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Mia set her glass down far away from her. Slowly, she got up and looked over at who she had thought was one of her closest friends for over a year, someone whose secrets she held close to her heart. A friend who couldn’t seem to find it in her heart to forgive a man who did nothing but love her like the sister she was to him.
Looking across at Ruth, Mia just held the steel blue gaze and stated coolly, “Don’t ever tell me what to do, Ruth. You know exactly what I’m asking of you. I know more about you than anyone in this room.”
Waiting for Ruth to say something, she just stared into her unflinching eyes. Mia knew all eyes were on them. Silently, the moment went on without anyone saying a word, not even Ruth.
Angrily, she turned and walked out of the apartment. She grabbed her shoes on the way but didn’t put them on. Today, she was tired of how Ruth treated Rafferty.
All she wanted to do was go the two blocks to his house, but she knew Anderson was there. So instead, she went up to her apartment and slammed her door shut behind her.
She didn’t know how Anderson did it. How could he sleep with Ruth and be friends with Rafferty and understand how she treated him? She was his counterpart, and she was hating it more and more every day.
Half expecting someone to come and talk to her from the group, she was surprised when half an hour went by, and nobody did. Ruth must have told them something that made sense as to what they were talking about. Right now, she really didn’t want to know what Ruth had told them.
What she had said was true. She didn’t think anyone else at that table knew that Rafferty was her brother or that she and Anderson were married. But Mia knew. Mia also knew that nobody else in the group had any big secrets from the group anymore, just her and Ruth. And their secrets were suddenly causing friction between them.
After fuming on the couch for two hours, she decided no one from the group was coming over and that Anderson must be home by now. Locking her apartment, she headed to Rafferty’s house. It was Thursday, but tomorrow, she was going to her mom’s for supper and wouldn’t see him until maybe late. So, she decided to go over there now.
When she got there, Rafferty was watching some kind of sports in the living room, and she curled up with him on the couch. It was only then that she had finally been able to let the tension release as he held her close.
By the time the game was over, she was asleep, and he must have carried her to bed because when her early morning alarm went off, she was in bed with him. And somehow, she had gotten all her clothes off. She still didn’t know how he got her undressed so easily without her knowing how it happened. Maybe one day she would figure it out, but for now she just liked being with him.
CHAPTER29
Four hours.
That was how long Mia had been ignoring that Rafferty was even at Natalie and Sam’s wedding. So far, she had ignored him through the ceremony and through the reception, and it looked like he was going to be ignored through the dance.
She had made a point of talking to everyone else in the room. But she had pointedly ignored him and didn’t even get close enough to him for him to say anything about it. He just watched her flit around the room.
Finishing the beer he was drinking, he set it down and watched her dance with the bride and their little book club. Or trying to dance since Hazel was currently teaching the entire group some dance move that was far beyond the skills of most of them.
He was sitting with most of the husbands and boyfriends, none of which had been ignored as much as he had been. They at least got to sit by their women during the wedding, and most even held hands. Mia had made sure that Ruth and Anderson were between them, as if they needed a buffer.
Which had been totally uncomfortable since the women were not getting along at all. Anderson had told him there was a blow-up at book club between them, but not about what. As far as he could tell, it was still going on. The two seemed to be only getting along for the sake of the bride today. And he assumed they would do the same next weekend for the next bride. Though he hoped they would patch up their differences, since the strain was becoming obvious.
Mia had gone to her mom’s on Friday night, so he really didn’t get to talk to her that day. But to his surprise, she had come over after she got home at around eleven and crawled into bed with him. That was two nights in a row.
Saturday, she had worked her usual shift at the café and then went back to her mom’s to spend more time with her sisters. They seemed to be getting along better now than in the fall, which made Rafferty happy since she was happier when the six sisters got along.
Then, to his surprise on Sunday, she had called her mom claiming she was sick, and she had spent the day with him. They had watched movies and talked all day. She had made a beef roast and potatoes, and they had eaten that all day, wearing pajamas.
It wasn’t a traditional holiday, but he would take it over anything anyone would’ve offered him. Maybe they would start a new holiday tradition of not getting dressed or going anywhere for the holidays.
It was that day that she had finally told him why she had blown up at Ruth over her not being nice to him. Or something like that. Which had made him love her even more because she was defending him to his sister. She may not want to tell anyone about them, but she was defending him. It was a step in the right direction.
Or he had thought it was, but now he wasn’t to sure. Tonight, he would rather have her by his side than defending him to his sister.
Anderson, Math Nordskov, and Hue Strong were talking about the women dancing. Since Hue was dating Math’s sister, Math was mostly making fun of her to get a rise out of his friend. Except it didn’t work since Hue admitted his girlfriend wasn’t coordinated enough to dance, but she looked hot trying.
A look of disgust crossed Math’s face before he asked Hue, “So, when are you going to ask Mandy to marry you?”
Hue turned away from watching the women with a smile, “I already did.”
“Did she turn you down?” Math laughed, because everyone in town knew that Tess turned him down at least a dozen times before she ended up asking him to marry her.
Hue grinned. “Nope, she said yes.”
“When were you going to tell us?” Math asked, taken aback. Hue was his best friend, and Mandy was his sister.
