself means being awkward.”
“Someone might find that endearing.” He found it endearing.
She shook her head. “Do you want to hear about what I’m like when I’m myself when flirting? Once, I went to a happy hour with my coworker Dani and after a few margaritas, she dared me to go talk to this guy who was sitting at the other end of the bar. He was tall and really cute and kind of looked like Jonathan Majors. Anyway, when I got to his table, my mind went completely blank. Then I glanced down at his Corona and blurted the first thing that came to my head.”
“Which was?”
“I once read an article that said back in the 1980s, people thought that Corona beers had urine in them because of its odd yellowish color. But it turns out that someone at Heineken had started the rumor to hurt Corona’s sales. So I asked him if he knew that if he were caught drinking that beer forty years ago, someone might tell him that he was drinking pee.”
Nick snorted a laugh but stopped at the miserable look on Lily’s face. “Wait, you’re serious?”
“Yes,” she groaned. “He just shook his head, and it was very clear that he did not want to keep talking to the girl who told him he was drinking urine.” She leaned her elbows against the table and sighed. “I wasn’t joking when I said I’m bad at flirting. I honestly wish I hadn’t come up with the bet. Like I said, I don’t want to date anyone.”
Nick hated to see her look so dejected. Instinctively, he reached out and gently squeezed her hand in reassurance. She blinked, then he realized what he was doing and quickly snatched his hand back.
He cleared his throat. “It could have been worse.”
“Oh, I’ve experienced worse.” She laughed to herself, although her feelings of humor didn’t reach her eyes. “Do you want to hear something really embarrassing?”
“Sure,” Nick said. He’d listen to whatever she told him if it made her feel better.
“Last year I met someone online,” she said. And Nick’s stomach fell right down to his ass. “I liked him a lot, and I thought it might go somewhere, but he ghosted me. Even though it ended badly, emailing with him made me realize how nice it was to talk to someone I actually liked. That’s when I decided I couldn’t be set up by my sisters anymore, so I came up with the bet.” She forced a smile. “I know it probably sounds pathetic.”
“It doesn’t.” Nick’s mouth was completely dry. “I would never think that you were pathetic.”
He was going to tell her the truth right now. He had to tell her.
“He probably feels like shit,” Nick said. “I know he does . . . and I know that because—”
“Oh yeah, I hope he does feel like shit,” she said, interrupting him. “Or, I don’t know, I at least hope he regrets not getting the chance to meet me. To give us a real shot. Sometimes I think about what I’d do if I ever saw him in person.”
Nick swallowed thickly. “What would you do?”
“I don’t know. I’d probably be too angry to say anything. Honestly, I hope I don’t meet him. I just want to move on and erase the whole thing from my memory.”
Nick nodded weakly. He realized then that there would be no good in telling Lily the truth. He’d only be selfishly trying to clear his own conscience. Lily didn’t want to meet Strick. What she wanted was to go forward and forget their emails ever happened. He’d separated himself because he’d felt embarrassed and shitty for lying to her, and he knew that further inserting himself into her life wouldn’t result in anything good. And in the process, he’d still hurt her. The best thing that he could do now was help her get a date to her sister’s wedding so that she could find happiness with someone else.
After he helped Lily, he’d disappear from her life. He never wanted to hurt her again.
“My best friend, Marcus, is having a birthday party this weekend,” Nick heard himself say. His voice felt weak as he spoke. “You should come with me. You might meet someone there.”
Lily perked up somewhat. “Really? What does your friend do?”
“He’s a literary agent.”
“So will there be lots of book people at this party?”