At least he’s involved in the process, I guess. Our moms just shake their heads and each take a small bite of the red velvet.
I take a small portion of the lemon cake and pucker my lips. “Okay, not that one.”
“This one is really good,” Mom says, pointing with her fork at the red velvet. I try a piece and nod. It’s a little too sweet for my taste, but I know red velvet is a crowd-pleaser.
“We should take a picture,” Julie says. “It’ll help you remember the flavors when you can see a picture of yourself sitting here.”
“Oh, sure.” I take out my phone and snap a picture of the plate, with the missing peanut butter chocolate—supposedly delicious, according to Zach—and the small pieces of the others.
“Here, let me get a picture of you,” Julie says, reaching for my phone.
I hand it over to her as Zach stands with his vibrating phone.
“Sorry, gotta take this call,” he says.
“Oh.” I watch him leave, a little disappointed.
“No matter. I’ll take a picture of you,” Julie says.
I pick up my teacup by the handle and grin at the camera. Julie snaps the picture and smiles widely. “That’s adorable.”
She hands me the phone, and I have to admit, it’s a pretty cute picture.
My initial reaction is to send it to Ryan. That would have been a normal thing for me to do. But something about him going on a date has messed with my head and makes me second-guess that decision.
Stop being weird, Claire.
Shaking it off, I type up a message to Ryan and attach the picture.
Me
Having fun trying cakes!
My finger hovers over the send button before I decide to get out of my own head and press it. There. He’ll have to respond now. Besides, I’m just imagining this weirdness, right?
But then I scroll up the messages with Ryan and see the evidence right in front of me that we’re not texting as much as before. So I’m not making it up. It’s clear as day. All his messages are one word or super short answers. When did it all stop?
The messages at the baseball game.
When I got engaged.
My heart sinks a little. Am I losing Ryan as my best friend?
“Hey, what did I miss?” Zach asks, sliding back into his seat.
“Not much,” I reply, quickly locking my phone. “Just a picture with some cake.”
“Oh, let me in on that!” He slides in next to me, roughly slinging his arm over my shoulder and making me jump in my seat. Julie pulls out her phone and snaps a picture of us, and Zach presses a kiss to my cheek. But I can’t shake the sinking feeling I had when I realized my instincts were right, and my friendship with Ryan isn’t the same as it was.
CHAPTER 12
Ryan
I thinkthe restaurant designers thought candlelight on every table would set a romantic atmosphere. And maybe in the right circumstances, it would. But the light is reflecting off the lenses of Rena’s glasses, and I’m so distracted every time I look at her. I want to stare into her eyes, but instead I see tiny orange flames right in the center of her eyeballs.
“Did you grow up around here?” she asks me.
I take a sip of my water and look at the spot right between her eyes. “Canyon Cove is home to me, so not too far from here.” I have a brief moment where I consider telling her the whole story.I lived in Canyon Cove until I was fifteen. That’s when my dad cheated on my mom, so I moved to Hawaii with her for the last few years of high school then came back to California for college.
