Page 41 of Austen Persuaded

Jenn must have noticed my grimace. “Are you all right, Annie?”

“Oh, I’m—I’m fine,” I stammered before gulping down the rest of my beer. “I’m so thirsty though, anyone else?” I forced a smile, the party-girl smile I’d mastered and used hundreds if not thousands of times before to show the world that I didn’t care about anything serious, that I was all about fun and good times.

But my cool-girl facade couldn’t withstand the tension soon to come as Kieran and Choua set up the next game, which required partners. With the two married couples pairing up, that left Jack, Viviana, and me. “Oh, I didn’t even think about the uneven numbers until now,” Jenn said, biting her lip. “Ugh, I’m usually so good at planning to avoid that.”

“No problem. I can sit this one out,” Jack said, leaning back as if to suggest he welcomed a chance to rest.

“No! I’ll sit out,” Viviana said almost forcefully. “I, uh, I was the last-minute addition to this party anyway, I think.”

Wow, she won’t even pretend she doesn’t want to avoid partnering with me.

AsViviana avoided eye contact and I tried to figure out how to respond, Kieran cut in. “Don’t be silly. We’ll just play something else. If you haven’t noticed, we have a number of other games to choose from. A ridiculous number, actually.”

I leaned back in partial relief and started to put my practiced smile back on until I glanced at both Jenn and Belinda giving Viviana meaningful looks. Surprisingly, a stab of envy lodged itselfsomewhere in my chest. What must it be like to have such close female friends—and for most of their lives? The one female friend I’d managed to hang onto for any length of time now seemed to hate me and was no longer speaking to me.

Well, you need to actually talk to her. Apologize, make things right.

Not just awkwardly show up to game night.

But I couldn’t face the voice of reason in my head right now. I just needed to survive this evening. I nodded pleasantly to everyone and pretended to be engaged in whatever they were talking about.

I glanced down in my lap, running slightly sweaty palms over my tweed skirt.

Since when do I wear tweed?

I sighed, remembering I was far behind on laundry. Then again, I could always go shopping … retail therapy was my favorite kind.

The only kind, as far as I was concerned.

“Wow, you look … fancy for a Monday morning,” Jack said, a polite questioning look on his face.

I sighed, setting my purse down as I sat down at the table at the Krumkake Cafe. Its sweet and savory fare was top-notch, especially the scones. But I was too tired to appreciate it. “Sorry I’m so late. So, it turns out combining two of my favorite bad habits in one night isn’t the best idea, especially if I’m going to agree to a super early breakfast with a friend.” I winced while finger-combing my hair. “I may have just woken up 10 minutes ago. I barely even glanced in the mirror, so I’m hoping my face isn’t a disaster.” I hadn’t worn eye makeup yesterday, so I had no black streaks running down my face. Probably.

Jack smiled, amused. “No worries, Annie.”

“So I don’t lose my reputation as having amazing fashion sense, I went shopping last night at Karla’s, you know that trendy new clothing store with the bar and crazy hours—well, maybe you don’t.Anyway, I tried on some dresses, and I … might have had a few more drinks, so I ended up passing out wearing one of them. I didn’t bother to change since I was running so late.” I gestured to the very short (but somehow still classy) red dress I was still wearing, rather overdressed for a cafe breakfast meeting with a friend. “That’s probably more than you cared to know. It’s gorgeous though, isn’t it?” I asked with a grin.

“It looks very nice, Annie. I’d expect no less from you.” Jack nodded.

“But so much for penny pinching,” I said, frowning. “I should probably just order a water. That’s still free, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so,” Jack said, laughing. “Don’t worry about it. Breakfast is on me.”

“No need. I’m notthatpoor, Jack. Yet. I actually have a little savings I can dip into.” When he raised an eyebrow, I sighed. Why was everyone so surprised that I was capable of saving money? As though whatever stereotyped categories they’d placed me in excluded the possibility that I could be halfway decent at managing money. Instead of being defensive though, I said smoothly, “I’ve spent years splitting rent and expenses with two roommates.” I didn’t mention that I’d learned to save at a young age. Because of Jacqueline. Not that my mother had taught me to save—of course not, my mother had no notion of what saving meant. I didn’t want to be anything like her, and I’d realized early that independence meant having your own money, not relying on others to support you.

He nodded. “That makes sense. Renting, in the right situation, can be a good way to save money,” he said, a bit cryptically. Was that why he still lived in that apartment building just down the hall from Viviana, even though he surely earned much more money than she did and could afford something far better—was it because he was saving for something, a house perhaps?

I rose from my seat. “I’m going to go place my order. Be right back.”

As I ordered a bacon cheese croissant and fruit, the woman behind the register looked me up and down with a somewhat resentful,calculating gaze. I pressed my lips together. It was thatShe needs some meat on her boneslook that I often got from older women. As if she hadn’ttriedover the years.

Or maybe … it was something else. When the woman looked over to Jack and then back to me, I began to suspect it had something to do with Jack. After all, he was a regular here, he’d said.

“You can have a seat. We’ll bring it out when it’s ready,” the woman said flatly, placing a coffee on the counter and then turning away.

When I slid back into the seat at our table, I asked Jack, “Do you know the cashier?”

“Melanie? Oh yeah, Vivi and I come here all the time, so we’re all on a first-name basis. Mel’s fantastic.”

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