“So it’s got nothing to do with being on Team Ginny and Dave? Maybe it’s more about beating who’s on the other team?”
“Shut up, Skip.”
Skip says nothing, just looks at me earnestly.
“I mean, sure, Gigi’s only half grown up if you ask me. And sure, the life’s gone out of Logan’s eyes, and he and Gigi hardly know each other while Ginny’s been putting up with Dave since she was thirteen. Sure, all of that is true. But I’m not trying to beat Logan. If Logan and Gigi are indeed the soul mates Jane’s been waiting for this past century and a half, I’m not going to stand in their way.”
“You’re certain?” Skip says as he looks at me closely. “You wouldn’t sooner see Gigi trip on her way down the aisle and get so caught up in her train that the whole thing gets called off? Even if it means the beautiful, genius spirit of Jane Austen is trapped forever?”
“Of course not. And you do realize you sound as crazy as my mother, acting like the ghost of Jane Austen is real and in pain.”
“So you’d be okay even if the couple is Logan and a girl who isn’t you?” he presses me.
“Ye-es.” The word catches in my throat, but I push it out. “Even then. I want Logan to be happy, and if that means marrying Gigi, good for him.” I walk away from the statue and gesture Skip to follow me, signaling the conversation closed.
But Skips steps in front of me and blocks my route before either of us can leave. “Whether you really wanted him to or not, I have a proposal for you. One I think you should listen to.”
Headlights catch my eye, and I watch as Gigi and her two sisters emerge from a rental SUV to our right. The three of them head down the hill toward the creek, away from where Skip and I are standing. She never sees me at all.
Skip tracks her movements, and then he holds out his phone to me so I can see the screen.
My eyes widen as he flips through a bunch of photographs?—
One of Logan and me down by the creek just now, our mouths so close to one another we look like we’re about to kiss or have maybe already kissed.
Another one of Logan and me laughing while we gaze into each other’s eyes at The Cowherd.
A shot of Gigi hanging onto Logan’s side outside the bar while he’s looking at me.
A picture of Logan and me behind the bar—Logan with his attention on me, and Gigi watching us from a distance.
A panned-out image of Logan on the ground at the rodeo with me running maniacally toward him and Gigi in the stands.
A photo of Logan and me as we dance the two-step out by the picnic table.
“How did you get that one?” I stare at the one of us dancing. “The bar was closed.”
“I have dozens more. More photographs that show you and Mr. Darcy in compromising positions. I don’t think the future Mrs. Darcy, or her family, would like what’s in these, do you? They don’t paint a very good story from her end.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What are you saying?”
“The Darcy Gazette’s Special Edition needs a backbone story, and more importantly to me, my paper sent me down here to get dirt. Not just to recap a legend anyone can find in the library or online. My editor wants a hook. And from what I’ve gathered in my short time here, you’re the hook, Ms. Henwood. You and your very interestingly-close relationship with your ex-husband, who the entire town has already christened Mr. Darcy.”
My face is on fire with fury. “How dare you. You’re trying to blackmail me?”
“It’s no skin off your back if these photos are published,” Skip says. “Maybe your reputation will suffer a bit, but not permanently. But would Logan’s future with Gigi be over immediately should these come out? Would she leave him? And another question I’m pursuing is: would he care? If so, why?”
“I don’t know what Gigi would do. The only thing I’m sure of is I don’t care.”
“I don’t believe you. I believe you still want him. I also am inclined to think he still wants you, which makes this triangle even more intriguing.”
I clench my hands into fists at my sides. “What do you want?”
He smiles. “My proposal is this—you grant me unfettered access to Vivian’s diary, which your daddy has refused me several times, plus an exclusive, one-on-one interview with you as The Lady on the Inside, where no questions are off-limits, about The Cowherd Whiskey and your role in running it, and why you made Logan the exception to your no-marriage rule.”
“No way.”
“You grant me those two things,” he continues like I never cut him off. “And I’ll give you these photos and never publish them. I’ll delete them off my phone right in front of you and give you the flash drive with the copies. You don’t? I show them to Ms. Gigi Phillips and her family and get what I’m sure will be a show-stopping response. Either way, I get a story. You see?”
