I tried to keep my face neutral.After everything we shared, she just wants to pack up and move to Paris? What the fuck.
“Interesting.”
She glared at me and said sharply, “What am I supposed to do? I can’t just stay here and mooch off of my friends.”
“I don’t consider what you’re doing mooching.”
“I’m also not going to be my mother and just bounce from guy to guy, draining them dry.”
“You can hardly suck me dry,” I said, trying and failing to land a joke.
“Let's just have a nice brunch,” she said, smiling at me.
I tried to remain relaxed and pleasant, but inside, I was a wreck. Was that the deal? Here I was thinking we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, and this was what, an experiment to her? A bucket list item for Holly?
You’re acting paranoid and crazy. You just randomly put her on the spot, I told myself.She's stressed about the bake-off. Just drop it.
*
Walker was still asleepon the couch when Holly and I arrived back at my condo. Rudolph jumped up, tail wagging, and ran to me when he saw us.
“I took him out like three times last night,” Walker said, yawning. There was an entire half of a cake beside him.
“Did you eat all of that?”
“Hell no! Little elves came in and ate all of that! It was a full cake an hour ago.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Let’s not point fingers about who ate what cake. Instead, we should be thanking Holly for all her help,” Walker said. “It definitely paid off. Greg has all the kids making Christmas ornaments showing the exact moment when Owen crashed into the water.”
67
Holly
Iwas sick with nervous energy the next morning. It was the final day of the bake-off. I needed to win—likereallyneeded to win. Owen wasn’t going to want to be with someone who couldn’t manage a piddly little subscription baking business.
Worse, what if he thought I was only with him for the payday? I definitely had the means and motive. Shoot, if I was looking at the situation objectively, I clearly looked like a gold digger.
I paced around in front of the tower in the late-afternoon sun, hoping the cold would clear my head. But I couldn't stop thinking about Owen. I hadn't even decided what I was going to even bake.
“Ready to lose?” Amber said, jerking me out of my thoughts. She was dressed in a huge trench coat complete with sunglasses and a fedora.
“Ready to finally admit that you’re a creepy stalker and Owen is never going to be interested in you?” I retorted.
“He’s never going to be interested in you either,” she said slyly. I narrowed my eyes. Amber pulled her tablet out of her bag, swiping the screen on.
“Take a look at that!”
There on the screen was Sloane and Owen kissing at theTechBizholiday party.
“I’ve seen her do that before,” I said, though it did sting a little. “She’s after him. Just like you. I don’t hold him accountable for your actions.”
Amber pouted. “But he won the contest. The only reason he won was because Sloane pulled strings for him. And the only reason she would do that is because he’s sleeping with her!”
“That’s very convoluted,” I said, rolling my eyes. Inside I was thinking,Could it be true?
No.
