Believing It To Be by Lauren Hart

Author:Lauren Hart [Hart, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Nickie was leaning over Naomi’s shoulder. Their eyes were glued to the laptop screen resting on the small, round dining table in Naomi’s apartment.

Once Nickie had finished her work at the hospital, she made the brief detour to Naomi’s house. She had hoped that her friend hadn’t yet eaten the whole tub of Ben & Jerry’s she had bought for her a week ago. She needed the chocolate-chip creamy ice cream more than a plant needed water. Today was the day Kate and Wyn were talking to Mira Owens, the host of Talk To Us, to address the whole throuple scandal.

“Why is she asking them about the movie? Why can’t she just get to the point?”

“Shush, Naomi.”

Kate and Wyn were each sitting on a wooden chair with a rather abstract jungle painting behind them. Nickie presumed the painting was keeping up with the theme of their romance movie in Costa Rica.

Mira had black curls hanging to her shoulder and rather wide-set, dark brown eyes. She was smiling awkwardly at the two of them while she anxiously twirled a pen between two fingers.

“So, let’s talk about the real reason we are meeting here today.”

Kate smiled half-heartedly. Nickie could see the faint look of discomfort in her eyes, although she knew most people would miss it. She was a talented actress, after all. And any great actress had the talent of showing the audience only what they wanted them to see.

“So, a photo, well a few photos actually, were posted with your hand…” Mira gestured to Kate and then looked down at the notes in her lap. “… let me quote Goodbye Magazine, she was recently spotted lovingly holding the ankle of a blonde...” Once the host was done reading the excerpt, she sat forward. Her hands rested on her crossed knees. “Is this correct?”

“It is,” said Kate. Her smile not once wavering.

“And who is this blonde woman, exactly?”

“She’s just a friend, Mira. There are no romantic relations between us.”

Kate said the words with a face that could only tell the truth, a face that didn’t know how to lie.

“Have you never hugged a friend and let your hand linger on her back for a few more seconds or held onto your friend’s hand to congratulate them? Have you squeezed their shoulder to show them how much you appreciate them? That’s exactly what I did. I squeezed my friend’s ankle to thank her for the gift she had given me only a few minutes earlier.”

The words were lies. Yet she lied with such an honest face. Nickie couldn’t believe it. Not once at the beach house did Kate mention that she was going to lie.

“And can we get an idea of what that gift was?” asked Mira. A curious sparkle danced in her dark eyes.

Kate chuckled, as only an actress in the glare of several cameras would do. “Of course. It was a Technics 1976 vintage turntable. A perfect present for my new lake house.”

Nickie closed Naomi’s laptop a little too hard.

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