Page 40 of A Spot of Tea
Cora winced. “Sorry! I just feel bad for you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Mackenzie said, loading the game pieces back into their velvet bags. She had to blink to clear her vision. All the crying had done something to her tear ducts. It felt like her eyelids dragged across her eyeballs, sinking them further in their sockets. “I’m fine.”
Joey stood from his seat. “It was lovely hanging out with you ladies tonight, but I’ve got to get going. I have early flights tomorrow morning.”
“Bye bye, Joey. Fly safe!” Cora said, waving him off.
“Have a good night,” Eliza said.
He smiled at her. “I’ll text you.”
Ooh la la. Mackenzie sat cleaning up the pieces, a little smile on her face. She kept waiting for Eliza to make eye contact with her so she could say something, but she never did. Her eyes followed Joey, lingering on the front door long after he was gone.
Mackenzie sat back and crossed her arms. She’d fully expected Joey to detract from their evening, but she was pleasantly surprised with how unoffensive he was. He had that unaffected, aloof charm the girls went wild for.
He was cute, too. Not Mackenzie’s type, but it seemed he might be Eliza’s type.
Mackenzie packed the bags and cards neatly into the box. “Are you in love with him?” she asked.
Eliza spat out a laugh. “What? No.”
“He’s pretty dreamy,” Cora said, a twinkle in her eye. “I can tell you like him.”
Eliza stood, fussing with the game pieces, straightening them out. “Well, yeah, he’s easy to like, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not romantic. It’s professional.”
“Aw, why not?” Cora asked. “He seems like he likes you. He makes excuses to see you.”
“Yeah,” Eliza rolled her eyes. “Probably because he thinks this island is a retirement community like you do and there’s no one else to hang out with.”
Cora shook her head. “I take that back. There are plenty of young people here. It’s a vibrant community, indeed.”
Eliza raised her eyebrows. “I’m glad you see it that way.”
“Do you like him?” Mackenzie asked.
She’d been half joking, but Joey probably did fly around breaking hearts. What if he was a player? How would Eliza even find out? He could be ten times worse than Steve—a girlfriend in every city! Every country!
“I’m not delusional enough to think he’d ever go for someone like me,” Eliza said softly. “We’re just friends. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
A bell rang out and Eliza stood to tend to it.
Mackenzie blinked hard, dragging her stiff, dry eyelids over her scratchy eyes. “I, for one, am glad she’s not into him. He seems like a risky choice.”
“Oh.” Cora sunk into her chair. “I’m sad for her.”
“Don’t be.” Mackenzie had to hold her tongue. Cora was like a plastic bag caught in the wind. She didn’t understand what was going on in front of her. “It’s for the best.”
“She never thinks anyone likes her. She thinks she’s unlikable.”
“That’s ridiculous, Eliza can’t think that. She’s not unlikable.” Mackenzie shrugged. “He’s probably just a playboy and she’s better off staying away.”
“I don’t know about that. She clearly likes him, and Eliza tends to be a good judge of character.” Cora paused. “I know you’re speaking from your experience and you don’t want her to be fooled, but there’s no indication that he’s up to no good. He seems like a nice guy.”
Mackenzie hadn’t heard Cora make that coherent of a statement all night.
Even if she was wrong.
She crossed her arms. “I’m guessing you would tell me I missed a bunch of warning signs with Steve? That I should’ve known he was lying to me and had another girl on the side?”
