“Then may the better creator win.”
“Thanks, I will.”
I’m holding down my glare out of sheer stubbornness, but he’s fighting back a smile. Something in me is yelling at me to let go of the glare, crack a joke, give him a compliment,somethingto make that smile fully bloom on his lips. I feel my expression soften, my subconscious taking over.
His eyes drift down to my lips, and any idea I had to make him smile is replaced withplease, for the love of God, just kiss me. Here. Now. In front of all these people at my baby sister’s bridal shower.
And I think he finally might, because he inches a centimeter closer. I hold my breath. Control myheartbeat. Thank my lucky stars.
Until the worst sound in the world breaks us apart and shatters the moment.
“Jane!” Kate calls.
I clench my jaw and suck in the biggest breath of air my lungs have ever seen. For the first time in my life, I’m milliseconds away from telling Kate to get lost.At her bridal shower.I can’t possibly do that. She’ll absolutely never speak to me again.
“Reid, the food was phenomenal,” she gushes to him.
“Thanks,” he says curtly, but his eyes are still locked on me. I can feel Kate’s attention on me, so I break Reid’s stare and look at her, arching a brow in silent question.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” Reid says quietly, then he turns on his black dress shoes and walks off. I watch him as he goes and my heart picks up its pace when he looks back at me over his shoulder after just five steps. When he catches me watching him, a brilliant smile graces his lips, that dimple popping in his cheek.
A manicured hand waves in front of my face, breaking the sight. “Earth to Jane,” Kate says.
I expel a breath, trying to convince myself not to swat her hand away today of all days. “Do you need help with something, Kate?”
She tosses her blonde waves over her shoulder and stands taller. “I just wanted to see what you said you’d been working so hard on all weekend.” She steps closer to the table, covered with a blush pink table cloth and trays upon trays of treats. I watch as she surveys the desserts with a disdainful look on her face and I feel my face fall, my heart shatter. Her eyes bounce to each dessert, and when not a single word passes her lips, I start to get nervous. I made all her favorites. I took great care to decorate them to perfection. To set them up to her incredibly specific vision on trays she demanded Reid deliver to me. I paid for each ingredient out of my already minuscule pockets.
And now she’s standing here, hands on her hips, looking both unimpressed and angry, and I could cry. I actually think I might.
“Jane, where are the gluten-free cookies?”
I balk at her. “The what?”
She turns to me, an annoyed expression pulling her features tight on her face. “The cookies that don’t contain gluten.”
“I didn’t make any. Who here can’t eat gluten?”
“Uh, me?”
I shake my head, trying to process her words to no avail. My voice is embarrassingly shrill when I ask, “What? Since when?”
“Since, like, two weeks ago. Jessica and I are doing it to lose some weight for the wedding.”
“That’s something you should’ve told us before we made all this food.”
“Well, I was still able to eat dinner.”
“What could you possibly have eaten here for dinner?”
She shrugs. “Reid had a salad bar.”
And now I’m staring at her out of sheer rage on Reid’s behalf. Because I know he worked just as hard on his food as I did on mine. Honestly, he might’ve worked harder, planned more, prepared longer since it is his job. And out of the hours and hours he spent working, she only ate asalad?
I gape at her. “That’s it? That’s all you ate out of all the food that he prepared.”
“Well, yeah, that’s the only thing that didn’t have any gluten.”
The words are targeted, sharp, and completely unlike her. I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and bite down, trying to tamp down all the retorts on my tongue. My eyes snag on Jessica a few feet away, a vindictive smile on her lips as she watches the encounter. Then it all clicks. She put Kate up to this on purpose to knock me down a peg. And I have no clue why.
