Eight
Annalise
"I'm surprised you can even walk today," I said to my sister Aria.
"What do you mean?" she asked innocently, taking a bite of her grilled salmon.
"Last time you went to that little bed and breakfast, you came back bow-legged."
Her face flushed pink. "Well, at least I'm getting some."
"Touché," Astrid chimed in with a smile.
"Some of us are busy working," I argued.
Aria wiggled her brows at me. "Some of us can do both."
"Well, not all of us are blessed to find someone like Ethan."
It was a strange thing to say considering we'd all despised Ethan not too long ago. But time has a way of changing your mind about certain "facts" that you were one-hundred percent sure about.
All she did was smile, that love-sick look on her face that was actually pretty annoying. But I bit my tongue, not wanting to be a bitter, mean, big sister.
Instead, I glanced around the cute little bistro we'd chosen to meet at, not too trendy, not too fancy, perfect for a Sunday afternoon light lunch.
"So how's work been going?" I asked Astrid, who I knew was busy with her winter collection, even though it was the tail end of summer.
She swallowed a forkful of her salad before answering. "Great actually. And awful too."
"What?" I laughed. "How is that possible?"
"It seems like it's going great. But I also doubt myself all the time. Like I'll finish something and think it's brilliant one night. Then the next day, when I come in, I hate it and it's the worst thing I've ever designed."
"I know it's brilliant," Aria said. "Everything you touch is gorgeous."
"Mm-hmm." I nodded in agreement because my sister truly was talented.
"And how's the dress coming for the Midnight Masquerade Ball?" I asked, watching with amusement as Astrid shot Aria a quick glare. "I already know. She told me."
"I'm so sorry. So, so sorry," Aria said in a rush, apologizing to our little sister. "It just kind of slipped out."
"It's okay." Astrid sighed. "It was bound to come out anyway. Just don't tell another soul. This stays between the three of us only."
Aria and I both mimicked zipping our lips, something we'd done countless times growing up. "Why didn't you tell me too, though?" I asked Astrid, a little hurt that she hadn't confided in me to begin with.
She shrugged, her eyes full of concern, and I suddenly knew why. Because I would have talked her out of it, or said it was a bad idea, or some other bullshit. Maybe I needed to work on biting my tongue a bit more and practicing that whole if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
"Never mind. I get it. And for the record, I say go for it." Even though I really thought it was a terrible plan.
Her eyes lit up. "Really? You think so?"
I took a long sip of my chilled white wine which wasn't so chilled anymore. "Sure. Why the hell not?"
Because a million things could go wrong with Astrid's plan to go to the annual winter ball and hook up with a complete stranger, anonymous and masked the entire time, most especially my sensitive little sister getting hurt.
Astrid had never in her life had a one-night stand, and I wasn't sure how she would handle it. But that was for her to find out, and for Aria and me to be there to pick up the pieces if needed.
There was a pause as the waiter stopped by to refill our water glasses and make sure everything was okay. A slight breeze rustled through the open-air restaurant, lifting the hair off my neck, a much needed cooling while I wore this stupid wig that mimicked my real hair.
To pull off being Cordelia and to mask my real identity of Annalise Stratton, I'd dyed my dark hair blonde and cut it into a bob. For the millionth time, I wondered if I'd done it backwards. Maybe I should have worn a wig as Cordelia and kept my real hairstyle the way it was.
But it was too late, and now, I was committed to my two identities and trying to keep them separate.
Once the waiter left, I put my wig hair back into a low ponytail.
"Hot?" Aria asked me.
"Yes. I picked a fine time of year to wear a wig, didn't I?"
They both laughed before Astrid turned serious again. "How's your work going anyway? Have you recovered from the whole elevator incident with Jared?"
"I don't know if I'll ever recover from that. But thankfully, with the exception of Jared being his usual loud, crunching, slurping self, the rest of the week was uneventful. All we did was finish up the proposal and send it out to Venus' people."
"It'd be so much easier if you could just be your real self and use some family connections, you know?" Astrid said.
"Yeah," Aria agreed. "Pull out the ole 'Don't you know who I am?' card."
We all laughed and did a round of 'Don't you know who I am?' in snooty voices, something we'd heard plenty of times throughout the years at society events.
Once we all quieted, I sighed. "Well, that's kind of the whole point, to see if I can make it without using our last name. But God, sometimes it gets tiring. Not to mention all the wig stuff and subterfuge. Like the other night after the elevator fiasco, Jared saw where I lived, and I swear he was suspicious."
"He went in with you or saw it from the outside?" Aria asked.
"Just the outside. But it wouldn't make sense that Cordelia would live there. I mean, what do I have to do? Get two residences?"
They both looked at me with the same sympathetic expression, Astrid speaking up first. "Everything's so complicated for you right now."
"I hope it's worth it." Aria dabbed at her lips with a napkin. "Especially because that Jared guy sounds so annoying."
"He's the worst. He literally makes me want to pull out my hair. I swear to God he lives just to annoy me."
