Page 66 of The False Flat

William scooted up to my left. “I love riding, D. This is silly.”

She shrugged. “It’s for a good cause!”

Elaine leaned over Grant to join our conversation, which made it harder to pretend she wasn’t there. “I agree with you, Deanna. I’m riding more and more because of this guy, and I love it.” Her eyes literally sparkled as she glanced at Grant, whose smile in response made me feel itchy.

Why did the woman always have to touch him? And why did she look like she was about to pose for Cycling Weekly? You didn’t wear a brand-new, hot-pink-and-black, skintight tramp suit when you were about to have colored powder thrown at you, especially when everyone was explicitly told to wear white. I made myself stop. Elaine was anything but a tramp, and I hated admitting her positive qualities, her many, many positive qualities.

It was all fine. Totally fine. Grant and Elaine were still dating. Grant and I were friends.

It was totally fine.

I was totally fine.

It was totally fine.

Erin and I had lived together for a little over a month at this point, and for the past several weeks, we’d both kept our heads down, making plans and growing our business. She cooked most nights she was home but had spent several with her family—I wasn’t sure how she worked so hard and managed to interact with so many people—leaving me either alone or with Hulk, whom I’d bonded with over late-night movies when I was too wired to sleep. He liked Cap’n Crunch.

I hadn’t spent much time with Deanna, though, except to discuss the catering menu for the upcoming marketing dinner, which had now turned into a client appreciation event as well. I also hadn’t been on any bike rides with William and Grant. This particular ride meant a lot: precious time with all my new people—and Elaine.

“It’s like you people have a code that I’m not programmed to interpret,” Deanna pouted.

“Aww,” Elaine cooed. “Don’t worry, Deanna. We can stick together if these guys get ahead of us.” Another sparkling grin. A playful pat to Grant’s arm.

“Nah, we’d never leave Deanna behind,” I assured her with a smile I hoped held no disgust.

Elaine might have Grant, but she wasn’t getting Deanna.

“If this is what gets you to ride, I’ll take it.” William pointed past me and Deanna to the clunker Grant was on. “Where’s Gaia?”

“She doesn’t like these rides.” He shook his head and grimaced. “Colored powder in every crevice . . .”

“That’s something we have in common,” William said, which earned him a stern look from Deanna. “Isn’t she jealous?”

I started to protest—out loud—but managed to stop myself, realizing William had been talking about Gaia, not me.

“She takes care of me; I take care of her. We agreed that her staying home was best for both of us.”

“Oh, Grant,” Elaine said, butting in. “What does ‘Gaia’ mean?”

“Gaia was a Greek goddess.”

“The personification of the earth,” I finished. I’d researched it.

Grant smelled like the earth, like the dirt rose up one day and spit out a man. The name was perfect. But I wished I’d kept my mouth shut because I was being petty, trying to show Elaine up.

Normally, my body automatically knew what to do on a bicycle, but now, I was overly aware of how each limb was positioned and how each piece of lint on each limb was positioned in case Grant looked my way because I-know-when-someone-likes-someone Erin had told me Grant liked me weeks ago. And even though I knew he didn’t like me like that, the thought had been rolling around in my head like a wheel that wanted to run over Elaine.

“Everybody ready?” Grant glanced from left to right.

“As I’ll ever be,” I said under my breath. At least I didn’t have to worry about seeing them as numbers; I was riding, which was my other coping mechanism.

The brightly adorned man with the microphone started counting down, and a sea of helmets bobbed on the road as the riders prepared for takeoff.

“Three . . . two . . .”

“Don’t forget to keep your mouth closed!” William shouted.

“One!”