Page 16 of Contingently Yours
“You might as well just deck me with how prickly you come across.”
Smoothing down the front of his thin short-sleeve button-up, he mutters, “Tempting.”
The freaking coward. He can’t even look at me when he mouths off. Some badass ranger he is. “Hey, whether you like it or not, we’re in this thing together.”
“No thanks to you.” Folding his beefy arms, he glares out over the tennis courts like a giant bearded baby.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Are you going to stand there and pretend you don’t want the money? Don’t think I haven’t heard you on the phone nickel and diming your sisters over every wedding decision.”
That must have hit a nerve. His eyes flick to mine, and his arms drop to his sides like tree branches. “That’s none of your concern. And I’m not nickel and diming. I’m…being sensible. I didn’t think they were going to have 300 guests. I only had a hundred at mine and that was only because—”
“Whoa…hold up.You’remarried?”
“No,” he blusters, shoving his hands in his shorts’ pockets and averting his gaze.
“You just saidyourwedding. Ah, let me guess; you’re divorced.”
“You have to be married to get divorced.” That thick lower lip of his disappears as he purses his lips. Is he…blushing?
“Oh, shit.” I find myself snorting even though I know it’s not appropriate. “What then? Did she leave you at the altar?”
“No,” he sulks. His nostrils flare on an expansion of his chest, and he’s quiet for a moment. I honestly don’t give a damn to know anything about Lucas Everette, but this is too intriguing, so I wait. “She…left me at thePiggly Wiggly,” he mutters, kicking the heel of his sneaker against the concrete.
Excuse me? He got jilted?
I mean, it doesn’t exactly surprise me. I think I’m more shocked that someone actually wanted to marry him. Well, okay. I guess,technically, she didn’t.
“Two weeks before the wedding,” he grumbles, rubbing the back of his neck like it still bothers him. “In the middle of the frozen food section.”
Fuck…
No wonder he’s playing wedding planner for his sisters. Someone fucked him up.
I should say something. Even though I can’t stand him, logic and decency tell me I should say something. I need his head in the game, after all.
“Damn. That’s…cold.”
I don’t understand why he’s glaring at me until I remember where he said she broke the news to him. Ah, shit. I’m a smartass even when I don’t mean to be.
I try not to crack up over the thought of him getting dumped, surrounded by frozen peas. A wave of frost settling on him as sad music plays from an overhead speaker in the middle of a grocery store. I’m sure my face gives me away, but then his mouth ticks up at the corner, cracking a smile, and I lose it.
Thank God. Even Mr. Personality appreciated my unintended joke.
“I had to put half the shit back,” he scoffs with a hint of mirth, but then sighs. “I wish it had been that easy with all the wedding bills and the house.”
“Wait. You got stuck paying for a wedding you didn’t even have?”
Grimacing, he shrugs. “Shannon’s parents didn’t have much, and I’d have never asked them to help.” When I don’t say anything, he adds, “They’re good people. It’s fine. I’m about done paying off the loan, then I’ll just have the house and my truck to worry about.”
Not that I’ll ever have to worry about footing a wedding bill or not being able to afford one, but that’s messed up. Did he freaking buy a house for two that’s now a bachelor pad? And if she’s the one who called off the wedding, she should be helping him out with the wedding expenses, at least. What is he, a sap? Or just…
No.
I refuse to even silently think that Lucas is a good person. I don’t care if there is evidence. We’re getting off track here anyway.
“Well, I’m not Shannon. I’m going to see this thing through to the end, so can you start trying to act like you give a damn about me?”
I don’t know how I’m supposed to take the look he gives me. On the one hand, it’s shocking. How can such a big, angry dude look so vulnerable, almost like he has trust issues? I will not feel sorry for him just because someone broke his stupid heart. On the other hand, I’m offended. His face says that trying to fake liking me is the most repulsive thing someone has ever asked him to do. I am not repulsive. Yeah, clearly he’s not down with dick either, but I’m still a catch.
