Georgie seemed to hear the war drums churning beneath my skin. Or maybe she saw my eye twitch.
Either way, she continued before I could light something on fire: “On assignment? I thought you were working atTravel and Taste.”
Teddy’s fingers drumming on the raw edge of the table drew dangerously close to my knee. “On a trial basis. They haven’t quite convinced me if it’s worth it to be locked down.”
Blood boiling, the back of my knees hit my chair as I stood and sent it squealing backward. Four blue eyes stared back at me. Not exactly the calm, indifferent persona I committed to channeling.
“Coffee,” I explained, strutting toward the bar without another look.
“Register’s over there, Margot,” Rachel murmured as she dumped some milk into a steaming pitcher.
“Iknow,” I hissed. “Can’t you just—pretend?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Pretend I’m making coffee?”
I hoisted myself onto a stool as gracefully as I could manage and tried not to shoot daggers at the back of his head. Rachel poured a heart design with the foam and set it on the counter, announcing another pumpkin spice latte.
“How many is that?” I asked, eager for a subject that didn’t involve the next week and a half being torture.
“I’ve lost track,” she said, leaning her hip against the bar.
An uncomfortable silence fell between us. Rachel and I didn’t know each other very well, aside from being Georgie’s best friends. The one other thing we had in common was our love of unsullied espresso, which would only get us so far when our copper-haired mutual friend was busy chatting with her comrade-in-sunshine.
“Hey,” Rachel began, peeking over the espresso machine, “Isn’t that Teddy Bowman?”
Of course. He was inescapable. It didn’t matter that I fled to Bluebell Cove as a safe haven from my dumpster fire of a life. This had to be some sort of cruel joke.
I turned on the stool until I couldn’t see him anymore.Boundaries. Candice would be proud.
“Oh I see. You’re avoiding him. You only needed to say that,” Rachel drawled quietly. “I’m quite experienced helping Georgie evade men.”
“No, I’m—” I sighed and splayed my hands out on the cool tile. “I’m fine.”
“That’s good, because he’s coming over here.”
I shot up. “What?”
He hadn’t moved from the table by the window.
“Yeah, tell me again how you’refine?” Rachel snorted and wiped a rag over the counter.
“That was mean,” I mumbled, even though I was fighting a smile.
She shook her head and started tinkering with the machine. “Cortado?”
“Cappuccino,” I replied. I’d have better chances of hiding behind that, at least.
Rachel worked silently. The low hum of chatter throughout the cafe helped keep me from trying to listen in on Georgie and Teddy’s conversation. Not that it would be too hard to get out of her later.
I hated that he was back in my life for all of two seconds, and I was already desperate to be around him and hear what he said. Unfortunately, my “pretend like I’m not slowly losing my mind” routine was going to be harder than I expected.
She slid the cappuccino and its little saucer across the bar, propping her elbows on the sage green counter. “The price for that isinformation.”
I pursed my lips and stared at the perfect, slight sheen of the foam. Was this how regular people made friends? Coercion by caffeine? Well, if Georgie was going to be aroundhim, maybe I needed to branch out a little.
“Fine,” I relented, bringing the drink to my lips and relishing the taste of untainted espresso.
“You guys dated, right?” A twinkle appeared in her eye. “Sorry, Georgie’s downloaded alotover the years.”
