I watch the whole exchange, seething with jealousy. I’m the one who brought her here, so I have no one to blame other than myself. The way I see it, this is a win some lose some situation. If Jane hadn’t canceled Scarlett’s order, then Scarlett would never have come to me, and I never would have come to Cam.
I have no choice other than to accept the situation.
Scarlett turns to walk away, and stops, turning to face me. “Did you want the hat back?”
I’m acutely aware of Cam and Jared listening to this conversation. But I don’t care because they might as well know, and they can tell the whole town as well.
“Nah, baby girl. The hat is yours now.” I don’t want there to be any questions about who she belongs to. I’m going to possess Scarlett, body, mind and soul.
FIFTEEN
SCARLETT
During the day, the Rusty Nail feels like it’s a bar in the middle of nowhere. The kind of sketchy place you will stumble upon driving down the lone highway.
At night? It’s the most exciting place in Silverpine. I’m sure there are more people here than the fire code allows, and we’re packed in like sardines. It’s hot and sweaty, and I’m suddenly so grateful that my sister’s forced me into this corset top. I’m wearing my tightest pair of jeans paired with my boots. And of course, Connor’s hat which he said belongs to me now.
I’ve recorded enough erotic audios and romance audiobooks to know exactly what it means for me to be wearing his hat. There was a reason I walked into Butter & Bloom wearing his hat. And yeah, part of it was jealousy. Hearing Jane call Connor by the nickname I gave him made me see red. I know he hates that stupid nickname just as much as I hate baby girl. But those are nicknames we gave to each other.
As far as I’m concerned, only I get to call him Connie, even if he hates it.
Our four cousins arrived for the wedding already, along with our aunts and uncles and grandma. The parents and grandmaare staying back at the Inn to watch Christmas movies while the cousins are at the Rusty Nail.
I push my way to the bar and see the cute bartender from earlier. “Cam!” I wave to him. He looks at me and finishes serving the customer before walking over to me.
“I see you’re still wearing the hat,” is the first thing he says.
I shrug lightly. “I think it looks cute.”
“Connor isn’t here yet, but I’m sure he’s not far behind.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t need Connor to babysit me. Now, what have you prepared for my sister?”
“Why don’t you grab a table, and I’ll bring it over to you?”
“We already grabbed a table. We’re over there by the windows.”
I point in the general direction of where our table is and Cam nods.
I make my way back to the table and sit down in my empty chair.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married. Meanwhile, I can’t even get a second date with a decent guy,” Mia is saying. At nineteen she’s the youngest of the bunch so she doesn’t really need to worry about not finding the love of her life yet. She’s recently cut her hair into a cute bob, which looks adorable on her elfin features.
“You can’t really compare yourself to Sienna, though,” our other cousin, Julia, says. “She met the love of her life at fourteen because they were forced to work on a project together.”
“How come none of my teachers forced me to work with a cute guy?” Mia says with the pout.
“Maybe the reason you can’t find someone is because there’s no one out there who can put up with you,” Logan says, pushing a hand through his dark hair. At thirty-two, Logan is the oldest cousin. Next to him is his brother Caleb, who’s thirty, likeSienna. Then it’s me, then Julia, who’s twenty-five, then Sadie, and finally Mia.
In a sea of dark-haired cousins, I stand out with my lavender hair. My aunt Helen told Mom that I should color my hair back to brown for the wedding because I wouldn’t want to draw attention away from Sienna and look strange in the photos as the maid of honor.
But that’s not something my sister has ever worried about. In fact, when I told her I was considering changing my color back to brown, she flat out told me that if I was doing it for the wedding, then I was going to be uninvited.
Cam brings over a small cake and seven spoons. The cake is absolutely gorgeous and so cute, pale butter yellow frosting covering the outside with white flowers.
He sets the cake and the spoons on the table. “Let me know what you think.”
I push the cake towards Sienna since she’s the bride, and her opinion is the only one that matters.
