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“I’m sorry?” Arianna watched me with those big, fabulous, perfectly made-up eyes.
“Nothing.”
“I’m going to be honest with you,” Arianna said, “and tell you that I don’t think Darby loves you. I mean, woman to woman, right? We need to take care of each other.”
My throat was so tight I could barely speak. Sweat had dampened the palms of my hands. “Why would you say that?”
She leaned toward me, conspiratorially. “You should ask Darby. Hopefully, he’ll tell you the truth before he hurts you worse.”
“How would you know what he feels?” I asked, quieter than I wished.
“He and I just have one of those relationships. It’s special. We understand each other very well.”
“If it was so special, then why did you break his heart?”
She hesitated for a moment, and her mouth curled up in a mean-girl smile. The same one I’d seen last night directed at Darby. “Sometimes I wonder that myself. It might have been one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”
This was a game to her. It gave her pleasure to mess everything up for anyone she sensed could be happy. She couldn’t stand the idea of Darby with someone else even though she didn’t want him herself. Insidious, like a virus one didn’t know they had. Doing damage, little by little until it was too late to save yourself.
“Does Rob know your feelings about Darby?”
Her eyes flickered, ready for a fight. “Are you threatening me?”
“Threatening you? With what?” I asked, forced innocence in my voice. “That you kissed my fiancé?”
“You saw the kiss, did you?” The same evil cat smile played at her mouth. “I’m so sorry. We should have been more discreet. Of course, I didn’t expect anyone to be creepily watching us from the windows.”
I crossed my arms over my chest in a gesture of self-preservation. “I’m starting to get you. I see what you’re up to.”
“Up to? Don’t be silly. I consider you a new friend and wanted you to know that Darby may not be telling you the whole story.”
“Which is?”
“He’s never gotten over me, and this whole thing with you was simply a distraction. Now that he’s seen me again, all the old feelings came back. I mean, what did you expect? He told me once that I’m the love of his life. That doesn’t go away just because you’re sleeping with someone else.”
“You don’t want him. Why are you messing with him like this?”
“I’m not messing with him. Goodness, youaredelusional. I’m sorry to have upset you. I shouldn’t have said anything. I was trying to help. The same reason I wanted to have the wedding here and the gazebo built.”
“To helpme? How’s that exactly?” This woman needed help. She was sick.
“I heard about your troubles with the fire, and I wanted to give you some business.”
“What about the sentimental reasons? Your mom and all that?”
“Of course that played into the decision, but it doesn’t matter what you think about me. The truth is—I was trying to do a nice thing by having my wedding here instead of the lodge. Everyone knows how much financial trouble you’re in here. Once I realized you were a friend of Darby’s, I wanted to help even more. I had no idea you were dating until later.”
“How did you know I was a friend of Darby’s?” Did she mean before she came to the inn and asked about booking her wedding here? “When did you know that exactly?”
“I know about his life here. I keep tabs on him.”
“But how? How would you know about me?”
“Fine, I knew about you back in Cliffside Bay. I went looking for Darby that night I broke up with him. I was worried sick about him. I saw the two of you leave that bar and I followed you back to the resort—saw you go up to his room together. Then, recently, I saw photos of you and him online and figured you had followed him out here. Or the other way around. He’s like a puppy dog that way. Once he gets even a pat on the head, he loves you forever.”
“He’s not online.” Something about this wasn’t adding up. In fact, she wasn’t making any sense at all. She’d just told me he didn’t love me, and now he was a puppy following me around. “He purposely got off social to avoid you.”
“It was a photo of the two of you at that art opening. Rob knows Crystal, or knew her late husband, and wanted to support her by buying a piece of artwork from the gallery. Stormi had an online version of the opening so that people could see the art without having to be there. You two were standing near a painting, obviously together. I was delighted that he’d finally moved on. That was before I knew the full story.”
