“Me, what?” Gavin asks, thinking the same thing.
“It’s you,” Brennan says. “I thought maybe we had a connection.”
Oh. That.
I was expecting to be shocked by the name responsible for claiming Brennan’s affections, whoever it was, but I never would have guessedin a million yearsthat it would be my own brother, of all people. I can’t be mad at Gavin. Clearly he didn’t know how this was going to end. At least he tried to help me. And it does help to know that I truly didn’t have a chance.
“I thought you were into women?” For some reason, Gavin thinks this is a reasonable response. I have to physically stop myself from reaching over and smacking him on the head.
Despite Gavin’s poorly worded question, Brennan doesn’t seemoffended. “I am,” he says. “But I am also attracted to men.”
“Oh,” Gavin says.
Wait. So I did have a chance with Brennan, and he still picked Gavin?I’m back to being wounded. Somehow it hurts more the second time.
“I should mention that Callie and I are kind of a thing. We haven’t made it official yet, but we’ve been hanging out, and I’m ready to take our relationship to the next step.”
“Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The chemistry between you two is pretty obvious,” he says. “You make a good couple.”
“Thanks. And I’m sorry things didn’t work out….”
“It’s all good. I really am happy for you and Callie. She’s like a sister to me, and you— Well, I think we both know that you’re not like a brother to me.” They both laugh. “But I’d like to think we’re friends.”
“Totally,” Gavin agrees.
“I just hope Elena is going to be okay,” Brennan says. “She seems to have a very intense personality. Wouldn’t want to crush her spirit.”
“Elena will be fine,” Gavin says. “She has the attention span of a Chihuahua. She’ll move on to the next thing in no time.”
My senses jerk me back to the not so distant past. Is Gavin insulting me?
Brennan laughs. “You sure about that? She seems to wear her emotions on her sleeve. Especially when it comes to what she wants.”
“Oh, you should have seen her before. You would’ve thought she had no ambition whatsoever.”
“Really?”
“Trust me. At the rate she was partying, the only thing on hercollege application would have been a disco ball emoji and an Insta handle.”
Brennan laughs. A little too loudly.
My skin prickles as soon as I hear the familiar guffaw, and my anger is solely directed at the one person who should have my back. Gavin is family. He should be on my side. Instead he’s laughing about me. When he agreed to sus out Brennan’s feelings about me, I finally thought we were through with the petty bickering. But I was wrong.Sowrong. Gavin isn’t on my side, like he wasn’t all those years ago, and he never will be.
When the waiter comes to take their payment, Gavin has moved on to my appearance and how deep my superficiality went. If he didn’t have to stop to pay the bill, who knows how long the Elena-bashing session could have gone on for. While Gavin and Brennan are preoccupied with splitting the bill, I take the opportunity to sneak out of the booth. On my way out of the cafe, I bump into someone.
Callie is as startled to see me as I am to see her. “I was going to surprise Gavin before my shift started, but I’m glad I ran into you. We finished making our first batch of lavender-honey ice cream. Do you want to come over later today?”
“Ice cream makes everyone feel better,” I muse. Though I doubt it’ll have any effect on me today.
“Right?” Callie says. “We’re so grateful for your suggestion. We’re even thinking about naming the flavor after you.”
“Really?” My mood lifts. At least there are other people here who recognize my efforts.
“My shift ends at five. We can meet at my house to sample the ice cream. If you think it’s good, we can make enough to sell it next Saturday. We just need to figure out how to arrange our table nowthat we have so many new products. Which is a good thing,” Callie reassures me. “Thanks to you, we’ll earn enough to replenish our beautification fund and more.”
“I’ve been wondering about the farmer’s market,” I say, thinking out loud. Callie’s recognition of my talents gives me an idea. “What if, instead of going out to a different town, we have the people come to us?” If I want to make money faster, I have to save where I can. And I can’t spend half of my profits on diesel.
Callie blinks. “I’m not sure I follow.”
