Lance looked completely unapologetic. “It’ll hurt him more. Trust me.”
She thought about deleting the picture but maybe Lance was right, so she left it.
“Happy and thriving, huh?” Lance asked as he shoved the little golden penis rock into his pocket.
“Don’t break the tip off.”
“I put it in gently,” he said through a baiting smile.
He’d set her up, but she wasn’t going to say it. She wasn’t. “That’s what she said.” She clapped her hand over her mouth, and then around her hand murmured, “You bring out the worst in me Lance Dance.”
“Dance is not my last name. It’s Dennison.”
Of course he had a hot-man name.
“So, if your name is Birdie, are you a bird shifter?” he asked.
“You’re extremely rude for asking that.” Birdie took a sip of her drink, and holy cannoli it was delicious.
“I could just look up your registration, you know.”
“Don’t you have a job to do?” she asked. “Why are you sitting with the guests? I thought you worked here.”
“Oh, I just help out around here. I don’t get paid or anything. Well, I guess technically this is me getting paid.”
“Does not compute.”
“I mean, my best friend gave me one of the cabins for UnValentine’s Day week. He said it would be good for me to get away.”
“Away from what? Something scandalous?”
“Uuuh, I don’t know. Just some stressful stuff, I guess. Brock worries, but I’m fine. I’m always fine.”
“Oh yeah, me too. Always fine.”
“There’s no wife and kids and labrador,” he said.
“Huh?”
“You said earlier I should go back to my wife and four kids and labrador. That was the plan when I was younger, but it didn’t pan out.”
“Are you a slob or something? What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you married yet?”
“I almost was.” He took a sip. “She broke off the wedding two years ago, to the day.”
“Whoa, were you one of those people doing the Valentine’s Day weddings?”
He didn’t answer, and gave his attention to the fire, and that was telling enough. The teasing evaporated from her. “She left you at the altar?”
“She was kind enough to do it two days before the wedding. Valentine’s Day was her thing. I wasn’t that into it before, but now I’m really not into it.”
“So…you mourn what should’ve been every year in mid-February?”
“I don’t know. There wasn’t really time, you know? It wasn’t that long ago. And now she’s getting married to someone else this week, and my sister’s in the wedding party, and I’m invited, and it’s all really weird for me.”
“Wait, your sister is still friends with your ex? Who burned you?”
“I didn’t need her to hate my ex. They were friends before we got together. It’s how I met her. It’s fine.”
