Page 99 of My Wife
“I don’t know the first thing about running a bakery. Plus, there’s already the Busy Bee.”
“That’s also a coffee shop.”
“Coffee and I come as a package deal.”
“If we’re not going to talk about cakes, let’s discuss crushes,” Cara says with an enthusiastic shimmy.
I do a double take because that’s not the direction our conversation should go.
All at once, everyone in the room asks variations of, “Do you have a crush on Liam?”
I didn’t think my cheeks could get any redder, but they fall right off the color wheel. When I don’t respond, everyone squeals.
“I knew it!” Delaney proclaims, hopping to her feet.
“Me too,” Whit says, smug.
Gracie says, “I owe Vohn a kiss. That was the bet prize. Not that I’m complaining. He knew something was going on with his defenseman. He was right.”
Whit chortles. “Figures one grump would recognize it in another.”
Margo shakes her head. “Beau didn’t say a word.”
“The guy keeps things close to the vest,” Cara says.
I start to creep away because it truly is time for me to hide. I may have a thick skin, but the idea of an entire hockey team talking about me having a crush on someone is too much. But how did they know?
I ask Cara, “Did you talk about me to Pierre and then he blabbed?”
“My lips were sealed. Bestie code. But he was one hundred percent sure Liam had a crush …”
I blink a few times as her words slowly settle. “Liam doesn’t have crushes or emotions. He’s made of metamorphic rock. You mean that I have a crush on him.”
They all shake their heads from side to side.
Cara says, “It’s cool if you do, but the bet was abouthimhaving a crush onyou.”
This time they all nod.
“That can’t be. He tolerates me at best. I mean, maybe we’re friends.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “Possibly flirted once or twice. But—” I don’t know why I want him to like me. It’s as if ever since I worked my way out of self-imposed solitary confinement, I can’t tolerate people not liking me.
I say, “Liam doesn’t think of me that way. At all. And has made it abundantly clear.”
“Or a-Bundt-antly? Didn’t he ask you to make him a cake?” Cara asks with a laugh.
The happy squeals reach the highest of decibels.
When the clamor dies down, I say, “Even if I did have a crush on him or he had one on me, crushes are fleeting. It’ll go away.” And so will I because I can’t handle the disappointment of staying in Cobbiton and having my smile wiped off my face and my heart torn out of my chest. Everyone leaves me. Liam will too.
“Or you both might fall,” Whit says.
“Or it could be a rebound,” I say, thinking out loud when I should probably keep this to myself.
By way of explanation, Cara says, “Jess is a jilted bride.”
Gracie rubs her hands together. “A real-life tale of romance, do tell.”
I give them the barebones overview of Rexlan, but of course, they want all the details, which brings us back around to the present day with Liam. But there’s only so much I can say right now as I unravel the knots I’ve tied myself in about my feelings for this man. I keep much of what came before my return to Cobbiton to myself … for now.
