Not. Helping. “I want to feel it, too, and tonight, I justcan’t.”
“You’ll feel it tomorrow. Tomorrow is what matters.”
I suck in a heavy breath at the thought that tomorrow, Dane and I have to break up in just the right way to make sure our families don’t start arguing again, while knowing we’ll be breaking Lorelei’s heart probably almost as much as I’ll be breaking my own.
Which is not what I need to think about tonight.
I inhale again and get a hint of nutmeg and ginger on my bestie. “You smell nice.”
“I perfumed for the occasion.”
Lorelei doesn’t wear perfume. She’s allergic.
But she bakes.
She’s always baked.
The only reason she’s not involved in the fruitcake side of her family’s business is that she doesn’t like it.
“I wish you could take my place in the bakery,” I whisper, not even realizing how true it is until the words escape my lips.
But I do.
I wish she could take my place.
Especially if the recipe was originally her family’s.
She sucks in a heavy breath of her own. “I think that’s a stretch too far.”
“For you?”
“For our families.”
“Fuck our families,” I grumble.
She laughs. “Next week. For now, let’s pretend we’re all very happy for our families.”
We take a few minutes where I ask Lorelei if she knows anything about Esme possibly having a crush on my brother back in high school—she swears she knows nothing—before we emerge from the bathroom to return to the party.
I instantly wish we’d stayed inside.
The party is breaking out in pandemonium.
Why?
Because Dane and Lorelei’s grandparents have arrived.
And my grandmother is not happy about it.
“I said,you are welcome to leave,” Grandma says loudly.
Not that she has to speak loudly.
No one else is saying a word while they have a stare-down in the middle of the room.
“We’re here to make amends at the request of our grandson,” Dane’s grandpa says.
“You’re here tolooklike you’re making amends,” Grandma replies. “I know this game. Look like the bigger person while someone else is out putting salt in my gas tank.”
