She ran over and we embraced on top of the podium, which was too small to fit the three of us comfortably. Our tears turned to giggles as Mel fell off.
I tried to be in the moment, to laugh with the rest of them so I looked like I was having fun. I was victorious Quinn now, not weeping Quinn.
But I couldn’t drown out the voice in my head, reminding me that if my win was a win for all of us, then so was a loss.
And I couldn’t let that happen again.
Chapter Fifteen
Neil was disappointed by my restaurant choice once again.
We’d finished up with Greta and decided to do a quick group lunch before making the drive back to Woodspring, and they’d all deferred to me to pick the spot thanks to my dietary requirements.
We stood in a line, staring up at the options on the menu board.
“Salad, salad, and oh look,moresalad,” Neil complained.
“You haven’t eaten at a Green Street before?” Hailey asked him.
“Do I look like I fit in here?”
She paused to eyeball him. “Actually, you do. The cap and tattoos are sort of the vibe.”
“They have paninis,” I added. “And you can do a custom built salad and make it like, all of the meats if you want. I’m definitely going heavy on the grilled chicken in mine.”
I’d learned that Neil’s grumbling was performative. Despite the fact that the three of them were interlopers in my life, it already felt like we were a team. I wanted everyone to be happy.
“Meat salad? Now you’re talking,” Neil answered.
I moved to the end of our group’s line, to get a temperature read from Mel.
“How do you think it’s going so far?” I asked her under my breath. “Did I do okay back there?”
“Oh, totally. This profile is going to be amazing,” she reassured me. “I could see the monitor and it looked like Neil knows his shit.”
“At least one of them does,” I said glumly.
“Hey, don’t sell Ben short, he asked Greta some really insightful questions while you were changing. He has a vision, I think.”
“I hope it’s more than ‘watch this loser try again,’” I joked.
“Okay,stop,” she scolded me. “Don’t even allow those types of thoughts into your head. And there’s no way that’s going to be their angle, if Ben has anything to say about it.” She gave me a raised eyebrow look that begged me to ask what she meant.
The line moved so I ignored her.
“You haven’t noticed?” Mel craned her neck and leaned closer to me. She lowered her voice. “He looks at you like he’s in love with you.”
I swiveled to make sure no one could’ve overheard her. “Mel,don’t. Okay? I’m not in the headspace to even think about going there again—” I broke off abruptly.
She jerked back, eyes wide with shock. “I’m sorry,what? Going where again, and with whom? What are you not telling me?”
It was the shrillest whisper-scold I’d ever heard. I tried to come up with a juke as we inched forward in line.
“Entanglements,” I sputtered with my hands in front of me like it was obvious. “You know I can’t lose my focus. AndBenof all people? Ew. No thank you, I’m not one of his conquests.”
She watched me skeptically. “Agreed that you need to stay focused, but methinks you doth protest too much about him. He’s a really good guy.”
“Okay? And?” I shrugged a shoulder and pretended to study the menu even though I knew what I wanted.
