Free The Almost Truth by Eileen Cook Page A

wondered if there might be a way to assist you with your plans for the event here.”
    “What a great idea, getting students involved. I believe if you get involved early in life with volunteering, you stay with it. I’ve never heard of organized student volunteer groups, but more people should do it.”
    He’d never heard of this group because I’d just made it up a couple of seconds ago. “We’re firm believers that a commitment to public service starts young.” I tried to project a positive “be all you can be” type image. “I wonder if I could talk with you about how we might be able to help.” I left off the fact that any information he could give me would be helping me far more than my imaginary service group would be helping him.
    “Sure. How about I buy you a cup of coffee downstairs?”
    “Uh . . .” I couldn’t take the chance of meeting with him inside the hotel. All the staff knew me. If they overheard me talking about being some sort of community leader, they were going to start laughing. Plus, if Mr. Stanbury saw me, he would give me a lecture and ask me to leave. “I’ve actually already hadso much coffee. Why don’t we take a walk outside? They’ve got a boardwalk that goes along the beach.”
    “Sounds good.” He gestured for me to lead the way. We went down the side staircase, and when we opened the door to the outside, I took a deep breath of relief, right up until he spoke again. “So you have to tell me the real reason you were under the table.”

chapter twelve
    N ot that I am advocating lying, but if you want to do it well, there are a few things to keep in mind:
    • Keep it simple. The more you say, the more opportunities there are for you to contradict yourself.
    • Keep it as close to the truth as possible; it will make it easier to remember.
    • The secret to being believed when lying is that you have to believe in the lie just a little bit yourself. Not that you don’t know you’re lying, but perhaps the lie you’re telling is something that you wish were true.
    Now I simply needed to come up with a reason for hiding under a table that met these criteria, and didn’t make me sound like a complete nut.
    “The truth is, the hotel manager and I don’t get along very well,” I said, going for the truth, if not the full truth. “My family has some . . . connections to the hotel, and there have been some incidents that make things uncomfortable.” I waved my hand dismissively. “It isn’t that my family doesn’t think Mr. Stanbury’s a good manager, but he tends to have quite the ego. He sometimes forgets that he works at the hotel; he doesn’t own it. I knew if he heard me asking you about the event, he would try to discourage our group from getting involved. If the event goes well, he wants all the glory to go to the hotel and him.”
    Chase nodded. “I know the type. The kind who has to take credit for everything, including things they had nothing to do with.”
    “Exactly.” I felt the tight band around my chest loosen. He believed me.
    “He probably feels he has something to prove. He’s probably one of those guys who can’t stand people who have money, like our families didn’t work hard to get where they are.”
    I nodded, as if I had any idea what it was like to have so much money that other people judged me for it. Pesky poor people. “So now that you know about me, you have to tell me how you got involved with the McKenna Foundation. You’re younger than I was expecting. When I heard someone was coming over to organize the event, I pictured the typical business manager type.”
    “I was hoping to impress you with my overachiever status. I’m only twenty, you know. Or were you hoping for an older man? I’m crushed.” He pressed his hand to chest as if I had wounded him.
    I gave him a soft punch in the shoulder. He fended me off and then linked my arm through his elbow. It seemed gallant and old-fashioned, but I couldn’t tell if it