Oh boy.
I don’t react, not outwardly at least.
Jackson smirks. “Relax. She just got here. Cass!” he calls out, raising his voice toward the patio.
I don’t turn right away. Can’t give anything away to Jackson.
“She’s right there,” Ivy says, nodding past me.
Finally, I turn and follow her gaze anyway.
Cassie’s walking toward us, weaving through people, that same easy smile on her face.
And yeah. Something in my chest tightens again.
Weird.
“Cass,” Jackson says, “this is Eric.”
She steps in beside me, close.
“Hi,” Cassie says, smiling. “Nice to meet you.”
Eric smiles back immediately. “Yeah—definitely. Heard you’re new in town.”
“That’s me. The new girl.”
I take a slow sip of my drink, and pretend I don’t care. Not even a little.
Instead, I shift back a step.
“Jackson said you’ve been helping out at the coffee shop,” Eric adds.
“Yeah,” Cassie replies. “A little.”
“A little?” Jackson cuts in. “Place has been packed since you did that marketing campaign.”
Cassie rolls her eyes. “He’s exaggerating.”
“He’s really not,” I say before I can stop myself.
Three sets of eyes flick to me. Cassie’s lingers a half-second longer before she looks back at Eric.
“I just posted one video,” she says. “It kind of…took off.”
“I saw it,” Eric says. “It was everywhere.”
Of course he did.
“That’s actually what I do,” he adds. “Marketing. Branding. Helping businesses scale.”
Cassie perks up slightly. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah,” he says. “I’ve worked with a few small shops like that. You’ve got something there.”
I take another sip of my drink and, it’s gone.
Didn’t even notice. Miller Lite goes down so easy.
