CHAPTER NINETEEN #2
Scott pulled me closer, and I followed him. I was still upset about the basket, but I’d just have to bring it up later. Now wasn’t the time.
“Shit,” Scott muttered under his breath.
I turned my head to see what he was looking at.
The round tables sat six. Sadie, her date for the evening, Carrie, Thatcher, and Melinda and Drake were already seated.
We’d have to sit with others. It was still strange sometimes to see Sadie with someone other than her longtime boyfriend—ex-boyfriend—Harrison.
But after what he’d done to her? None of us ever wanted to see him again.
Scott’s hand tightened around mine. “Where do you think we should sit?” I knew what he was asking. He wanted me to scan the room for a table of people who wouldn’t cause him much stress.
I looked around until my eyes landed on an empty table. That might actually be our best bet. Then, people who thought Scott was awkward wouldn’t choose to sit with us. “Let’s go over there.”
He followed me, placing a kiss on the side of my forehead as we moved through the room. I glanced at him in surprise; he wasn’t usually a big fan of PDA. But I’d take it. It was nice and left me with a warm feeling, and that was good after what felt like a dismissal of my cookie business.
We sat down, and I was about to try and tell him again that it was my cookie business’ basket that he’d passed on. But he spied something over my shoulder that made him crack a huge smile. “Oh, good. There’s Scarlett.”
“What?” I turned to see his stunning office manager walking purposefully towards our table. She wore a sleek, navy velvet gown and had arranged her hair to look like the old Hollywood starlet Veronica Lake. “Why is she here,” I hissed through my smile.
He blinked at me. “She’s having trouble making friends in Indigo Falls. I told her she should come tonight.”
“Oh.” Well, that made sense. Now I felt a little mean. But hadn’t she been her long enough to make her own friends by now?
“Well, Blair,” she said, studying my appearance, “I wasn’t sure I believed Scott when he said you were beautiful when you put in some effort.”
My mouth fell open in shock at her obvious rudeness, but I shut it quickly as other people filled the seats at the table. They seemed to sense there was tension between Scarlett and me, and their eyes bounced between us as they got comfortable.
Funny how Scott seemed to be the only one to remain oblivious.
I refused to let her see she’d gotten to me. I ignored her self-satisfied smirk and held my head up high. I did my best to ignore her while we waited for the first course to arrive. I did find myself drinking my wine a little faster than was wise. Anything to relax.
What the hell was Scarlett doing here? And why was she sitting next to my husband and all but ignoring her handsome date? She hadn’t even bothered to introduce him. Instead, she and Scott were talking constantly to each other.
Throughout the dinner, as course after course was served, Scott and Scarlett talked and laughed together as if they were best friends. Or more. I’d spotted her hand on his arm several times, and once she’d adjusted his tie.
It was leaving me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I’d been worried that the two of them were getting too close.
The last couple of times I’d stopped by the practice, I’d interrupted a conversation between them, though, in fairness, Scott hadn’t seemed to mind a bit.
Scarlett was a different story. She’d given me several appraising looks that I’d pretended not to notice.
Tonight wasn’t much different. The man sitting on the other side of me asked Scarlett’s date if he could switch places for a bit so he could speak to his friend who was seated next to him.
Her date met my eyes and shrugged. “Why not?”
He sat down and immediately bent over to whisper in my ear. “I don’t think she’ll even notice I’m gone, do you?”
Scarlett’s tinkling laugh could be heard over everything else at the table. “Scott, you are so funny,” she enthused.
I rolled my eyes and looked at her date. “He’s not that funny,” I murmured.
That made the dark-haired man laugh. He held out his hand. “I’m Terrence Reed.”
“Blair Hastings,” I smiled and shook his hand.
“Looks like we lost our dates,” he noted.
“I hope not,” I said drily. “Mine isn’t just my date.” I held up my left hand and saw his eyes land on my wedding ring.
His eyebrows shot up. “Aren’t you pissed?”
A man on his other side must’ve thought he was talking to him. “Not yet, but I plan to be,” he said in a British accent as he downed the whiskey in his glass.
Terrence turned to me, a questioning look on his face. “Um… do you know what that was about?”
I giggled. Despite myself. “Being ‘pissed’ is British slang for being drunk,” I said.
He grinned, showing off a wicked good smile and flashing dimples. “That makes a lot more sense then.”
