His Lie Count Stayed Zero for Five Years — Till His Assistant Came Chapter 02

I finally fell asleep on the couch and didn’t wake until evening.

Someone had draped a light blanket over me. A half-empty glass of water that had gone cold sat on the table, with a plane ticket tucked underneath.

Elliot sat down beside me and spoke softly.

“You’ve been in a bad mood lately. I bought you a ticket to Maui. Take a break for a while.”

I looked down at the ticket.

“What about you?”

He froze for a moment and tried to hide the other two tickets behind his back.

“There’s an out-of-state project I have to handle in person. I can’t come with you.”

Another lie.

The number above his head changed to three.

I didn’t call him out. I only nodded, and he visibly relaxed.

He returned to his study, put the tickets away, and went to take a shower.

As soon as I heard the shower running, I went into the study and pulled the two tickets he’d hidden in the drawer.

One ticket was in Elliot Hayes’s name.

The other was in Renee Foster’s.

They were flying to Aspen, Colorado, in three days.

I stared at the tickets for a long time.

Snow in Aspen had been the first promise Elliot ever made me, five years ago.

That was the first year I’d followed him to Los Angeles to build a life together. I’d grown up in the north, and for the first time, winter came and went without my seeing snow.

He could see how much I’d missed the snow all winter, and he wrapped his arms around me.

“Someday I’ll take you to see snow in the most romantic place in the world.”

“Aspen?” I’d asked.

“Sure. Aspen it is!”

Later, he became well established in his career.

I asked him about the trip again and again.

He was always too busy. There was never enough time. Aspen wasn’t going anywhere, he’d say.

He was right. Aspen wasn’t going anywhere.

But I hadn’t seen snow in five years.

And now he was keeping his promise—with someone else.

When Elliot came out of the bathroom and walked into the study, I was still holding the tickets.

He strode over, snatched them from me, and spoke with an edge of anger.

“Were you going through my things?”

“You’re going to Aspen?”

He carefully put the tickets away.

“Yes. That’s where the project is.”

I was silent for a moment.

“With Renee?”

He raked a hand through his hair.

“What’s wrong with that? Ren is my assistant. Of course I’m taking her.”

I gave a bitter little laugh.

“Elliot, I’ve been telling you for five years that I want to go to Aspen, too.”

He was silent for a moment, then picked up the Maui ticket I’d left on the table and pushed it back into my hand.

“Go to Maui this year. I’ll take you to Aspen next time.”

The number changed again.

Four.

Next time. Another next time that would never come.

I could no longer tell which of Elliot’s words were true and which were false.

Every promise had turned out to be empty.

I counted that latest lie, but I still couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“Elliot, you said you would marry me. Do you still mean that?”

His hand froze in the middle of drying his hair.

“Where is this coming from?”

“Jenna, are you really that desperate to get married?”

His words hit me like a blow, leaving my head spinning.

I couldn’t even remember how I’d left the study.

By the time I made it to the bedroom, the Maui ticket had been crushed in my fist.

On my phone, my own flight to San Francisco was booked for three days later.