Page 13 of The Holiday Ex-Files

He slapped a hand across his chest. “Why do you assume I broke up with her?”

“Uh, because you’re wearing your photo shoot outfit. Were you having your pictures taken with a new girlfriend today?”

The uptick of the corners of his lips said it all.

I turned from him. “I can’t believe you have a new girlfriend already and you’re taking pictures with her. Is this your new hobby or something?”

He grabbed a piece of french bread from his plate. “Why does it bother you so much?”

I reached for my grape juice, because my mom wouldn’t let us drink wine in front of the kids, while I thought about why it bothered me. I guess it boiled down to . . . “I thought you were better than that.”

His face fell and a piece of bread came tumbling out of his mouth.

My brother Seth, sitting on Noah’s other side, patted his back. “You all right there, man? Even my three-year-old can keep her food in her mouth.”

“It’s your sister’s fault.”

Before I could defend myself, my mom, with her bat ears, who sat at the head of the table near Dad, wagged her finger at me. “Be nice to our guest.”

“Yeah, be nice to me.” Noah nudged me, laughing.

I ignored him and reached for my phone, keeping it hidden under the table. I lowered my head and read through my post one more time before clicking publish.

Noah’s phone dinged and he gave me an impish grin. “Posting at the dinner table?”

“How do you know?”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I get a notification every time you post.”

“Why did you sign up for my notifications?”

“Because you’re hilarious.” He paused. “And kind. The way you personally respond to some of your followers makes me proud to be your friend.”

I blushed and bit my lip, so surprised he followed me so closely online. More surprised he still wanted to be my friend. “I’m not that kind anymore.” I used to be—like, so nice people hated me for it. So nice I had even fangirled over Claudia Cann the first time I met her, before I knew she was sleeping with my husband. But Ben broke something in me. I vowed never to be blindsided like that again. And that meant no more Miss Nice Girl. Sure, I tried to be there for my Ex-Filers, giving them a virtual shoulder to cry on, and I wanted to be a good aunt, sister, and daughter. And I would give Mara a kidney if she needed one. But I didn’t go out of my way for people like I used to. I was pretty dang snarky in real life and online.

He leaned in close. His breath smelled too good for just having eaten garlic. How did he get it to smell like spearmint? I swore, ridiculously gorgeous people knew some kind of magic us normal people of the world had been denied access to.

“There are seventeen kids here wearing I LOVE MY BAE shirts, and a million people online who would disagree with you. I disagree with you.” He flashed me his charming grin.

Unfortunately, not even I was completely immune to his charm. His kindness warmed my frozen heart just a degree or two. “You might think differently after you read what I just posted.”

“I won’t. But . . . I do want to know if you really burp songs on demand.”

“Of course, you had to read that post.” I laughed. “The answer is no, unless you’re a potential suitor my mom has sprung on me, which you’re not.”

He pressed his lips together for a moment. “Let’s pretend I am. I want to request a song.”

“I don’t think so. It makes the minions go crazy, and my mom says she loses a bit of her soul when she hears me do that. Besides, you already know I can burp just about any song. In fact, you once tried to out burp me.” A thought popped into my head about a summer night long ago when a huge group of us went camping. Every guy at that campout had tried to outdo me. I was all of twenty and so proud of myself. And happy. Ridiculously happy. Ben and I had just started dating. He and Noah had told me I was the coolest girl they had ever known after they got a taste of my disgusting skill. Obviously, Ben changed his mind.

Yeah, that still hurt.

I scooted my chair back and grabbed my plate and glass before heading toward the kitchen, doing my best to run away from my memories. I hated when they caught me so off guard like that. It was why I had stayed away from Noah. Hot shame consumed me. I hated myself for being so stupid and taken in by his best friend. I rushed to the kitchen to rinse my dirty dishes in the sink.

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