She laughed, but her heart wasn’t quite in it, looking past me a little. “I’m a mysterious woman,” she said. “I’m a riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a mystery.”
“Except about your love of blue flowers.”
She lightened up, putting a hand to her chest in mock surprise. “You could deduce that from the sixteen thousand photos I sent?”
“I’m a clever one. Call me Sherlock.”
“Alyssa!” Daniela’s voice called from across the lot. “Help me haul all this food before I die!”
“Oh—coming!” Alyssa said, looking over her way, but it was too late—I saw in my mirror as Daniela craned to see us between the cars, and I noticed the brief flash of tension in her shoulders when she saw my car. Days like these I wished I had a more generic car.
She’d also dressed up nicely for the event, with her signature plaid blazer and neat slacks, and I’d definitely had a thing for the look one time. Even now, I had to admit she looked good in it. But if anything, the attraction just stung, like a sense of betrayal I didn’t have any right to be feeling. She was allowed to distance herself from the drama. Wasn’t an attack on me. But the heart was a bitch.
Daniela pushed off from her car and came over to the two of us, giving me a smile that looked natural but I knew her well enough to know how guarded it was. “Hey, Jade,” she said. “It’s been a minute. I hear you and Alyssa have been making quick friends.”
“Well, you heard wrong,” I said. “She’s the fun police here to stop me from having a good time tonight, or she’ll slap me again.”
“Jade!” Alyssa laughed, hands on her hips. “Don’t make me out to be a bully!”
Daniela relaxed just a fraction. She didn’t look mad at me, necessarily, just… concerned. More like she was worried if I was mad at her. Still, I’d thought that the last time we talked, too, and she’d ended up telling me how I should pull myself together and stop standing up all the events. I wasn’t letting my guard down. “Well, I was worried about if Alyssa would be able to make connections or if she’d be too overwhelmed at first, but I’m relieved. Making friends and enemies both. Are you here for the whole evening?”
I glanced at Alyssa, just briefly—at those damn puppy-dog eyes. Ihatedpretty girls. Well, no. I hated myself for how much I was weak for pretty girls. “I’ll be here for a bit,” I said, and I tried not to care when Alyssa lit up. “Mostly, I’m dropping off some stuff from Cat. But I’ll hang out a minute to see if I can find an opportunity to exact my revenge on Alyssa.”
Alyssa snorted, and she broke out into a laugh. Something flashed over Daniela’s eyes when I mentioned Cat, but she didn’t push it. “That’s sweet of you both,” she said. “What’d she make?”
“It’s in the back,” I said, pointing, and Daniela went wide-eyed when she looked. “Everything covered with foil back there,” I said.
“Dear God. This isn’t a potluck, this is catering.”
“I told her something along the same lines.”
Daniela looked back at Alyssa. “I take back what I said about helping me haul stuff. I think Jade needs the help more.”
Alyssa laughed awkwardly. “I was thinking the same thing… guess we’ll see you inside.”
Once Daniela had gone back to grab the things from her car, Alyssa joined me at the back, where I took one tray and she took another, and she smiled sweetly at me.
“Thanks,” she said quietly.
I didn’t say anything—not at first, just focusing on walking up towards the front doors, but after a minute, I said, “Do you have a ride home? If it’s getting to be too much here.”
She looked down. “I didn’t want to tell Daniela I wasn’t feeling…”
I was quiet for a minute again, until we got to the front door, and I spoke in a low voice that almost disappeared under the squeak of the door opening and the bell jingling overhead. “If I’m still around when you’re feeling done for the night, I’ll drive you home.”
She looked at me with that soft expression that would probably make a person do whatever she asked, and she said, “You wouldn’t mind? I don’t want to bother you…”
“Yeah, it’s no big deal, if I’m already around. Daniela’s place is on the way to mine.” That was two lies—one and a half, maybe. Daniela’s place and mine were in completely different directions. The half-lie was that it really wasn’t a big deal if I was already around, but she didn’t need to know I was planning to stick around as long as she wanted, if it meant she’d have an out when she needed it. Guess I had a thing for putting myself against the group for one person who wasn’t feeling well.
Chapter 10
Alyssa
Iworried maybe I’d given Jade too serious an impression about what was wrong with me… like I had some serious crisis and not just a stupid brain that kept circling around the same thing.
It hadn’t even been a big deal. I’d managed to keep it to myself all day, enough Daniela didn’t notice even though she was off work and we spent most of the day out on the town together, meeting up with Abby and Kaitlyn at Sleepy Hollow. I put on smiles and, in the middle of conversation, even managed to forget about it for a bit, but it crept back in.
Maybe it was a punishment for sleeping in, because I woke up at six, stirred, went to get up, and then fell back asleep. Then when I woke up at almost ten, I had a message from Sawyer, burning into my phone. Not even anything serious, just asking me where I’d gone and how I could just leave without giving him a new address. It took me a long time before I managed to respond that I was staying with family out of state, and when he repliedwhere out of state,I had a breakdown, lying on the floor where it was colder, blaring music in my headphones so loud it left me with my ears ringing, just to drown out my thoughts.I ended up leaving the basement at almost noon, and I told Daniela I’d only just woken up.
