CHAPTER 16 #2
“Grown-up,” he said, his eyes still on me. “Though I suppose I should get her something too. Can I get one of those breakfast sandwiches for me, then a few of those lemon bars for Ruby?”
“Of course.”
Colt’s hands bracketed the counter, fingers splayed wide, and he was so close now I could see the stubble across his jaw. “Blaire, I didn’t know you were running deliveries this morning.” His tone was casual, but a thread of challenge ran through it.
I simply shrugged, though my shoulders felt too tight, my face too warm. “You didn’t ask.”
He smiled then before he ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “Fair enough,” he quipped. “I guess I could’ve asked you this morning, but—” He cocked his head slightly, letting the silence stretch between us. “You seem to be avoiding me.”
Chelsey cleared her throat, drawing Colt’s attention. His eyebrows lifted slightly, as if only now realizing she was there.
“That’s so funny,” she said, her smile tight. “Blaire was just telling me how the two of you weren’t…” She trailed off, eyes darting between us.
“Weren’t what?” Colt’s voice hardened.
“Together.” Chelsey’s laugh sounded rehearsed. “Just double-checking before our date on Saturday.”
The word date sent ice down my spine, a cold trickle of dread that spread to my fingers where they were going numb in my fists.
Part of me wanted to believe Colt would never go on a date with her, but there was a bigger part of me that barely knew him anymore. And that part was so damn angry I wanted to punch Chelsey and him right in their faces.
“I mean, it would be pretty scandalous if something was happening, considering I just saw something about her wedding plans a few weeks ago.” Her lips curved with satisfaction as Colt’s shoulders tensed, his jaw locking into place. “But is she—” She looked back at me. “Are you staying with him?”
I was about to answer when Colt shifted beside me, his fingers drumming against the counter. “Didn’t realize we had plans,” he stated, and there was a bite in his voice that made Chelsey’s smile falter.
“Well, Mia and Ruby have been begging to get together, and I promised Ruby that we’d make it happen this weekend.” She smiled at him and pressed her hand to his chest. “We talked about it last week, Colt.”
I watched her fingers curl into the fabric of his shirt, and something possessive coiled tight in my stomach. My own hands twitched at my sides as I fought the urge to peel each of her fingers off him one by one.
Maybe there wasn’t a date, or maybe there was. I wanted to believe that Colt wouldn’t, but then again, why not? I’d been gone so long, and he didn’t owe me anything. So why did I feel like I couldn’t breathe?
I felt raw and exposed, and I suddenly wanted Colt so much it left me hollow. I knew I had no right to feel this jealousy, but there was a part of me that was still rooted in this soil, in the memories of our friendship before it became more, that wanted to scream at her that he was mine first.
But the truth was, he wasn’t mine at all.
He belonged to this town, he belonged to Ruby, but every part of me screamed that he did not belong to Chelsey fucking Leland.
I forced myself to look away from Chelsey’s possessive grip and found Maggie. “I’ll swing by later with the jams, okay?” The words caught in my throat, coming out thin and wobbly. “I can’t believe I forgot those.”
Maggie’s brows ticked up before she glanced between me and Colt, her mouth tightening at the corners. “Of course,” she said, sliding a paper bag across to Colt while ringing up his total, but she was still looking at me. “We should do dinner tonight, too.”
“It’s a date,” I replied, putting so much emphasis on the petty, reckless word that Maggie’s lips twitched with suppressed laughter.
Colt shifted toward me, and his hand hovered like he might reach for my elbow.
I saw it, saw the way his mouth opened to say my name, but I didn’t think I could handle it.
So I spun on my heel, nearly colliding with the person waiting in line behind us, and I kept moving and forced myself not to look back.
The bell over the door jingled as I shouldered through it, and I heard Colt call my name. But I didn’t stop. I kept walking past the bank, past the hardware store, desperate to get to my car.
I nearly tripped twice on my way to the parking lot.
My keys slipped through my unsteady fingers before I unlocked the car.
The woman in my rearview mirror looked like a stranger with her pupils wide and cheeks flushed.
I jammed my finger against the ignition before I gripped the steering wheel, willing my heartbeat to slow.
I’d promised myself Colt would never affect me this way again, but here I was, angry with him for talking to the woman who used to make my life a living hell. She used to be cruel to me, and now she was having playdates with Ruby.
My Ruby.
Logically, I knew I should have been over it by now. Not just the way she’d treated me in high school, but Colt, everything about him, his absence, his daughter, the choices he’d made when I wasn’t here. But logic couldn’t tame the jealousy that was clawing at my ribs.
Her hand had lingered on his chest, splayed like it had been there before a thousand times, as if she owned the right to touch him in broad daylight.
Had he slept with her?
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the image away.
I’d just made it onto the road when my phone buzzed against my thigh.
I fumbled for it, heart jumping with the ridiculous hope it might be Colt, but it was Grant’s face lighting up my screen instead.
I almost declined the call when movement caught my attention.
Colt stood outside the bakery, jaw tight as Chelsey thrust a finger into his chest. He looked away from her, and through the windshield, across the distance between us, I could have sworn our eyes locked.
My phone vibrated again, insistent, and this time, I answered, “Hello.”
“Blaire.” Grant said my name with so much relief that guilt twisted in my stomach, and I turned away from Colt.