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“Excuse me?” he growled.
“Yeah.” Tina pointed once again at Becca. “She’s always on her computer doing who knows what. We’re supposed to be here for our friend, and she can’t bother to put that thing away? Seriously, there’s something fishy going on. I bet you anything that she’s been all over those sites and she’s making fun of us behind our backs.” Tina faced the others. “We have to do something before someone gets hurt.”
Katrina sighed. “I’m sure it’s not her.”
Tina moved closer to the bride-to-be and took both of her hands. Her voice softened and she peered into Katrina’s eyes. “You’re the only one I showed those posts to. You know what’s going on. Do you really want that kind of negativity on your big day?”
Ethan could see it in his cousin’s eyes. There was hesitation that went beyond just wanting to keep the peace. Did she really think Becca was capable of doing something so nasty? Ethan’s chest tightened and he nearly muttered something he would have regretted, but Katrina’s soft voice broke through the tension.
“Becca, I trust you. If you say you didn’t do it, I believe you. But I feel like I’ve been put up against a wall here. I don’t want anybad feelings at my wedding. Do you think you could just tell Tina what you’ve been doing for her peace of mind?”
Becca gasped. He couldn’t blame her for being surprised. He wasn’t prepared for this request either. Out of everyone standing in this little group, it wouldn’t make sense for Becca to be the one stirring up trouble. The fact that Becca hadn’t told the girls she was doing freelance writing was also something he just realized. He’d only figured it out himself through conversation. If she wasn’t sharing that information willingly, then to ask her to bare all could do some damage.
“Come on, Katrina. Don’t make her?—”
“Ethan, it’s fine,” Becca muttered bitterly.
He turned to face her. “What?”
“It’s fine.” Then, quieter, she mumbled, “I’m not going to let her win this one. She’s an idiot if she thinks she can manipulate me into admitting something that isn’t true.” Her eyes darted over his shoulder to the group. “But I need you to leave.”
Ethan stiffened. “What?”
Her face reddened and she looked down at her hands. “I just want you to go. You don’t need to protect me from her.”
“That’s not what this is about,” he insisted. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”
Had he been wrong? Was she not a writer? Something didn’t feel right about this whole situation. She didn’t trust him to know the truth even though they’d been getting closer.
He thought back to that conversation they’d had about writing and reading being an escape. She’d said she was a writer, buthe’d assumed she was a fiction writer and she’d let him continue with that assumption. Now he didn’t know what to believe.
Like a tangled web, the knots in his stomach twisted and shuddered until it was an indecipherable mass. He frowned at her, his feet refusing to move even as his head told him he needed to. Hadn’t he kept some secrets, too? This was just one more thing to show him that when this wedding was over, they’d go their separate ways and move on with their lives.
He’d been a fool to believe that any of it was real. Becca had helped him get past that moment of embarrassment when Tina had arrived. He should have just thanked her and let things be.
Ethan swallowed hard and nodded. “Sure, whatever.” He brushed past her, his shoulder bumping against hers. Behind him, he heard her call out his name, but he refused to stop. They’d both made their choices. He could see that now. Theirs was a relationship for show, and whatever she decided to reveal to them would help her case enough to get Tina off her back.
At some point, Becca would track him down so she could tell him how it went. If they were lucky, this would be the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Katrina would send Tina packing.
Only, he knew his cousin well enough to know exactly what would end up happening.
Tina would be proven wrong. Katrina would quietly apologize to Becca for the scene that was just made. And Tina would go on to meddle another day.
He wished he could figure out a way to get her to leave. The only way to do that would be to make her realize it was more trouble than it was worth to stay.
Unfortunately, Tina seemed to feed off trouble, and this was just one more instance where she could feast on just how uncomfortable she’d been making everyone.
He had no doubt the badmouthing of Becca that Tina was throwing at Katrina had been orchestrated by Tina alone. She deserved to be unhappy. It was just too bad she insisted on dragging everyone down with her.
His thoughts shifted to Becca and the status of their non-relationship. Whatever had possessed him to believe they could be more was gone now. He could accept that they would be nothing more than friends. She’d head home and do whatever it was that made her happy, and he’d… what?
After spending time with Becca, he couldn’t see himself dating random girls anymore. That had been fun, but there was no future in it.
His gut clenched painfully. The absolute emptiness both there and in his chest made him feel utterly sick. If this was how a small disappointment felt, it was probably a good thing he’d realized where they stood now. He couldn’t imagine what a true heartache would feel like had he allowed himself to fully fall for her.
Ethan didn’t know where he was headed until he ended up in the barn.
The quiet calm circled around him like a warm hug. Here, he could breathe again. He could dive back into his chores and the work that he loved. Who needed a relationship when he had found his purpose already?
