Page 58 of My Fearless Fake Fling

“But we can grab burgers before we head home.”

We stopped off at a local bar, Bill’s, for the best burgers in town. I actually showed Len this place. Bill’s was home to the buffalo burger, a thick patty dipped in wing sauce with blue cheese and pickled carrot and celery chips on top. It tasted as good as it sounds. And because we both suffered from a serious fried food weakness we left with an order of fried mushrooms, hand-dipped onion rings, and cheese curds to share.

It was about the time we pulled in to the parking lot to the condo—and a car I didn’t recognize had parked in Len’s spot, which meant he had to park in visitor’s parking because my car was currently seated in his second spot—that I started to regret the choice to carry out instead of eating in.

Not because of the car I didn’t recognize, but because of the man sitting on Len’s stoop, who presumably drove the unrecognized car. The man Ididrecognize. Absolutely, one hundred percent, recognized.

Brian.

What the hey-hey?

“Kam,” Len started. “Would you like to tell me why your ex-douche is on the stoop?”

“I have as much idea as you do.” I opened the door to hop out and called over my shoulder, “But I’m going to find out.”

Brian stood when he saw me approach. I had my marching feet and my mean face on. He didn’t get to do this. Especially not today.

“Hey, Kams, you look great,” he said.

I said nothing, opting instead to shoot the evil stink eye. A glare I’d perfected years ago and that was usually effective.

“I saw your video,” he continued, undeterred. “Proud of you.”

Hmm… stink eye not working. Scowl engaged. “How did you find me?” I asked.

“Internet. It’s not hard.”

“Great, so…stalker. You need to go. Len and I have buffalo burgers to eat and you aren’t invited.”

“Buffalo burgers? From Bill’s?” he asked, oblivious to the mounting tension or choosing to ignore it. “Those are the best.”

Was this guy for real? “Aren’t you supposed to be in Argentina with New Zealand Kiki?” I asked, exasperated.

“New Zealand Kiki?” he asked back, sort of chuckling.

All his chuckling achieved was to piss me off even further. I placed my hands to my cocked hips. “Yes,New Zealand Kiki,” I ground out. “So why are you here?”

“We got back about a week ago. Dierdre texted.” Then he turned to address Len. “Man, I thought something was up. Those videos of Kam doing all that stuff I could never talk her into. Who was this supposed superman? So I decided to check you out.” I assumed this next bit was for my benefit, as he looked my way when he said it. “It’s a good thing I did.”

That was when I felt Len press his body to my backside and Brian’s face took on a scowl of his own.

“Leave,” Len ordered. “You’re on private property. Worse than that, you lied to her, man. Cheated on the best woman you’ll ever know.”

The ugly laugh from Brian didn’t leave me feeling too excited about whatever was about to spew from his downturned mouth. “You wanna talk about liars? Okay, Lennon McCartney. Let’s talk about liars.”

That sounded ominous. I twisted my head to look between Len and Brian. No, no, no… What could Brian know about Len that I didn’t?

“Do you remember your brother’s best friend, Kams?”

Slowly, I dipped my head in a half-nod, not wanting to confirm anything, mostly because I didn’t want to hear where this was going.

“What was his name?” Brian asked.

“Harrison.”

Brian waved a ‘come on’ to keep me talking. “His whole name,” he said.

“Harrison… McCartney.” My shoulders dropped. That was why Len’s last name seemed familiar when he gave our reservation. I was such an idiot. In my defense, it wasn’t like I used Harrison’s last name all the time. He was always justHarrisonto me. Clearly, I knew it. It just wasn’t something I thought about all the time. And it had been several years since I thought of Harrison at all. Okay, I was still an idiot for not putting two and two together, but it never occurred to me. Never.

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