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THIRTY-TWO
Tessa
“No gifts,”the woman sitting across from me said. “No poems or big gestures. And definitely, definitely nothing sappy.”
I was talking, of all people, to Evie Bates. She had just married Nick Mason, but she’d kept her last name, because she was cool like that. She owned a bakery in downtown Millwood, and when I’d tracked her down in desperation, looking for advice, she agreed to have a coffee and a pastry with me.
Evie was pretty, with red hair tied up in a messy bun. She was wearing a white tee under denim overalls, which actually looked hot on her—not an easy look to pull off. She wore very little makeup, but her skin glowed. Obviously Nick Mason, jerk that he was, could keep a woman pretty happy when he put his mind to it. And he had.
I wondered what she saw when she looked at me. I was wearing jeans, a black tee, and my big sunglasses, which I’d pushed up on my head. I’d left off the makeup and I definitely didn’t look happy. I didn’t care if she pitied me; I just wanted help.
“I don’t envy you,” she said. “Having a Mason brother unhappy with you isn’t fun. Most women can’t handle them even when they’re in a good mood.”
I slumped in my chair and put another bite of chocolate muffin in my mouth. It was freaking delicious. It was a novel feeling, being able to eat a chocolate muffin without worrying I’d have to strip later. If I could eat my feelings, then hell, I was going to. “So I guess anotherHicake is out of the question.”
“Another what?”
“I bought him a cake that saidHion it when I wanted to introduce myself.”
Evie blinked at that, her big eyes widening. “And what did he do?”
I shrugged and put another piece of muffin in my mouth. “He didn’t want it at first, but he took it. And he ate it.”
Her jaw dropped. “Oh, my God.”
“What?”
“He’s in love with you.”
I nearly choked on my bite of muffin. “What? Because he ate cake? Everyone likes cake.”
“Are you kidding me? Look around.” She gestured to the bakery we were sitting in, which was piled with amazing desserts. “This is a freakingbakery. I’ve been giving him baked goods for years. He never eats them. I finally had to stop doing it, because he was throwing them out. When his other neighbors gave him welcome presents, he left them in the garbage can at the end of the driveway.”
I had to admit that was promising, but still. “I was pretty pathetic. Maybe he just felt sorry for me.”
Evie looked uncertain. “I guess it’s possible, but Tessa, this is Andrew. Being sorry for people isn’t exactly his specialty.”
“He didn’t know me then, though. And even when I stayed with him during the heat wave—”
“You what?”
She really seemed shocked, so I explained. “It was a heat wave, and my air conditioning was broken. He let me stay at his house and—”
“At hishouse?” She couldn’t do anything but repeat my words back to me, louder and louder. “He let youstayat hishouse?”
“I guess you didn’t know that, because you were on your honeymoon at the time. It was really nice of him. He insisted I take the bedroom, and he slept on the couch.” I felt my cheeks go hot, because those were the days before we shared the bedroom. That had been raw and life-changing and fun. I wanted it back, really bad—but I wasn’t about to share that with his sister-in-law.
Evie didn’t notice me squirming, because she’d dropped her head into her hands. “Oh, my God. This is a disaster. He’s never had anyone in his house, Tessa. Even Nick has never slept there. I didn’t know he was so nuts about you. I just thought…”
When she trailed off, I added helpfully, “You thought I was just a hot girl he was fucking, and that I was probably using him for something or other.”
“No! No.” She sat up again. “I didn’t think that. I have my own past, and so does Nick, okay? We don’t judge. I just thought—we just thought—it was casual. Andrew doesn’t have relationships.”
I brushed muffin crumbs from my hands. “Well, you can relax, because he doesn’t have a relationship now. Even though I keep trying to get him back.”
She looked at me, coming to some kind of decision. “You have to get him back. You have to.”
“I know that,” I said. “That’s why I’m here.”
