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“Fine, then is it because I’m not blonde and pretty?” she asked, not hiding the venom in her tone.
“Ry, don’t,” he said, reaching for her. “You’re the most stunning person I’ve—”
“Stop,” she said, holding up a hand. She pushed him away, losing her balance from the slick grass beneath her and almost toppling over. He tried to steady her, but she twisted out of his grasp. “If you’re not going to break it off with her, then I don’t want to hear it.”
“P-please, I—” he stuttered. “I need you to trust me.”
“And what? Secretly date you so you can keep this weird high school royalty facade you’ve got going on?” She stormed away from him, grabbing her sneaker as she went.
Tears rolled down his cheeks when she spared him a final glance. “Ry, I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t—”
“You already have, Tyler,” she said coldly.
She stepped into the house, throwing her wet sneaker at the bookshelf across the room, watching a few books crumble to the floor. Just like her heart.
Chapter Fourteen
She couldn’t stomach her food, let alone being in the house by herself after that. She grabbed her keys and left, pulling out of the driveway with no clear destination in mind.
She’d kissed both of them. In one day.
Kissing her boyfriend…or whatever Jay was…made sense. But kissing the boy-next-door who’d been her best friend for a decade? That wasn’t supposed to happen, and yet here she was. And her heart was broken because of it.
Rory pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store, parked her car in a dark corner, and screamed at the top of her lungs. How dare he do this to her. If Calvin hadn’t put all these ideas in her head, she probably wouldn’t be here right now. She would have kept her cool and not chased him out the door. She would have stayed woefully oblivious to what it felt like to kiss Tyler Chapman, what it was like having his hands on her, listening to the satisfied murmur climb up his throat.
She hopped out of the car and slammed the door. She needed to talk to someone, but going to Melanie’s wasn’t an option right now. If she did, she would probably end up punching Calvin in the throat for instigating the living hell her day had turned into.
Rory stepped into Post Road Market, pulling her hood over her head so no one would recognize her. Not like she would run into too many people though—the place was virtually empty. Everyone was likely home enjoying Thanksgiving dinner. But she was here…and on the hunt for the one other person she could count on to be scowling somewhere.
This time, she wasn’t stocking shelves. She found Jess at the bakery, piping frosting on a purple cake, her eyebrows knitted tightly together in concentration, a pair of massive headphones perched on her head.
Rory stepped into Jess’s line of sight and waved her arms. Jess looked up from the cake and pulled her headphones from her ears. She narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Spending my pathetic Thanksgiving at the Post Road Market, you?”
Her face softened, but only slightly. “You look like shit.”
Rory wiped at a wet strand of hair sticking to her face. “Thanks, you’re too kind.”
Jess quickly finished piping her cake, then slid it into the glass display case between them before washing her hands. “You eat yet?”
She shook her head, watching Jess as she removed her denim apron and hung it up on a hook next to the bakery’s entrance. She tipped her head in Rory’s direction, cueing her to follow as they weaved through the store. Jess started grabbing random items off shelves, then pointed to a fridge stocked with drinks. “Pick something out.”
She obeyed, grabbing a lemonade and then following her to an empty table next to the bakery. They sat, Jess placing her items in front of them—pasta salad, wings, rolls, and two slices of chocolate cake.
“Happy Thanksgiving,” Jess mumbled, handing Rory a fork.
She smirked. “Such a lovely way to spend it.”
Jess shoved a forkful of pasta salad in her mouth. “Trust me, I’d rather be here than anywhere else.”
Rory took a timid bite of a wing, realizing she didn’t know anything about Jess besides the fact that she lived with her boyfriend and that she was 22, the oldest out of all the Scoopers.
“Gabi working?” Jess asked.
“Yup.”
Jess nodded, the two of them eating in silence for a beat. She wasn’t big on words, and the stillness made Rory massively uncomfortable. She soon realized that Jess was probably giving her the space to talk.
