Before he could say anything, or go back on his promise to be her date for the movie, she started talking. “Margo isn’t really a friend. I mean, she is. But she’s not. She’s a frenemy.”
One eyebrow went up. “A what?”
“I’ve known her most of my life,” she went on. “Actually, I’ve known almost everyone here that long. Except for you.”
“I still don’t understand.”
How to explain… “Margo and I are friends only because we’ve known each other forever. But…” She struggled to find the words. Only someone from a small town would know that it caused a lot less drama on the group of friends overall to just pretend to like everyone. “She’s not really a good person. She’s also not a bad person. She’s just always had this…thing…that she needs to be involved in everyone else’s business. Of course, that’s because this is such a small town. It’s kind of hard to avoid being in everyone’s business.” She was babbling now, but she couldn’t stop herself. “So, what I’m saying is that she’s not exactly a mean person, she just gets way too excited over everyone else’s life. Especially mine, for some reason. And Jeff, the guy who’s been trying to get me to go out with him, is her cousin, and so Margo is always trying to think of ways to force us together, hoping that I’ll give in and?—”
“Wait,” he cut her off. “Do you want something to happen with him?”
“What?” Faye was taken aback by the sharpness of his tone. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?” she repeated stupidly. “Because I’m not attracted to him. And he kind of…” She trailed off. Something about the way Adam’s entire body was leaning toward her as he waited for her answer made her cautious of saying anything more. Jeff had a thick skull and had a hard time taking no for an answer, but that didn’t mean she wanted to cause him any trouble. And her instincts were telling her that her new boyfriend, fake or not, would cause a lot of it.
“He what?” he repeated.
Faye shook her head. “Nothing.” She wasn’t about to admit that Jeff scared her a little sometimes.
“Faye.”
Her eyes were drawn back to his, almost against her will. His were bright green, almost abnormally so. She blinked.
“Tell me.”
The words were spoken so softly, she didn’t know how she even heard them. Yet, she did. And she had no choice but to answer him. Before she realized what she was doing, her mouth opened and the words came out almost against her will. “He scares me a little sometimes.” Immediately, she tried to backtrack. She really didn’t want to cause him any trouble. The town would never let her forget it. “He’s just so big and…and…” She frowned. Jeff was about the same size as Adam. But Adam, even with his grumpy exterior, didn’t frighten her the way Jeff did. Not even when he was knocking back beers, like he was doing now. Quite the contrary. She felt perfectly safe.
“Has he done something to scare you?”
She blinked as she tried to think. “No. Not really. I’m probably just being silly.”
He leaned back, and she gratefully sucked in a lungful of air. “If your instincts are telling you to be cautious of this guy, I’d listen to them.”
“Okay.” She didn’t know what else to say. She was still trying to get more oxygen into her lungs. “Are you really going to come to the movies with me?” she asked when she could breathe normally again.
His eyes roamed over her face, and he surprised her by saying, “Yeah. I’ll come with you. If you want me to.”
“That would be great.” She smiled as relief flooded her system. To be honest, she’d been trying to think of a way to get out of it just so she wouldn’t have to go alone and have Jeff up her butt all night. But it was her best friend’s birthday. And she couldn’t leave Jules alone with the wolves, so to speak. And she couldn’t ask her not to invite Jeff and Margo. It would cause way too much drama in their little group, and the town, for that matter. When you lived in a place with a population of less than eight hundred people, and had since you were born, it wasn’t easy to avoid things without becoming the town pariah. You couldn’t just make something up, because everyone knew what you were doing at any given moment, including what you ate for dinner and how often you peed.
At least, that’s what it felt like, sometimes.
But still, Faye wouldn’t trade the life she had in Fairplay for anyone else’s. There were good things about living in a small town. Despite the gossip and the lack of decent jobs, people cared about each other, and they were there for each other when it really mattered. And Faye always chose to focus on the positive.
And on that note…
She slid off her stool and grabbed Adam by the wrist. “Come on.”
He tilted his head and gave her a look of curiosity, but didn’t budge off his stool. “Where are we going?”
“It’s New Year’s. Let’s dance.” She gave his arm another little tug.
But he shook his head. “I don’t dance.”
Her smile faltered, but just a bit before she kicked it up another notch. A two-step was going on, and she loved to two-step. “Aww, come on. It’s not hard. I can teach you.”
Adam eyed her. “I didn’t say I couldn’t dance. I said I don’t. And I’m not going to, no matter how much you smile at me like that.”
