Buoyed by her plans, she practically bounced the rest of the way.
A question rested on the tip of her tongue as they were taking the last leg down the trail. She glanced at Jake, who was fiddling with his phone.
Texting someone, by the looks of it.
A surge of white-hot jealousy shot through her at the thought of him texting another woman while she was with him.
The audacity! Isn’t it rude to text another woman when he’s with someone else?
Until this moment, Gia had assumed he was single.
But what if he isn’t? Does he have an out-of-town girlfriend or something?
With how small Willowbrook was, she would have heard about Jake having a girlfriend by now.
Why do I care if Jake has a girlfriend?
She didn’t care. Not really. It wasn’t like she had a claim on Jake or anything. Their past was solidly in the past, and there was no way she was going to pursue anything with him.
“Wanna tell me what’s got you all hot and bothered?”
Stopping in her tracks, she whirled to face Jake.
“I am not hot and bothered,” she denied. The lie tasted like ash on her tongue.
“Sure thing, princess.”
“Don’t call me princess.”
“Okay, cupcake.”
“Cupcake? Seriously?”
“Cookie?”
“No.”
“Pookie?”
“I will kill you.”
“At least you’ll be the last thing I see before I die.”
Huffing out an irritated laugh, she shook her head at him.
“You’re a piece of work, you know that?” she began, tone dry, unlike her panties.
“I’ve been told that a time or two.”
She nodded in agreement.
“Look, thank you for the umbrella, but I need to get going.”
Before he could answer her, Gia took off toward her car. If he followed her, she couldn’t tell.
By the time she reached the car, she caught sight of Jake as he emerged from the trail. She clambered into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Instead of taking off immediately, she made eye contact with Jake as he stood in the path. There were no other cars in the parking lot.
Did he walk here?
