“It was fine.” He shrugs. Once he cuts eye contact, he doesn’t look at me again. Normally, I’d be annoyed, but this was perfect. Eye contact turned into me wanting to touch him.
“Yep. Fine.”
“Oh,” Quinn says. “You’ll have to tell me all about it.”
“Another time,” I reply. “This is your birthday, and I bet you have a ton of people to talk to.”
She sighs, and I know I’m right. “At least we can all get some photos, right?”
“You two go. I’ll hang out here,” Nate says.
“Yeah, okay.” Quinn looks between us one more time before dragging me away. As I go, I give him a thumbs-up.
He laughs and shakes his head, letting just a bit of that man I know through before he gets it under control.
I pose for at least ten photos in the booth before the curtain opens and Andrea appears. My heart jumps into my throat when seeing her, but I keep my gaze steady. She gives me a cold stare.
“Mom, we talked about this,” Quinn hisses.
“Yes, yes.” She finally looks at me. “Hello, Maisie. Vacation looks like it suits you.”
“It was something,” I reply. “Happy to be back to see everyone, though.”
“Someone tried to see you last night,” she mutters. “I hear you turned him down.”
“Maisie can make her own choices,” Quinn says.
“Sure.” Andrea finally looks at her daughter. “Your grandfather wants to see you, dear.”
She sighs and turns to me. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. Go see your grandfather. I can entertain myself.”
She gives me one last frown before Andrea pulls her away. I find Nate still by theentrance.
“So she hates me,” I say. When I get close, he eyes the space between us. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to stay one foot away to keep up the pretense. It’s how far I used to make sure I was.”
“You measured it?”
“Any closer and who knows what I’d do.”
I want to pull him to me and remind him that he’s the only one I want to keep close, but I shake off the thought and give us even more space.
“We should mingle. Apart.”
“Too tempted?”
“I wouldn’t last as long as you did, that’s for sure. I’ll see you around?”
“Stay away from Rob.”
“Don’t need to tell me twice.” I wink before walking away.
Most of Rob’s family isn’t interested in talking to me, so they’re easy to avoid. As I sift through the sea of people, I come across two familiar faces.
Lia and Ellis are newlyweds, and I was a plus-one to their wedding. They’re Quinn’s friends from her work, and she often hangs out with them. Their wedding was gorgeous, and at the time, I wondered if mine would ever measure up.
