Page 11 of Finally Moore

“Don’t be silly. This is my brother. His favorite thing in the world is hearing about how much someone loves his food.” She waits a moment. When he doesn’t appear, she shouts louder. “SCOTT!”

Ouch, I think her yelling might have popped my eardrum. I try to rub it and see if it’ll make the ringing stop.

“WHAT?” Scott calls out, swinging the kitchen door open before stopping dead in his tracks. “Oh…”

Jax, only a step behind him, runs smack-dab into Scott’s back. “Dude, what the hell? You don’t just stand in a doorway like—” Jax smiles when he notices me sitting next to his wife. And, no, it’s not a smile that’s meant to be a friendly greeting. It’s a smile that says:My best friend just got done telling me all about the mess you roped him into. I think it’s hilarious, and I can’t wait to see it blow up in your faces when your family finds out you’re a workaholic spinster.One of those smiles. “Oh, why hello, Scarlett. How are you today? Anything interesting happen?”

Yeah, he definitely knows, and considering his wife hasn’t already hounded me with a million questions, my guess is he hasn’t told her yet.

“Were you two drinking?” Tilly asks. “You’re acting weird.”

Scott continues to look at me a little dumfounded, and Jax all but bursts out laughing while Tilly’s eyes flick between the three of us.

“Okay, what’s going on?” She snatches her fork back and takes a bite of her dinner. “I’m being left out of something,” she says with her mouth full. “And I don’t like it.”

“Shall I?” Jax grips Scott’s shoulders. Scott frowns, but his friend ignores him and continues before anyone can stop him. “Oh, what the heck? Scarlett and Scott are getting married!”

Tilly’s fork clanks as it drops to her plate. Squeezing my eyes shut, I turn to face someone who has been a great friend, included me in not only her book club but her family events, made sure I don’t spend the holidays alone… I risk opening one of my eyes to find her amber gaze wide and her jaw dropped open.

“What?” she hisses.

“I’m sorry.” I wince, then quickly clarify, “I mean, we aren’t actually getting married.” Tilly remains silent. “You know how I told you my mom was coming for Christmas this year, which was a surprise in of itself since she said she’d drop dead before returning to this shithole?Her words, not mine,” I make sure to stress that fact to the group of homegrown locals presently glaring at me. “Anyway, the point is… she showed up today, which is stressful enough. But then my niece ran through the door a few minutes later. At first, I was super excited because I haven’t seen her for so long, followed by my stepsister—AKA her mother—on the arm of my ex. And well, there is a lot of history there and I panicked. Scott walked in carrying Brucey, and the next thing I know, I announced to everyone that he’s my fiancé.”

Crap, that was a lot of word vomit.I grab a nearby glass of water and chug it back.

“Brucey?” Jax questions Scott, who shrugs.

“Yeah, I know… weird name for a cat. But believe me, it fits him.” Jax nods as if that makes sense to him before Scott adds quietly, “Oh, and I forgot to mention her ex isKasey Dawson.”

Jax pushes his friend aside, rushes forward, grips my shoulders, and shakes me. “You seriously used to date Kasey Dawson? As in, star ofYours for the WeekendandSecond Time Around? That Kasey Dawson?”

“Oh, that was a good one,” Scott appears to mumble to himself.

I ignore the question because it’s not important, nor is it anything I want to discuss—like ever. No, the big issue right now is the fact my friend hasn’t said a single word.

“Tilly?” I urge.

With a high-pitched scream, she grips my shoulders and shakes me. “You’re marrying Scott!”

“Not actually,” I try to correct her, but she’s too excited to hear me.

She turns to Scott. “Oh my god! See! I told you! I told you waiting for this Amanda wasn’t worth it because the perfect woman was out there waiting for you. And,bam, she falls right into your lap. Why didn’t I ever think of hooking you two up before? Oh yeah, I didn’t think two workaholics would ever clock out long enough to make something of it. But that doesn’t matter now, because this is perfect!”

“Amanda?” I ask Scott. I’m such a terrible person. I hadn’t even considered the fact that he might have found a girlfriend. I mean, I’ve heard all about his laundry list of terrible dates, pretty much everyone has. But if he found someone, I can’t interfere with that.

“It’s not real.” Scott misses my question or he chooses to ignore it as he combs his fingers through his dark, slicked-back hair.

But Tilly hears me loud and clear and attempts to wave off my hesitation. “Technicalities. I have a good feeling about this,” she says, as if by putting it into the universe, it will become a reality.

“That makes one of us,” I grumble under my breath, then push to my feet. “Look, I didn’t mean to interrupt your evening. I just thought…” I shake my head. “Honestly, I’m not sure what I was thinking.” I carefully back up towards the door, prepared to make my exit. “Can we just pretend this never happened? It’s bad enough my mother and stepsister aren’t going to let me ever live it down. But at least they are usually thousands of miles away and I can ignore them—for the most part. So, if you guys could just…” I wave my hand in front of my face. “…wipe this from your memory, I’d appreciate it. More than you can ever understand. Scott, good luck with Amanda, and, again, I’m so sorry for pulling you into my insanity.”

With those parting words, I slip through the door before they can say anything else—because clearly I’ve lost my mind—and run to my car. I step down from the curb, my feet slide out from under me, and I tumble back. Closing my eyes, I prepare for the impact of my ass hitting the icy ground, only to be surprised when a pair of strong arms reaches out to catch me.

I tilt my head back and look up into the eyes of my knight in shining armor. I don’t miss the fact that this is the second time he’s come to my rescue over the course of a few hours. “Thank you for saving me… again.”

“Seems like the theme of the day,” Scott says with a smoldering, half-cocked smile. He helps me stand and maneuver to softer ground. I grab my door handle just in case I feel like doing something else embarrassing tonight. At this rate, I’m due for a good swooning moment.

“Thank you… not just for now, but for earlier. You could have thrown me under the bus, outed me right there. But you didn’t. Not that it won’t be humiliating when I have to tell them later, but at least I have a little time to gather myself. So again, thank you.” I open my car door, prepared for take two of my escape.

---