It was finally happening—Jane was falling for someone. Her last date had been two years ago, and Lizzy had started thinking her sister was embracing celibacy. Now she wanted to jump up and celebrate, high-five someone or at least share a thumbs-up. But as she looked around, she realized there was no one to share her excitement with. Well, not no one. The blond palm tree hater whohad unceremoniously blocked her view a few minutes before was still there. He was staring down at the line of sour cherry muffins separating them, and she was fairly certain it would be impossible for him to muster excitement over anything.
So instead of trying, she delved back into her book. She was just getting to the part where Lord Magnus was about to tear off Adrianna’s dragon-skin corset when Will’s voice finally broke the silence.
“It’s a shame.”
Oh God.Was Will Darcy making small talk? Lizzy hated small talk. Especially when Adrianna was running her fingers through Lord Magnus’s dark hair.
She glanced up at him, hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun.
“About the cherry muffins,” he said.
Lizzy waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, she offered him a tight smile and returned to her book.
“You were out of them the other day, too,” he finally said. “When Charlie and I stopped by the bakery.”
“Oh, that’s what you’re talking about,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the page. “I didn’t know if you had a question or if you were looking for me to support your astute observation.”
“Then you should have asked me to clarify.”
She sighed. “It’s okay. Once I realized I didn’t really care either way, ignoring you altogether seemed like the best option.”
His eyes narrowed on her, like someone looking at an instruction manual written in a foreign language. “I see.”
She offered him another smile. “Feel free to ignore me, too. I won’t be offended.”
“All right.”
Then he reached over and grabbed one of the sour cherry muffins.
Lizzy’s mouth was agape in equal parts shock and horror as Will maintained eye contact, his blue eyes locked on hers, and took a huge bite. It was like a challenge, as if he expected her to admit the lie, to apologize.
Well, he obviously didn’t know Lizzy. She would rather go over and eat a whole serving of Marv’s pickle cotton candy. So she snapped her mouth shut and just lifted her chin as she watched the line of his jaw move as he chewed, the way his throat bobbed when he finally swallowed.
They were still staring at each other when an angry chant began on the other end of the field.
“THAT’S BULLSHIT! GET OFF IT! OUR ISLAND’S NOT FOR PROFIT!”
A small group of protesters appeared in the crowd, with Mary at the front, holding a canvas banner that read:Save Gretna Island. They were marching toward Hank Donato and his HamptonFest table.
Oh God.
Lizzy didn’t have time to cringe before Mary threw the first liquid-filled balloon. Where she grabbed it from, Lizzy had no idea. All she knew was that it hit the HamptonFest banner with a thunderous crack, exploding on contact and sending red paint in every direction. It was followed by more, each in quick succession, until the entire table was covered in Benjamin Moore’s Hot Tamale.
People were running in every direction, yelling for them to stop, screaming for really no reason at all other than the fact that they had been standing too close and now looked as if they were extras in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
When Lizzy looked back at Will, he was watching Mary with his holier-than-thou glare in place.
“That’s one of your sisters, right?” he asked.
She frowned. “Yup.”
He watched for another minute, and Lizzy could almost feel the judgment radiating from him.
“She’s got good aim,” he finally replied, tossing a five-dollar bill onto the table. Then he took another bite of his muffin and turned toward the parking lot.
She narrowed her eyes at him, mentally cataloging a dozen biting retorts. But in the end, she decided to keep her mouth shut and just watch him disappear from view. She’d save them for next time.
CHAPTER 9
