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“Just making the coffee, Paige,” I say, then add, “Would you like a cup?”
Her eyes widen for a moment, and she says, “I think I’ll grab mine later at Baked Inn Love, but thank you.”
“I don’t poison people,” I mutter.
“Not yet,” she says dryly.
She pets Theo and tells him good morning in a soothing voice I will admit makes me jealous. I imagine Paige talking to me kindly, and it does things to me. Hits me right in the feels. I pour my coffee, take a sip, and smack my lips. “Perfect,” I say, making the last syllable pop. “I’m off to work. Try not to cause too much chaos out here.”
* * *
I keep my door cracked open for Theo and Pancake, who occasionally visit me when they’re playing and chasing each other around. Otherwise, they stay with Paige. With my door open, I can hear everything happening in the front office, which is why I am able to hear Paige chatting with the person I assume is my next appointment. Though a quick glance at my calendar doesn’t show any appointments. Sometimes we have walk-ins, but not too often.
Then I recognize the voice, and it’s not a friendly one. It sends a chill up my spine.Blake.Ugh. I am not happy he’s here contaminating my office.
I put my head down on my desk. I do not have the energy for this today. I know I have to face it, though, so I head toward Paige, who’s clearly trying to be friendly. That makes my blood boil even more. I want to tell her not to be nice to him. He destroyed my life and doesn’t even care. And now he’s here? For what? To mock me? Make fun of my new law office? Probably all of the above.
I turn the corner, and there he is. Only, to make it worse, Olivia is sitting next to him. Both look awkward and disgusted as Theo and Pancake sniff at them. I can only imagine the conversation when they go home and tell my parents—that I left the successful family law firm to run a small firm in a small town with a raccoon and a dog on the loose in my reception area.
Paige hands each a coffee mug, and they each take theirs gingerly, as though she’s handed them a bag of dog poop. They make no move to drink it or thank her. They simply continue to sit with looks of disdain on their faces.
Paige looks confused but continues to be polite. “I’ll just let Preston know you’re here.” She sees me in the doorway and looks relieved, although there’s something else in her eyes I can’t place. I don’t like the way they treated her just now. It’s one thing for them to treat me poorly, but they aren’t doing that with Paige.
“What are you doing here?” I ask flatly, unimpressed to see them.
Blake sets his mug down, regarding it again with a look of disgust. But he changes his expression to a smug smile when he looks back at me. “What, you’re not happy to see us, little brother?”
“Not particularly.”
“We had to come up and see your new little office ourselves, since you aren’t returning anyone’s calls.” He punctuates this statement with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It’s rude to ignore our mother, Preston.” He admonishes me like I’m five years old. Always talking down to me. Blake hasn’t changed.
“Gee, there must be a reason for that. Did you ever stop and wonder why I wasn’t returning calls?”
Olivia, surprisingly, speaks up. “We wanted to know when you’re going to RSVP for the wedding, and if you’ll be bringing... a plus one.” She side-eyes Paige while she speaks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Paige looking back and forth between us. She was introduced to these two as my family, so she treated them kindly, like they would be welcome here. But I think she’s beginning to understand:They’re not.
Olivia, clearly not reading the room, says, “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your... little helper here?” She motions to Paige, her eyes still on me. In fact, they’re wandering up and down me like she’s shopping at a boutique, and I’m on sale. The worst part is when she licks her lips a little; my stomach churns.
I glance at Paige. “This is my brother Blake and my ex-girlfriend, Olivia, who is now engaged to Blake.”
Olivia scoffs. “Pressy, really?” she whines in her nasal voice as she examines her long, manicured nails, clearly nervous or oblivious to the situation. “We weren’tthatserious.”
I look at her dead-on. “Five years with someone isn’t serious? But I guess you were sleeping with my brother for part of it, so that probably makes it less serious for you. Right?”
Blake, sensing he’s losing control of his ambush, says, “Hey, I thought we said no hard feelings, man. You agreed to be cool about all this.” He wears a big smile like he won the blue ribbon at the state fair and I lost. Gloating and fake-concerned. As usual. But in this case, I don’t feel like I lost. He can have Olivia. But the lack of loyalty and respect my own brother has for me is what hurts me. He sees nothing wrong with what he’s done. How he belittles and treats me is what gets me.
Then the craziest thing happens. The energy in the room shifts. We are all about to learn that for as big and vibrant as Paige’s energy is when she’s happy, it’s even bigger when she’s not. I feel her tense up from across the room as she stands straighter. The calm before the storm. The stillness before a tornado touches down and wreaks havoc.
Paige launches right in. “Wait, so let me get this straight. You’re his brother and you’re his ex-girlfriend, whom he dated for years, and you think he can just ‘be cool about this’?” Her face wrinkles up in disgust and disdain.
“Preston, why is your secretary speaking to me out of turn?” Blake looks bored. “Go sit down, sweetheart,” he says to Paige, shooing her with his hand toward her desk.
Paige ignores him and storms closer. My first instinct is to grab her and pull her back, but what she does next is what really gets me. She snatches back the coffee she handed them, then strolls over the sink and dumps them. Then she takes her place right beside me and says firmly to them, “Get out.” She stares daggers at them with such intensity and conviction, I almost want to get up and leave myself. I would have handled this. But watching Paige take on my family and not even so much as flinch or hesitate is... incredibly hot.
“Get. The. Hell. Out,” she says again, now pointing to the door. “Now.”
I grin at her. I can’t even help it. This is fantastic to watch.
