Chapter 19
DANIEL
M y eyes could barely blink. My fingers could barely work to put the phone away. I felt sick.
What did I do wrong? Could I have said or done something that offended Prairie? Maybe all those years of not dating had made me awkward, and I didn’t even know it.
Please, please, I muttered internally. Let this be fixable. I cannot lose her.
Setting down my untouched hot chocolate, I walked toward Prairie’s cousin Lila. She had been increasingly friendly with me over the past few years, so maybe she knew something.
As I approached, Lila and Sandra were laughing while pointing at a phone.
“Look at how tiny Robin and Sierra are next to her,” Lila tittered. “Prairie would have to lose at least twenty pounds to even be considered as a bridesmaid at their weddings someday.”
“Such a shame,” Sandra said. “She has such a pretty face.”
Lila stiffened, as if that comment hurt her. She was nowhere near as pretty as my Prairie, no matter how carefully she did her elaborate makeup.
“Hey,” I said, coming up behind her.
“Daniel!” Her face completely transformed, so that she was bright-eyed and smiling. “How are you?”
“Fine. How are you?”
She stepped closer, the tone of her smile confusing me.
“I’m just fabulous,” she said, as Sandra disappeared with a smirk.
“I see that you’ve gone out with Prairie a few times.
Now that you’re officially on the dating circuit, I think I know someone who would be even better suited for you.
And, you know…” She nodded toward the other side of the rink where Jacob and Sierra were walking just in front of Andrew and Robin. “Everyone.”
Suddenly it all made sense. For the past several years, Lila had always been suggesting this or that friend of hers who would be perfect for me to date. She never gave any explanations or details, simply saying that whenever I was looking, I should come to her for ideas.
Every time I came to town, she said she had bits of news for me, as if she were looking for any excuse to chat to me.
She was obsessed with who was seen out with who, and every single date and breakup in town.
It was funny: she was like one of the older women who treated this town like a soap opera.
All this time I had thought it was nice to have a female acquaintance to catch up with on town events, but now I saw she clearly had something else in mind.
Placing my hand on the wall, I leaned in close without touching her. “Who is this mystery person who would be even better for me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.
“Oh, you know,” she said, twirling her blonde hair around her finger. Everything about her instantly became more girlish.
Taking a closer look, I noticed that her makeup was a bit softer today, more like Prairie’s. Her hair was also less bleachy looking, and more natural. Again, like Prairie’s.
Although it made me feel sick to my stomach, I forced myself to smile. “Are you telling me that I should date a girl I’d known a bit longer?”
“Yes, absolutely,” she said, batting her eyelashes at me.
“Are you trying to tell me that you’d like me to ask you out?”
Her eyes blazed as if she had just won a prize. “I’d love you to. You know, I only suggested that you go out with Prairie to see if you were ready to date Holly Valley girls. I didn’t think for a second that you’d actually go through with it once you got a good look at her.”
Stepping back, I was utterly shocked by her cruelty. How could someone manipulate someone that way? How could she be so mean to her own cousin? And how could Lila attempt to play me like a pawn simply because she wanted to date someone in my family?
I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t picked up on her interest from the start, but I didn’t have any experience with women. Even less with weasels in lipstick.
Even though I would never do it in a million years, I was genuinely surprised at how much I wanted to slap her for hurting the sweetest woman I’d ever known.