Page 44 of Easy On Me

Idly curious, I looked up, straight into Elizabeth Hall’s infuriated blue gaze. She stared back, unsmiling. The tall man at her side was the same one she’d been with the afternoon Jase and I had run across her and her mean-spirited little friend not long ago.

“Pierce.” Mama Nancy offered a polite smile, with only a tinge of warmth. “Hello.”

“It’s good to see you.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek, his hazel gaze roaming over us. “And your lovely companions.”

“My daughter, Tyler.” Mama Nancy’s smile warmed considerably as she gestured at me. “And her friends Marilyn Bartlett and Maggie Lane.”

“I know Mr. Bartlett. Is that Lane Real Estate?” His eyes lingered on me even as Maggie nodded. A gleam of interest bloomed there. Fiduciary interest, I was sure. Waves of fury emanated off Elizabeth. If her eyes narrowed further, she’d be squinting. “Tyler, I’ve heard a lot about you. Always wanted to meet you officially.”

Meaning he wanted an in with Mama Nancy. He wasn’t the first. I didn’t date Thomasville society boys for this very reason.

I smiled, as briefly as I could. “A pleasure.”

Elizabeth touched his arm. He started, like he’d forgotten her, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and anger. “Oh, Mrs. Nancy, my friend Elizabeth Hall. Elizabeth, Mrs. Nancy Grant, and Marilyn, Maggie and Tyler.”

“Hello.” Oh, those wide eyes and that perfect smile, even though her voice held a hint of an edge. Her gaze settled on me, calculating and insulting. “I think we went to high school together. Did you go to Chandler-Haynes for a little while?”

Snotty little bitch.

“I did.” I smiled wider, breezy and unconcerned. “But I don’t remember you.”

Lord, I hoped she got the message – that she was absolutely unremarkable. Her face froze, nails flexing against Pierce’s arm.

“Some people are like that.” Maggie waved her wine glass in a circle. She blinked at Marilyn, the picture of innocence. “Basically forgettable.”

A flare of fury lit an unholy light in Elizabeth’s blue eyes, but she couldn’t hit back. She held the least amount of power in this little social meeting.

And she hated it.

I knew what that felt like, and I almost felt sorry for her. She hated the sensation, but she’d take advantage in a second if the situation were reversed.

Pierce was checking me out, gaze roving my face and torso, and she hated that, too. My lips twitched. She’d failed to draw Jase back. I had him, even if she didn’t know it, and now the man she was with was measuring my worth.

And that hurt.

This was a woman desperate to feel valued, to be seen as valuable. Maybe to be seen at all.

Too bad she’d looked in all the wrong places. I’m sure at one point Jase had valued, maybe even treasured her.

And she’d tossed that away for clicks and likes.

Sad, even if I couldn’t really sympathize. If she’d been someone else, I wouldn’t have Jase now.

I wasn’t his second choice, either. He wasn’t settling for me. At one time, he might have treasured another version of Elizabeth Hall, but not the woman standing in front of me, eyes burning with resentment and dissatisfaction.

This woman had buried that treasure so deep it suffocated.

Rotted.

Turned to dry bones.

And Jase’s feelings for me – not love, but deep caring that could flourish into love – grew in the place of those dead emotions.

He was capable of love.

And I was the woman he treasured now.

Nothing she did could touch that.