* * *
“DidI see you walk into the house with Grayson?” Mae joined me at the buffet table that held today’s lunch options.
I picked up a sandwich and plopped it on my plate. “He gave me a lift to the studio.”
“Does he live near the hotel?”
She was relentless when she thought she’d come across a juicy bit of gossip. And while I didn’t usually mind her inquisitions, I wasn’t too keen on explaining why Grayson spent the night in my hotel room.
Not only weren’t we supposed to be involved that way, it would also make me look like a home-wrecker since he had a girlfriend. The thought made my heart clench painfully, and I fought the urge to rub my chest.
“Nope.”
I left her to her lunch choices and sat down at one of the tables spread throughout the room. The crew had done a great job of converting the old mansion into a makeshift studio. The room was as crowded as it had been at the start of the show, despite there being fewer contestants. But the huge crew was still the same, people standing and sitting on every available surface. There was always a hum in the room from all the chatter, and I liked it. The quiet of my hotel room had become stifling, despite spending so little time there.
The sound of a plate being set down next to me made me smile. Mae didn’t waste any time in choosing her lunch, the promise of an exciting story too tempting. “So why did he pick you up?”
And she also didn’t beat around the bush or waste time during our twenty-minute break. We usually didn’t even get that, but apparently they were setting up a scene and needed time without us in the room.
“He was in the area.”
“Liar.”
I swallowed the bite in my mouth and turned to my friend. “Not really. He was in the area, since he stayed at the hotel.”
Mae’s mouth dropped open, and I wrinkled my nose at the half-chewed food I spotted. “Why?”
“He wanted to make sure I was okay. Remember, we’re friends? Have been for a long time?”
Mae didn’t miss much, and I was sure she knew I wasn’t telling her the full story. Her next words confirmed my suspicion.
“I’m letting this go for now because our break is too short to get anything out of you, and I still have to eat my food. But we’re doing drinks tonight.”
We hadn’t done anything after the show in a while. I already mourned not seeing Grayson tonight, but at the same time, I wanted to catch up with her. “Let’s hope we finish at a reasonable time, then.”
We even had a few spare minutes for a restroom break. There were only a few bathrooms in the house, and with the number of people around, there was always a line.
Today we got lucky, and there were only two other people in front of us. Mae went first, and I waved her off when she offered to wait for me. “I’ll see you back in the room.”
Tugging my charcoal wrap dress back in place, I exited the bathroom, nearly running into Wynona. She was standing in front of me, eyes blazing, arms crossed.
I stepped around her. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
She matched my steps, and I studied her rigid posture and scowling face. “I saw you together.”
“Saw me with who?”
She threw up her hands. “You and Grayson, of course.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her hands went on her hips. She couldn’t keep still, her body shifting from foot to foot. “It all makes so much more sense now. You’re the reason why he ended things between us at the start of the show.”
I reared back, surprised. We’d never once talked about her. I’d done my best to avoid talking about his girlfriend, and he’d never once mentioned her. “Of course not. What you guys have is between you two. I’d never interfere.”
“You wanted him from the moment you first saw him. But he’s mine. And if you think you can get rid of me that easily, you’re delusional. We’re perfect for each other, and a small-town baker could never make him happy. He’s meant for great things.”
Ouch.Well, that little barb stung. I’d never hold Grayson back from anything. And I also wasn’t expecting anything from him, already having resigned myself to the fact that we’d never work. “I was twelve when I first saw him, and I can safely say that I didn’t want him back then.”
