Page 18 of The One You Want

“Oh, it’s almost gone anyhow,” Libby said. She held up the bottle and waved it around, presumably to get the attention of a waiter, then focused on me. “Is someone messing with you? Because you know the Libbies will kick some ass if we needto.”

Her words filled me with a little rush of warmth. I wasn’t sure she was right, but it was nice to think about the Libbies having my back likethat.

Then I remembered that I was supposed to be leading the group next week and the warmth slipped right out of mychest.

“Pretty sure if you all tried to kick my grandmother’s ass she would sue you for all you’re worth, so I think I’ll spare you. Thanks for theoffer.”

“Your grandmother’s giving you a hard time?” Iris asked, while Libby and Riley’s faces both turnedstony.

It wasn’t a surprising reaction. My grandparents were not popular among the locals. Suddenly, I was rethinking this whole venting session. The prospect of ranting to Riley had been appealing. My old friend was no fan of Caroline and Walter Hillman, but she’d made it explicitly clear to me that she in no way lumped me in with them. I trusted Riley, in a way I did with very fewpeople.

But I wasn’t so sure I wanted to sit here and bitch about my family in front of Libby andIris.

And then, to make matters worse, Cora appeared with a fresh bottle of wine and a few more glasses. “Jerry,” she barked at a nearby table. “Give me that chair, I’m taking mybreak.”

“Anything for you, Cora dear,” the old farmer said, sliding a chair her way. He grinned over at us. “How are you ladiestonight?”

“Stop your flirting,” Cora told him before we could answer, plopping into the chair he’d provided. “None of us are interested in becoming the future Mrs.Brooks.”

He held up his hands in surrender, still grinning—Jerry was the kind of guy who loved it when Cora gave him a hardtime.

She handed Libby one of the empty glasses and plopped her feet onto Iris’s lap, earning a glare from the dark-haired girl. “Damn, feet are killing me. I had two bartenders call in sick. I’ve been slinging drinks for hours.” She smiled around at us. “So what’s up,girls?”

“Jenny was about to tell us all about how her grandmother is ruining herweek.”

Cora’s eyebrows went up as she turned her attention to me. “What’s wrong? She cutting yourallowance?”

My face immediately flamed bright red. “Cora.” Riley’s voice was as sharp as I had ever heard it. “Don’t be abitch.”

Cora’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, Jenny,” she said immediately. “I was justjoking.”

“It’s fine,” I mumbled, but she must have been able to tell that it really wasn’t because she leaned over the table and put her hand overmine.

“Seriously, girl. I didn’t mean anything. I have a huge mouth and I give everyone shit. I kind of forgot you were—” She cut off abruptly but I knew exactly what she had been about to say. She forgot I wasme. As in, the shy, overly sensitive girl none of them really knew well. The one who skittered around the edges of their girls’ nights out and their Libbies meetings but never got tooclose.

I was even more mortified now but I squared my shoulders and plastered a smile on my face. If there was one thing my grandmother had taught me it was how to fake it. “Seriously, it’s fine. I know you didn’t meananything.”

Riley was still shooting Cora a fiery glare so it was Iris who helped to smooth over the awkwardness. “Family can be so tough,” she said kindly. “Have they been getting on yourcase?”

I really, really didn’t want to talk about this now, but there was no way of getting out of it without drawing more attention to myself. “They’re just trying to set me up with some guy from the hotel’s main office,” I explained, trying to keep my voice light, like the whole thing was no bigdeal.

Libby made a face at me. “I take it you’re not interested in theguy?”

“Not in the slightest,” I admitted. “But they can be pretty relentless when they get something into theirheads.”

“I know all about that,” Iris said. “My grandmother is a brick wall when she wants tobe.”

Since Rose Powell was literally the nicest, warmest human being on the planet, I hardly thought Iris could really relate. Yes, the woman was absolutely fierce, but it was always evident how much she loved her family. She would never try to push any of them into something that they didn’twant.

“Your grandmother dropped this on you when you had lunch this week?” Rileyasked.

“My grandfather, actually. But you were right about the dropping part—literally. He told me he had a guy for me to date and then all of a sudden there he was, right at ourtable.”

Cora winced. “Awkward.”

“Yeah, you could say that.” I took a sip of wine, feeling the annoyance build all over again. “And then they left me alone with him. They expected us to have our first date rightthere.”

“Oh, shit,” Riley said, wide-eyed.