After trying unsuccessfully to get Scott’s attention, I gave up. I turned to Terrence, and the two of us laughed and talked through the rest of dinner. By the time Diane returned to the stage, I felt like Terrence and I had known each other forever.
At the very least, I’d made a new friend.
“Is everyone ready for the auction winners to be announced?” Her blue eyes sparkled. She looked gorgeous in a beaded, red gown, and I found myself hoping I looked half as good as she did when I was her age.
There was a general murmur that went up in the room and several people clapped.
“I thought you might be,” she said lightly. “Well, let me introduce my husband Jack to the stage, and the event will begin.”
Everyone clapped in earnest now. The whole town loved Jack Crenshaw. Doctor, mayor, friend to all—he was just about the nicest guy any of us knew. He surprised Diane by twirling her, dipping her, and then planting a passionate kiss on her mouth before righting her and helping her from the stage.
Only Carrie groaned at their behavior. I caught her eye and grinned.
“Let’s dive in,” he said, and everyone began leaning forward slightly in their seats.
“The weekend vacation to Gatlinburg goes to… Trella Jones!” There was clapping and excitement at Trella’s table while Jack continued talking.
“You’ve won a four-day, three-night stay for four at The Park Vista hotel.
Included in the package are four tickets to Dollywood, a resort gift card to cover all meals during your stay, and much more.
The details are included in your package.
” Jack handed a packet to one of two teenage runners who worked the event.
The two had been hand-picked by Diane, of course.
They took turns delivering the packages and prizes to the diners while Jack continued announcing the evening’s winners.
The night wore on, some of the enjoyment diminished as I watched Scarlett flirt with my husband. He was a total idiot if he couldn’t tell she was gunning for him. She’d given me enough pointed looks, I was well aware that she didn’t care that he was married with four children.
She just wanted Scott.
I pushed down the foreboding feeling in my stomach and focused on the auction winners and Terrence.
“And this brings us to one of the night’s most buzzworthy items—the jewelry set by our very own local artist Caroyln B.”
There was a hush in the crowd. I was sure every woman in the room wanted the glamorous jewelry.
“This lovely set features a bracelet, a necklace, a ring, and a pair of earrings. They are all a mixture of white, yellow, and rose gold, and set with rubies. The winner is…”
He gave a slight pause for dramatic effect. Jack could read a room like nobody else could.
“The winner is,” he repeated. “Scott Hastings!” Jack grinned. “I know this set will look wonderful on your beautiful wife.”
There were disappointed sighs and congratulatory clapping as one of the teen runners hurried the jewelry to our table and handed it to… Scarlett.
“Oh, thank you! I wanted this so badly.” She beamed.
Jack frowned, for once coming out of his emcee persona. “I believe the runner meant to deliver the jewelry to Dr. Hastings’ wife,” he said loudly, causing Scarlett to stop gushing and look up at his disapproving face.
The runner looked mortified, pulled the jewelry out of Scarlett’s hands and re-directed it to me.
“That’s better,” Jack’s smile was back. “The rubies go perfectly with that beautiful dress you’re wearing tonight, Blair.”
I beamed at him and was about to put the bracelet on when Scarlett spoke up. “You mean you’re taking it away from me?” She was being loud and kind of aggressive.
I was startled. “It was meant for me… Scott won it for me,” I explained, wondering why in the hell I needed to explain basic husband and wife dynamics to her.
Scarlett made a very unattractive pouty face and declared, “Scott, you promised you were going to make up for me not getting a gift on administrative assistant’s day last week,” she said, purposely making a scene.
My husband’s face turned a bit pink and he laughed awkwardly. “But you’re not my administrative assistant.”
“If I waited for ‘officer manager day’ I’d be waiting forever,” she said and crossed her arms over her chest. “I really wanted that jewelry.”
Terrence, and most people, looked at Scarlett with distaste. She was acting like a toddler. I wondered how many glasses of wine she’d had…
Suddenly, the jewelry case was pulled from my hands. By my husband.
“She’s right,” Scott said loudly, looking around the room. “I did promise her a gift. You caught me,” he chuckled. “Here you go. Thanks for being the best office manager a guy could ever have.”
My face burned with embarrassment and anger as several people looked at me with pity. More people stared at Scott in outrage.
“Are you seriously taking that from your wife to give to your office manager?” one of the middle-aged men at the table asked incredulously.