"But he sounds like sometimes he can be sweet," Astrid said. "Like he made sure you got home okay the other night. He insisted on staying late with you and brought you dinner that night too, right?"
Leave it to my kind-hearted sister to see the positives in Jared. "Yeah, I guess so," I grudgingly admitted.
I looked past my two sisters onto the street and, lo and behold, as if we'd summoned him, there was the man himself... fucking Jared.
"Oh, my God," I gasped, slumping down into my seat. "It's him ."
They both started to turn until I made a hissing noise, effectively stopping them. Grabbing a dessert menu, I slouched behind it and peeked over the top to see Jared talking to the hostess outside, two ladies standing near him.
"And he's with his mom and grandmother," I breathed out in an urgent whisper.
Astrid and Aria both stared at me, none of us sure what to do.
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," I chanted as the hostess began to lead them through the tables. In a path that would lead him straight past us.
My heart rate skittering like a hummingbird, I frantically tore off my wig as they moved closer and closer, Jared bringing up the rear of the slow procession. Aria yanked out my tight bun and smoothed down my hair while Astrid stuffed my brown wig inside her purse.
"You should have kept your wig on," Aria whispered.
"I know! I panicked!"
"Keep hiding behind your menu," she ordered in a low voice.
They took forever to get to us, every second turning into an eternity, making my pulse throb in my ears. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his mom and grandmother walk past. And then Jared as well.
Just as I was about to exhale with relief, he stopped abruptly and turned around, glancing straight at me, his eyes locking onto mine over the dessert menu. A slow, knowing smile spread across his face.
"Dee!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
His mom and grandmother drifted backwards to stand beside him, the whole crew staring down at me, Jared's gaze going to my sisters and then back to me.
The menu trembled in my hands as I took a deep, steadying breath while slowly lowering it. This was happening, and I needed to suck it up and deal with it the best I could.
"Just having lunch with friends, Jared."
"So this is Jared?" Aria asked with a smirk, even though she knew full well this was Jared.
And now, this bitch was dead to me.
Jared's eyes lit up, his grin growing. "Dee's been talking about me?"
Aria had the nerve to laugh. "We've heard all about you."
"Only good things I hope."
I nearly snorted, but of course Astrid had to make nice. "Of course."
"M— Jared, have you forgotten your manners? Aren't you going to introduce us?" Jared's grandma asked.
He at least had the grace to flush. "Right. Of course. I just got so excited to see Cordelia out in the wild, I forgot."
His eyes danced with amusement as he made the introductions, and I miraculously managed to gloss over actually giving my sisters' names. He might not know Astrid, but Aria's name and face had been plastered all over the internet lately.
Thankfully, Jared's grandma saved me when she began to speak. "Well, we've heard all about you too, Cordelia. Jared talks about you all the time. Every night at dinner, we all talk about our days, and it's 'Dee this, Dee that.' And then later, when I'm trying to watch all my true crime shows, whenever I pause it, well, he usually interrupts me to talk even more about you. And—"
"Nana, I think Cordelia's heard enough."
Jared's mom and grandma laughed loudly, and the hostess cleared her throat behind them. "Would you all like to eat together?" she asked. "I can push another table up so you can join each other."
"No, no, no. Thank you," I said, straightening myself up to stand. "I really need to get going anyway. I have a—" My eyes went to my half-eaten pasta salad.
"You have that appointment," Astrid said.
"Right. That appointment. That very urgent appointment."
"On a Sunday afternoon?" Jared's grandma asked.
Well, crap. I hated lying to this lady. "Yep. But it was lovely meeting both of you. Really."
I was surprised to realize that part was no lie.
"You too, dear. Don't be a stranger."
Grabbing my bag, I maneuvered out of my seat and awkwardly wiggled past Jared. Did he have to be so tall and take up so much damn space?
"Uh, see you tomorrow, Jared."
"Sure thing, Dee."
I couldn't get away fast enough. Practically breaking into a jog, I exited the little bistro, glancing back once to see that Jared and his family had moved on to their own table, my sisters spotting me instantly, waving at me with big smiles on their faces. I was never going to live this down.
Putting all my energy forward, I hurried down the street, determined to put a lot of distance between me and the godforsaken restaurant.
While I walked, my head whirled with what had just happened, and I didn't know what to focus on first. Actually, that was a lie. All I could think about was what Jared's grandmother had said... that Jared talked about me all the time.
She had to be exaggerating. Why would Jared talk about me so much?
And another thing, the way she'd made it sound, Jared ate dinner every night with his mom and grandma, even watching TV with them afterwards. He couldn't possibly still live with his mother, could he?
Was he having a rough time leaving the nest? Or was he hard up financially and just trying to get by in one of the world's most expensive cities?
My mind conjured up an image of Jared sitting on a couch with his grandma, the light from the television flickering as a deep voice narrated some unsolved crime. His grandma would have an afghan arranged around her legs even though it was summer, and his mom would be in a nearby chair, maybe reading a book or something until they all called it a night and went off to bed.
Honestly, it was kind of sweet to think about. And I didn't know what to make of that.