AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was…quite a swing.
It was…still her friend doing her a favor, she knew, because she was at the dinner in the first place. But she was at peace with that, and at peace with the offers because she knew that her idea had merit, that the offers wouldn’t have come if that wasn’t true, especially with her being an idiot and losing her temper.
That would have been the perfect out.
But she still had options.
So that kept her in her slightly damp seat through the twelve courses, each barely more than a bite.
But now dinner was over, and Cora and Rafe were heading her way and—
She wanted to escape.
In fact, she was searching for her purse, her coat, so she could escape without talking to them, without having to explain her wine-tossing. She’d feign tiredness, catch a Lyft.
Alas, Cora was faster than she looked.
And Rafe was smarter.
Because he had her purse in his big, beefy hand, her jacket folded over one arm.
Ugh. Beauty and brains.
Prettyandpreventing her escape.
Life wasn’t fair.
She wanted to stomp her foot. Shewantedto throw more wine. But she hadn’t suddenly found herself cast onReal Housewives.She was an adult (kind of), so she needed to behave like one (kind of).
So, she waited for Cora and Rafe to approach, thanked the latter when he helped her into her coat, and then took her purse.
“What’s the tea?” Cora asked, looping her arm through Teresa’s. “What did my brother do to deserve a wine lashing?”
Yeah, she was going to sharethatover her dead body.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said instead. “Jeremy and I talked it through in the hall. We’re good now.”
If bygoodshe meant that she’d gotten him to agree to leave her alone then, yes, they were good. They werefantastic.
If bygoodshe felt like a total asshole for the way she’d handled herself and the situation.
She’d thrown a glass of wine in his face. Who did that to a person?
She’d acted completely unhinged.
All because he’d pushed her boundaries—which, admittedly, wasn’t right either. But she could have handled it better, preferably without the side of light violence and emotions creating a huge, embarrassing scene.
Cora tugged at Teresa’s arm, drawing her gaze up to her friend’s. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Teresa whispered.
“Because my brother is a big, overprotective lug, and he should have listened to me when I told him to play it cool?”
Surprise widened Teresa’s eyes. “What?”
“He likes you, hun. Has for years, which I know you’re too smart to have missed.”
Except, shehadmissed it.
