“Hey,” Gavin’s deep voice says directly behind me. I don’t know if he’s talking to me or the other women, and I can’t turn because he’s so close, there’s no room. “Some people find it impolite to hide from all of your guests during your own party.”
Katie rolls her eyes and takes Nat’s last sausage. “None of those people live in Glenbruar though, do they?”
“A few might,” Nat mumbles. She rakes her long fingers through her short blond hair, pushing it out of her face. “Is that bloke coming from the petrol station?”
“To myhouse?” Katie pops a hand on her hip. “I might flirt with the man, but I’m not inviting him back to where my son lives.”
Nat shrugs. “It’s the safest time to do it.”
“What bloke?” Gavin asks, the barest hint of an edge to his voice. He can’t be jealous, can he?
I step aside so I can see his face, but he kind of leans with me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume he was staking territory the way a guy does when he wants everyone at the party to know this ishisdate. But I’m not his date. I’m not even his friend, really.
I’m just the American his cousin fobbed off on him for a few days. It must be that Viking blood surging back to life, inspiring him to see me as one of his clan. Something deep in his DNA screamingprotect this defenseless woman!He probably doesn’t realize he’s doing it.
Which is why I’ll pretend I’m not loving it.
“Just a man I met last week,” Katie says. “It won’t go anywhere.”
Nat scoffs. “He seemed really nice to me. Like, agoodman.”
“You never know though, do you? We could plan to meet for dinner and the next morning he’s chopping my head off and dumping it in the river.”
“Morbid,” Nat says. She tilts her head back and forth, considering. “But fair.”
Gavin frowns. “I’ll go with you if you meet him somewhere, Katie. He doesn’t even need to know I’m there.”
“That’s a good idea.” I point my thumb back at him, tapping his shoulder. “My friend and I do something similar.”
Katie looks interested. “Yeah?”
“We work at the same restaurant, so when we’re meeting a new guy, we always eat there and sit in each others’ zone. It’s a way to keep tabs, but the date doesn’t know you’re keeping tabs. You have to be careful these days.”
“So careful!” Katie says.
Nat leans in and whispers loudly. “Speaking of being careful, we have an intruder.”
“How are you holding up?” Katie asks Gavin, reaching for his wrist.
He shrugs. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh, we lie to each other now? When did that start?”
Gavin cracks a smile. The tension eases from his shoulders a fraction.
I’m dying to know the history here. It’s clear they’re talking about Blair. Each of them has surreptitiously glanced her way during this conversation, and the way Gavin froze when he initially noticed the woman was too dramatic to be anything but authentic. There’s clear history here, some sort of traumatic breakup or something, most likely.
Wait. I know the name from somewhere. Hadn’t Nessa talked about Blair when she came to Gavin’s for dinner? Was this the one he gave flowers to as a little girl, or the one he boldly asked to the dance in front of the entire school?
I hope it’s the flowers.
“It started when you told me you were going to introduce Callie to everyone and then hid her in the kitchen, maybe?” Gavin teases.
Katie laughs, throwing her head back.
“I’m honored you think I’m everyone.” Nat grins, sipping her drink.
“I’ll fix it.” Katie takes my hand, pulling me forward until we’re standing in the open space between the kitchen and living room, just about three steps away from where we were previously. She hits a button on her phone that pauses the music, and the room becomes suddenly, eerily quiet, everyone looking around in confusion.
