Page 11 of I'd Never Date my Best Friend's Brother

She turns her face toward me, and I bring my eyes up to meet her beautiful blue eyes. My breath catches, a whoosh of air passes through my lips, and my pulse races at what I see reflected there. She then shutters her expression and looks back toward the game as Penny and Liam pick from our bowl for their turn.

I’m pretty sure she wanted me to kiss her. Darn it. I should’ve just kissed her. I rub my hand up and down my face. I keep messing up left and right with this woman.

Chapter 7

Evie

The memory of Jamie and I under the mistletoe plays over and over in my head like a scene on repeat. In spite of myself, I wanted Jamie to kiss me. And not just on the cheek. Standing so close to him, the warmth from his body and his scent enveloping me had everything in me screaming with longing to have his lips touch mine. And I didn’t care that everyone was watching.

All I wanted was to lean in and feel the pressure of his lips. Actually, I did lean in. I leaned in, closed my eyes, and he kissed me on the cheek. On the cheek!

I pinch my lips together. I don’t know if I should be angry and disappointed or just plain old angry. I mean, talk about mixed messages.

I blow out a deep breath and take another sip of my coffee.

“I shouldn’t have had that punch.” I feel heat crawling up my face as I think about how I acted last night. Adding alcohol to the mix was probably not the best idea.

I look at my phone for the time. It’s almost ten, and Jessica will be here to pick me up with Mom, Mrs. Stewart, and Penny in a few minutes.

We’re heading over to the boutique to do a final fitting for mine and Penny’s bridesmaids' dresses and pick out Jess’ wedding gown. I feel my lips creep up in the corners as I shake my head—nothing like waiting until the last minute to pick out your dress.

Honk. Honk.

I take a last sip of my coffee, grab my coat and purse, shove my feet in my boots, and head out the door just as Jessica honks again.

“I’m coming,” I yell as I lock my door behind me and jog to the car. “Patience is a virtue, you know,” I say as I slide in next to my mother.

“Okay, Evie. What’s going on with you? You’re never this moody!” My mother tilts her head and narrows her eyes at me.

I glare at her and change the topic. “I thought you were picking up Penny, too?”

“Change of plans. She was called in to work to cover for a coworker and needs to be at the library by eleven thirty. So she’s meeting us there instead.”

I look away from Jessica and find two sets of eyes staring at me. “What?!” I yell, and to my chagrin, my Mom and Lenny chuckle.

I turn to look out the window and pretend to be occupied with the snow coating the ground in a sheet of white. I know that I’m in a mood, and if I’m honest, I can’t stand myself either. I’m not used to feeling on edge like this. When Jamie was away, I could pretend everything was fine. But with him back in town, telling me he missed me every day he was gone, my emotions are all over the place.

It’s like an extreme case of PMS, except I normally don’t have PMS. I blow out another breath and watch it fog my window.

“Right, Evie?” I snap my eyes over to Jessica and catch her looking at me through the rearview mirror.

“Huh?”

“What has you so distracted today?” She smirks at me. “In fact, I think you’ve been distracted since the day we were in your office. When Jamie called.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ahh, yes,” Lenny nods her head. “That makes perfect sense.”

My mother puts her hand on my shoulder. “You haven’t been quite yourself since Jamie left, sweetie, now that I think about it.”

“That’s it!” I yell, unable to control myself. “There is nothing going on with me and Jamie.”

My protest is met with silence. I run my eyes across the ladies in the car; not one of them will look at me, but they all have the same smirks on their faces.

I sigh loudly and look back out the window again, feeling like every one of my emotions is under a microscope. I need to pull myself together and fast. I’m just not sure how to do that when my entire world feels upside down.

When we get out of the car in the shop parking lot, Mom and Lenny are talking excitedly. Jessica, I notice, is chewing her lip.

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