Page 25 of Hunting Pretty

And this time there wouldn’t be a digital footprint he could so easily erase. I was going old-school.

And I had smuggled an extra-large thermos of coffee into my bedroom, ready to stay up all damn night if I had to.

The familiar sense of being watched came over me, and in my periphery, I caught Ebony staring at me.

I swallowed down a mouthful of soup and dropped myspoon into the bowl with a clatter. “I can feel you watching me.”

“It’s called concern,” Ebony answered, dabbing with her napkin at the spots of green liquid I’d splattered onto the tablecloth. “And it’s a mother’s prerogative.”

Ebony adopted me when I was fourteen, but five years was still not enough for the wordmotherto sound natural on her tongue.

Still, she wasn’t the only one reading from a script.

“I’m fine,” I said, rolling my eyes like the daughter I wasn’t.

Ebony made a humming noise like she didn’t believe me at all. “So I ran into Cormac’s father the other day.”

Crap.

I tried not to choke on my soup and cleared my throat. “So, how is Mr. Foley?”

“He mentioned that you broke up with Cormac.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “You didn’t tell me that.”

I thought we’d already topped the list of Conversations I Didn’t Want to Have with Ebony. But apparently not.

I wiped my mouth with my napkin before tossing it to the table. “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“Ava, you breaking up with your first love is a big deal.”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “I would hardly call what Cormac and I hadlove.”

Ebony leaned back in her chair and tented her long, pale fingers. “What would you call it?”

I swilled around the last mouthfuls of wine at the bottom of my glass.

I’d never admit to Ebony, but it was more like I was trying him out for size.

You know, like you see everyone wearing this season’s polo t-shirt dress from Ralph Lauren and you don’t think it’d suit you but you try it on anyway. And lo and behold, it just felt itchy and uncomfortable.

“You know,” I said, sitting up and smiling, “I always thoughtyouand Mr. Foley would make a cute couple. It has been, like, forever since his wife passed away, right? So he’d be ready to get back on the horse, per se. Not that I’m calling you a horse.”

“Ava—”

“Although”—I made a face—“then Cormac would become my stepbrother and I’d have to live with him. Ew.”

I shuddered at the thought.

“Ava, we aren’t talking about me.” Ebony smoothed down the front of her crisp white shirt. “What happened with Cormac?”

I bit back a groan. Dr. McKinsey would not be deterred when she lasered in on something.

“Apparently, he’s quite upset,” Ebony added.

I repressed a snort. Yeah right. Cormac was only upset that I hurt his giant ego.

“I just wasn’t feeling it so I broke up with him,” I answered, hoping that would be the end of it.

“He’s intelligent, handsome, comes from a good family…” She pressed the back of her hand against my forehead.

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