“Here you go.”
The waitress set down a plate of French fries and walked away, leaving Lacy holding a ketchup bottle—lost in thought.
But he lied. He lied the entire time I’ve known him. He never stopped lying.
With that, the computer screen came down. Lacy had read enough. The man might be literally perfect—but he wasn’t perfect for her. And she wasn’t going to think about him for even a second longer. She had a life to live. And he had to be getting back to Florida.
She left without touching a single fry, leaving a large bill upon the table. Her quest for the truth was finally over. It was like she told Logan back at the lake...she always got her man.
Chapter 15
Lacy swore she saw a flash out of the corner of her eye, like someone was taking pictures. But when she looked, she didn’t see anyone.
She glanced around one more time. Maybe it was a reflection or something.
“I want to set you up on a date with someone.”
Both Sarah and Quin swarmed Lacy the second she stepped through the office doors the next morning. One exchanged her jacket with a tall cup of coffee, while the other thrust a large file into her hand.
“Um...good morning to you too.” Lacy shrugged them off as best she could, settling down at her desk, although the two persistently followed her there. “And I don’t know what exactly you’ve extrapolated from my newfound hatred of...” Her eyes flickered back to the breakroom, picturing his perfect face. “But trust me, it’s way too soon for a blind date.”
“Yeah, uh, as much as I’d love to dabble in your twisted love life—this isn’t that.” Sarah snatched the file back out of her hands and opened it on the desk. “Meet Brad Harmon. Husband to the woman you so considerately consoled yesterday before storming out of here.”
Lacy flushed and sank an inch or two lower in her chair.
“Anyway, Lydia—the wife—wants to know if he’s cheating.” Sarah smacked the center of the file with a triumphant grin. “And that’s exactly what you’re going to help her do.”
While the instinctual deception inherent in the male species was exactly the last thing Lacy wanted to think about that day, she found herself nodding along. It was the job, after all. It was the very reason why she’d started the business.
“Fine,” she replied with a tired sigh. “I’ll head to the usual spots. See if the guy...wait a second!” She pushed the file back and stared up at Sarah accusingly. “Why am I the one who has to date him? It’s your month, Ems, not mine.”
“Yes, but I have an actual date,” Sarah replied smugly. As if by chance, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and waved it around—inadvertently flashing the picture of a gorgeous doctor she’d met the other week at a nightclub. “And besides, I’m not the one who basically promised poor Lydia the guy was a player. That was all you, honey. Now you’ve got to prove it.”
Lacy’s eyes narrowed in a preemptive rage, but Quin was quick to cut it off. She eased the file back and replaced it once more with the coffee—calming her boss’ temper with caffeine.
“It’ll be a piece of cake,” she said reassuringly. “Lydia says that he’s been spending a lot of time on his computer lately—always behind closed doors—so I snooped around all the major online dating sites until I found him.”
Sarah and Lacy exchanged an incredulous look, before turning away at the same time, shaking their heads in wonder at the male brain.
“Why do they always think that will work?”
“Cro-Magnon ego.”
“Anyways,” Quin continued, swatting the others for silence, “I already made you a profile
and it caught his attention. He asked you out for dinner at The Metropolitan tonight at eight. Said you should wear something fancy.”
Lacy raised her eyebrows with a caustic glare. “Oh he did, did he?”
“Aw—that’s cute.” Sarah nudged her with a teasing grin. “He wants to show you off.”
After responding with a rather rude hand gesture, Lacy pushed to her feet. So the guy wanted to parade her around in public? It would just make for better pictures for the wife.
“Then if you’ll excuse me ladies, it looks like I have a little shopping to do...”
Chapter 16
It wasn’t often that Lacy was the person forced to go out on these sorts of missions. The office had taken a secret vote and elected Sarah as ‘bait.’ (Coincidentally, the secret vote was taken when Sarah herself was out of the office.) It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy the free meals, the free booze, and the opportunity to bring a serial adulterer to justice. It was that the whole thing hit a little too close to home. It was still hard for her, years later, to look across the table at a man’s lying face and not picture Jeff—the man whose betrayal launched her entire career. It was still hard not to feel personally offended, when a person looked you in the eyes and lied.