I glanced over at the cake I’d made and used a clean dish towel to cover the sloppy icing. It wasn’t great, but stores didn’t sell strawberry shortcake birthday cakes, so I’d had to do some research online. “Bad day, baby?” I asked, tossing my oven mitt on the counter. I leaned against the peeling Formica, folding my arms over my chest. “Depends. Do you consider being humiliated a good thing, Josh?” I fidgeted to stall, trying to decide how to answer. Her question sounded dangerously close to a trap. “Um … no?” “I guess you didn’t think that over when you went to Doc Rose’s house.” “Fuck.” I rubbed my palm along my taut jaw … I’m going to beat that prick’s ass. “We’re lying to each other now?” “I didn’t lie.” “You deliberately kept the truth from me. Omission is lying.” “I definitely didn’t want you to find out today.” I wiped my hand on a dish towel and reached for her. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. I dropped off his book and we had a little chat.
