"Goodnight, Nelson."Harry's voice was steady, but his eyes were doing something — cataloguing, filing, recalculating.He'd just watched his boss greet Jillian by name.Thirteen years.He was putting pieces together, and I could see him doing it.
Nelson walked past me toward the exit.As he did, our eyes met for less than a second.I couldn't read his expression, but the faint scent of his cologne — something cool and expensive — reached into my chest and squeezed.
Then he was gone, and the lobby was just a lobby again.
I turned to Jillian."Jimmy wasn't exaggerating?"
Jillian had the grace to look slightly sheepish."It slipped out."
"It slipped out!”
"He caught me off guard!I haven't seen Nelson Mackenzie in years and he walks in looking like that and I panicked!"
"You panicked by telling my ex-boyfriend that I've been talking about how hot he is?"
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and the silence that followed had a different quality than the silence before.Because Harry was still standing six feet away.And I had just saidmy ex-boyfriend.
Harry was staring at me.The unflappable Harry Perricone calm I'd seen him maintain through Nelson's control freak routine, editorial meetings, and post-broadcast memos that ended careers — gone.His eyebrows had climbed to a height I didn't think eyebrows could reach.
"Ex-boyfriend," he said.The word came out like he was tasting it."Nelson is your ex-boyfriend."
Jillian closed her eyes."Oh, Jimmy."
"I—" I started.
"Nelson."Harry took a step toward me.He wasn't smiling or frowning.He was doing something far more dangerous — he was understanding."Nelson Mackenzie is your ex.From college.That's why he—" He stopped himself."Well," he said."That explains quite a lot."
"Harry," I said."Nelson can never know that you know this."
"Of course not."
"I mean it.Not a word or a look.Not a single change in your behavior."
"Mr.Goodman."He looked almost offended."I have worked for Nelson Mackenzie for three years.I'm extremely good at knowing things he doesn't know I know."
That was oddly reassuring and deeply troubling at the same time.
I turned back to Jillian."Dinner.Now.Before I make this worse."
"I don't think you can make this worse," Jillian said, which was the kind of thing Jillian said right before things got significantly worse.
I grabbed her by the elbow and steered her toward the exit.Over my shoulder, I caught Harry watching us go, his expression thoughtful in a way that made my skin prickle.
"Nice meeting you, Jillian," he called.
"You too, Harry!"Jillian called back, entirely too cheerfully.
I pushed through the glass doors into the October night and did not look back.
Nelson knew I'd been talking about him.Harry knew we'd been together.Jillian had committed two war crimes in under five minutes.
"You are the worst best friend in America," I said.
Jillian linked her arm through mine."I am thebestbest friend in America, and one day you're going to thank me."
"Am I, Jillian?"
ChapterThirteen