I grinned. “And how many of them have a sexy scar hand-delivered by yours truly?”
She touched the mark on her cheek, which was starting to clear up—probably not going to have any visible scarring, which was a relief despite what we kept saying—and she laughed. “All right, all right. You’re something special, you know that, right?”
“Um… I am?” I folded my hands at my waist. “Because I slap people and then act like I did them a favor?”
“Just in general, Alyssa,” she said, voice soft, and it made something flutter in my chest. “And Sawyer was a piece of shit for making you feel otherwise.”
“Oh…” My breath came short, and I felt my face prickle. Was I blushing? I looked down at the floor. “Thank you. I mean, I’m not… it’s not like he was all bad. Or all wrong. I know I have my own flaws—”
“Alyssa, literally everybody does. No more standing up on his behalf.” She put a hand on my arm, and I jolted at the touch, looking up and getting a nervous twinge in my chest when our eyes met. “Okay? That’s my ask in exchange for agreeing about the market. You’ll stop trying to put yourself down to fit his model of you.”
I—was definitely blushing now. My chest felt tight, but I nodded. “I… okay.”
She smiled softly. “Thanks,” she said. “Deal accepted. Now—” She pushed past me, heading back for the table. “Let’s pick out our favorites and melt them to see what we think. I bet Daniela’s going to be done at that party soon and will want her friend back.”
I adored Daniela, and I wanted to see her again and hear all about the party, but why was it that I felt disappointed about my time here ending? Like I just wanted to stay here and make candles with her all day?
Well, I guess lucky me. I was going to see her again soon. “Yeah, of course,” I said, taking out my phone. “One sec, just gotta reply to this.”
I didn’t reply to anything—sent off a message to Cat instead.Jade just agreed to go to the market! Already got Daniela to agree she’ll talk to Jade if she’s there and try to make things right.
Cat replied immediately.yes!!! just you watch, they’re going to be all over each other as soon as they get past the initial barrier
There it was again—that pang in my stomach like I wanted to stop it, pull them back before they both left me to spend all their time with each other instead.
I needed to grow up. Seriously.
Chapter 13
Jade
Ishouldn’t have been here. The whole scene was a little too nostalgic, set up in the old open-air market building, with wooden kiosks lined up in rows and the vendors only spending half their time behind the counters, mostly taking their time strolling around to the other tables, shopping and gossiping. It was a cool evening, and I hadn’t even finished setting up my table when a knock rang from the other side, and I looked up at where Alyssa stood next to Daniela, Alyssa dressed in a long coat in a soft navy blue that made her eyes pop and a fuzzy wool hat, and Daniela in the flared yellow trench coat that was basically her official spring uniform at this point.
“Howdy, stranger,” Alyssa said. “Very tempting little shop you’ve got here. I think we could go for a candle, don’t you, Daniela?”
Daniela put her hands up. “Oh, god, I don’t know, these candles look so nice, they must be worth thousands of dollars. No way we can afford them. How much are these nice candles, esteemed shopkeeper?”
I gave them both a dry smile, folding my arms on the table. “Ten thousand dollars. You had it right.”
“Jesus, Jade’s gotten cutthroat,” Daniela said. “You win the lottery lately, Alyssa?”
“I wouldn’t tell anyone if I did. But there would be signs. Namely, fancy candles.” Alyssa smiled sweetly at me. “Thanks for coming, Jade. I’m glad to have more people I know here.”
That damn smile. She had to know the kind of effect it had, had to be using the thing on purpose. But it wasn’t like I could complain. What would I say?The nerve of that woman, having a beautiful smile.I looked at Daniela. “You’re not going to let her burn a candle in your basement, are you?”
“It’s fine,” Daniela said. “I’ll take a big insurance policy. Just don’t tell anyone I’m committing insurance fraud.”
“Ha. Well, guess you’ve got to commit a little fraud if you want to afford my candles.” I reached under the table, rummaged in a box, and I pulled out a bundle wrapped up in a towel, handing it over towards Alyssa. “Here. This is the final one we settled on.”
She lit up. “Oh, did you finish?”
“What’s the gossip?” Daniela said, leaning in closer. I put a finger to my lips.
“It’s a birthday gift for Nayla. Alyssa helped weigh in on the scent.”
Alyssa unwrapped the towel to reveal the candle, with textured brown against matte peachy-pink to make it look like wood paneling, wrapped with a small gold ribbon and pressed with my seal, and I admit to indulging in the expression she made—her expression softening and lips parting in a softoh,her eyes shining. She really did have expressive eyes. That was one thing I was picking up about her. People could fake their interest, but Alyssa got that look in her eyes that could never be faked.
“Oh, god, it’s beautiful,” she breathed. “Can I touch it?”
