“Oh. Well, that’s good, right? To see him again?”
“Not here. Not while I’m working. Not to find out like this,” I explained.
“I thought you’d be happy …” she said, trailing off.
Anxiety slithered in my gut. “You knew? How?” I shook my head. “You knew he was here and you didn’t warn me?”
This wasn’t happening. I knew she wouldn’t set me up to be cruel but it all felt like too much to process. My carefully contained worlds were colliding.
“I wanted to surprise you. I thought you’d be happy.” The fringe of her shirt flared as she crossed her arms.
“You’re behind this? You brought him?” I tried to keep my voice calm.
“Well, it’s not like I brought him to Green Valley, he obviously came to see you.”
“No,” I snapped. It cracked off the trees around us and her eyes widened before narrowing. “He’s here for business. And you—you can’t just do stuff like this. I asked you not to get involved.”
“You need some fun, girl. You two obviously had a connection.”
“Gretchen, stop.”
I held up a hand and then pressed it to my forehead under my bangs. She shut her mouth immediately, her jaw jutting out.
“I didn’t want to see him again,” I said.
“I don’t understand why. Plenty of people who hook up still work together—”
But it wasn’t about hooking up. It wasn’t about a quick fling. It was so much more than that but all my thoughts were jumbled up and I wasn’t explaining myself well. I was too upset.
“You always do this,” I cut her off. My anger grew as I freaked out. Didn’t she understand why I pushed him away? Couldn’t she see that I needed to keep things the same? She knew how loose my hold was on this new life. But how could I explain all that without her feeling guilty and hurt for her role in my past?
“What? Help people who are too afraid to admit what they want?”
“Stick your nose in other people’s business!” I snapped and then lowered my voice after a few people looked toward us. “This isn’t a game.”
She chewed her lip before saying, “I really think you’re overreacting.”
If she had looked even remotely remorseful, if she had looked even slightly apologetic or ashamed, maybe I wouldn’t have lost my cool and unloaded. But she stood there like she didn’t regret a thing and I was the one acting crazy. I couldn’t keep a lid on my thoughts any longer.
“I know you think I’m being bitchy. I know in your head, I’m being irrational. But Gretchen, I’m angry. I didn’t want to see him like this.” My fingertips pressed to my hot cheeks. “I’m humiliated,” I added weakly.
She was speechless. Her hands dropped to her sides, and she backed up.
I glanced around to make sure nobody could see us fighting. “You accuse Green Valley of treating the SWS like the side characters in Jethro and Sienna’s story. It pisses you off so much and then you go and do the same thing to us. We’re real, breathing, fleshed-out people. Not little pieces on your game board,” I finished.
She blinked rapidly and shook her head, continuing to back up. “Okay.” She started nodding. “Good to know how you feel.”
She was retreating. I’d hurt her and she was retreating. Classic Gretchen. Guilt twisted at me. I didn’t want to hurt her. But this was all too much. This night. Seeing him. Being in charge of one of my first work events, trying to prove my worth to Vincent, and then to act like a schoolgirl seeing her crush. I would have to go smooth things over. I had to prove my worth to Vincent. Gretchen would understand that. Once we all calmed down.
“Look, I just wished you had talked to me first. I have to get back to work. I’ll call you later,” I said.
She held up her arms. “Sure. You do what you gotta do.”
“You took the choice away from me, Gretchen, can you understand that?” I asked defeated.
She held my gaze for another moment, then sauntered away without another word. I waited until the urge to cry passed and went back to the table. Sanders was gone. No surprise. I didn’t look for him. We could talk next week. At work. Work we would be working together.
I kept my focus on helping people and packing up as the movie ended. Feeling eyes on me, I glanced up once to see Sanders with Gretch and Suzie, Ford, and his friend Jack. Quickly I averted my gaze, pushing down the hurt.
