A Strange Arrangement

“What?!” Sara exclaimed as we sat in our booth at Brumsey's. “How can you let that happen?”

“You know he wouldn't have given up,” I told her explaining why I hadn't put up much of a fight when Kris told me about his lunch plans with Eric.

“Well where are they going?”

“I don't know. Didn't ask.” I replied taking a bite of my burger.

“Well you better damn well find out, Alexandria!” she spat seeming worried.

“Why?”

“Because more likely than not, they're coming here! This is where most of the staff likes to do it's interviews.” Sara looked at me more seriously than Jonathan Toews ever had. “You need to text him now.”

I pulled out my iPhone and stared at it briefly wondering how to phrase my inquiry without sounding oddly anxious.

“Hey! How's your lunch going?”

“Good enough for now.” I thought as I clicked 'send'. As the seconds passed I started to worry about him being too preoccupied to reply. The sound of that familiar chime brought temporary relief a couple of minutes later.

“Hey. Driving to the place now. Supposed to meet him in ten.”

“He's going to meet him now. The interview's supposed to start at-,” I glanced at the time on my phone. “-2:30. Hold on. Let me find out where.”

“Nice. Where's it at?”

A moment later I received my response.

“Some place called Brumsey's.”

“Shit. We gotta go. They're coming here,” I told Sara as I began searching for my wallet in order to cover the expense of our lunch.

“Too late,” Sara said slinking in her seat and gesturing to the entrance. Eric was being led to a chair at the bar by the front door.

“Fuck,” I said turning my head and covering my face.

“At least he's facing away from us,” Sara tried being slightly optimistic about our new found predicament. “Now you just have to avoid letting Kris see you when he walks in and we can plan our escape. There's windows in the bathroom.”

“I'm not crawling out of a window, Sara.”

“Well then please tell me how you intend to make your grand exit, Houdini.”

“I don't know yet. Hold on.” I told her trying to stall while I thought of a plan.

“Do you think they'll let us duck out through the back?”

“We really don't have many other options at this point. Look who just joined us.” I peered over my shoulder and saw Kris exchanging smiles and shaking hands with Eric. Eric gestured to a seat beside him. Kris took off his Top Gun style aviators and hunter green hoodie and sat.

I looked back at Sara blankly. “Shit.”

“Excuse me!” Sara tried calling to our waiter, Daniel, as discreetly as possible. He came over to us promptly.

“Yes?”

“Yeah, we're going to need the check immediately and also your back door.”

“I'm sorry?” he looked at her with a mix of confusion and concern on his face.

“Your back door. You know the door you probably use to take trash out, go on smoke breaks, have quickies in the alley with your co-workers. I don't know, Dan. I just really need you to let us use that door, okay?”

“I can't do that ma'am. Only in cases of emergencies can customers use it.”

“Listen, if there was ever an emergency in this place, this is it. My friend here has a restraining order against her unstable ex-” My eyes widened at her quick thinking and awful lie. “-and he just walked in. See that guy over there?”

Sara pointed to a hefty, balding man in his early 30s. Dan the waiter looked at him then back to her. She spun her finger in a circle on the side of her head and mouthed the word “crazy”. He looked at me and I quickly averted my eyes away. I was a terrible liar. I didn't need him scanning my eyes for the truth.

“I'll be right back,” he said hurrying away from our booth.

“Out of every guy in here, that's the best psycho ex-boyfriend you could give me? Like he really just believed that!” I hissed.

“I'm sorry! I panicked and just pointed to the first guy I saw that wasn't Eric, Kris, or the waiter!” she told me apologetically.”I tried, okay?”

I knew this whole thing wasn't her fault and I immediately regretted losing my cool and taking it out on her.

“What are they doing?” I asked changing the subject with a tilt of my head in Eric and Kris' direction.

“Eric's got his tape recorder between them and Kris is speaking...and smiling. Oh, now they're laughing. Quite a lot actually.”

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I spat while rubbing my temples as all of the scenarios in which this situation could go terribly awry swirled around in my head.

“Don't stress. Eric doesn't know that you know Versteeg and I'm sure Versteeg wouldn't embarrass you.”

“I told him not to mention me at all.”

“Well there you go.”

“Ladies?” Dan the waiter reappeared . “Come with me.”

Without hesitation we grabbed our bags and followed him towards the kitchen. I stole one last glance at my two friends conversing before I went through the black double doors of the kitchen. A few of the cooks and waiters looked up at us and then quickly shifted their gaze away. I had a feeling they all knew about my non-existent violent ex thanks to a general announcement from Dan the waiter.

“You can't tell anyone about this, okay?” he told us as he unlocked the emergency exit door.

“You should've taken your own advice, Daniel, before you told your whole staff about my fake personal life.”

“Of course. Thanks so much for this.” Sara said pulling out her wallet either to pay him for our meal or to tip him. Maybe both. He pushed her hand away. She looked up at him and he down at her.

“Literally don't mention it. Consider the lunch on the house,” he said with a grin. “Go, go!” He shooed us out of the establishment.

We hurried around the corner and made our way up the street towards where Sara's candy apple red Mercedes was waiting for us.

“That was close!” she exclaimed laughing as she put her key in the ignition and started the car.

“Too close,” I said unamused.

-x-

Five hours later I was sitting at home. Kris Versteeg was not.

“How long does a single lunch take? What could they possibly still be talking about? This is bad. Very, very bad. I shouldn't have let him go. Sara was right. I should have fought. I should have-”

My phone rang and Eric's name appeared on the screen.

“Ah, shit. Shit! This is it. My 'Last Stand'. My 'Waterloo'. My curtain call. My-screw it. I'll just pick up and get it over with.”

“Hello...?” I said wincing as I picked up the phone.

“Hey. You feeling any better?” he asked sweetly.

“Uh, somewhat. Not really. It's touch and go.” I replied nervously as I waited for him to reveal that he knew the secret I had been harboring.

“Aw, sorry. That's too bad. Guess what though?” he said excitedly.
“What's that?”
“I did my interview with Kris Versteeg earlier!”
“Really? How did that go?”
“Amazing actually. He's a really cool guy. He invited me to play poker with him and some of the other players on Thursday.”
“Wow. That's so great that you guys got along so well.” I told him hoping I was the only one who could sense the sarcasm in my voice. “How long did the interview take?” I asked praying that I appeared casual.

“Only like an hour. An hour and a half tops. He said he had to get going. I was going to ask why but I didn't want to seem like I was prying too much."

I looked at the clock to make sure my eyes hadn't been playing tricks on me. Five hours had indeed gone by. If the interview had only taken, at most, an hour and a half, then where was Kris?

“Is that it? Wow. Oh man. I've got another call from back home I have to take. I'll talk to you later, okay?”
“Yeah, that's fine. Hey, before you-”
“Thanks, bye.” I said hanging up before he had a chance to go on. I quickly opened the new message screen on my phone.

“Hey. How'd the interview go?”

“I'm sure there's a logical explanation. He's probably stuck in traffic. Got a flat tire. Went to visit Briere or Giroux or someone else from the team. It's going to be fine. Why am I even worrying? I really need to work on not-”

My phone chimed.

“Awesome. We're finishing up now. Be home soon.”

“Son of a-! He's lying to me! Why is he lying to me?!”

I didn't know how I was going to go about it but I was damn sure going to find out what was going on.