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“I don’t know how you eat that,” Megan told her with a shake of her head. “I just gained three pounds listening to you wax poetically about it.”
“Oh sure,” Suzie snorted. “The baker with the ass that won’t quit is whining about fried foods. Give me a break.”
I laughed and wrapped an arm around Suzie. “I appreciate your candor.”
“Thanks,” she grinned. “I’ll pretend you’re not even a little tipsy.”
“Thanks back,” I told her with a wide, overly bright grin. It was nice to be surrounded by friends again, especially after everything with Antonio. It helped me forget that I wasn’t enough for him, that I was never enough. The alcohol and the friendship made it easier to forget that he had been so dissatisfied with me, or maybe my performance, that he called up his ex the moment the wheels touched down in New York.
It was no coincidence they’d ended up in New York at the same time. It couldn’t be. Could it?
No matter. We hadn’t crossed paths much since he moved back to Jackson’s Ridge, and since we didn’t travel in the same social circles, it was safe to say we wouldn’t in the future.
Then he showed up with Cal, and I let out a groan that was slightly louder than I meant it to be. Maybe I was a little bit tipsy. He was with Cal, so there was no doubt they would end up at my table.
Teddy turned in the direction of my gaze and sighed. “Sorry.” She didn’t look sorry, just like a woman in love who was happy to see her man.
“It’s fine. I should get going anyway.” If I could just slide from the booth, I could make a quick getaway with nothing more than a hello. I fixed a bland smile on my face and pushed out of the booth, and right into the wide familiar chest of Antonio. “Excuse me.” I didn’t look up, I knew it was him by his scent, the hard muscles that lined his chest and abs.
“Going somewhere?”
“Yeah. Home.” I tried to go around him, but Antonio was feeling playful, stepping in front of me no matter which way I tried to go. “Antonio,” I sighed. “Stop.”
“Stop, what?” He flashed a grin that, yeah, was a panty-melter. Too bad for him, because he did nothing for me. Not anymore.
“Stop this, whatever you’re doing.” At the sudden silence around the table, I closed my eyes and sighed, because we had the full attention of everyone. “This is unnecessary.”
“Not to me.” His tone was serious, almost sincere, and if I hadn’t heard him dismiss me so unequivocally, and if I hadn’t seen the look in his eyes when he stared at his ex, I might have believed him.
Not tonight. “That sounds like a personal problem.”
“It’s very fucking personal,” he growled back. “Just admit that you’re mad or hurt or whatever and we can move forward.” Of course he thought that. He could flash that smile and flex those biceps while he offered up a half-hearted apology and women probably swooned, took him at his word.
I already did that once. “I’m not mad, and even if I was, I would have no right to be, Antonio. We were nothing, just a fling, right? Temporary lovers who owe each other nothing.” Less than nothing, in fact.
“Ouch.” Teddy’s attempt at a whisper failed miserably, causing a low hum of laughter from the table.
“You know that’s not true,” he insisted and stepped in closer with a hand on my shoulder. “We talked. We connected.”
I shrugged off his touch. “I know the score, Antonio. At least I do now.”
He turned to Cal for help, but his friend shrugged as if to say, “Leave me out of it.”
“I heard you say it and you know what? I gave you the benefit of the doubt and showed up for the Renaissance Fair with you and Rosie. Then I found out you were meeting up with your ex.”
“I wasn’t meeting up with her,” he growled. “I told you she ambushed me.”
“Totally a move Trishelle would make,” Teddy confirmed. “What?” she asked when I glared her. “It’s true. She’s a total schemer.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. You have a connection, a history with her and you didn’t tell me about it for a reason. Because I had no right to know, because we aren’t anything.”
“Oh, good point,” Hannah offered like the official scorekeeper of this little…whatever it was.
“It’s not a good point,” he shot back to Hannah, but his angry, pleading gaze never left mine. “I would never get back with Trishelle Augusta, and you know why.”
“I know that’s what you think.” This wouldn’t be the first time that I was cast in the role of the reason another couple reconciles.
“She’s got a new reality show and she’s trying to push the storyline of us getting back together. It’s all about the screen time for her.” He pulled me close and resisted my efforts to break free of his hold.
