Page 86

“The dining room hours are over,” Christy continues. “So unless you need to run off to join a square dance, or whatever else it is people do in this place, I’m sure you have time to talk.”

The insinuation that Mayweather is a lame small town is clear, and it bristles me in a way I don’t expect. Because when I moved here, I thought the same thing. Hell, I still pretty much think that. But heaven help me, I actually feel like a part of this lame, ridiculous small town now. And I’m the only one who’s allowed to insult it.

“No square dance,” I say sharply. “But I do, in fact, have a life, so. You’re crazy if you think I’m going to drop everything for you after what you did to me.”

Damn it.I could have left off that last bit. I don’t want her to think that what she did still hurts me. I don’t want her to think she has any kindof power over me at all. Nor do I want Riley to think that. Because she doesn’t.

So then why does Christy’s cruel look make me feel like cowering away? I don’t know, but I’mnotgoing to cower. I’ll never give her that satisfaction. I need to get away from her quickly, though, because she apparently does have the power to make my emotions go all out of whack.

The sun is starting to set, casting everything in that perfect golden hour glow. But the sky may as well be gray and stormy to match how I’m feeling inside. One minute I want to yell, the next, I want to cry.

What the fuck did I do to deserve being visited by the Ghost of Cheating Ex-wife Past?

“I thought we were both adults and we had moved past that,” Christy says.

Riley lets out some kind of quiet but angry noise. I’ve mentioned my ex’s name before, so I assume she understands who this is.

“I have moved past it,” I say. “I just don’t want to talk about it.”

Christy rolls her eyes. “You’re being ridiculous. Let’s go somewhere.”

“Sorry, she can’t,” Riley says, drawing Christy’s attention to her as she steps out from behind me to stand at my side. I immediately feel calmer, though I don’t like her being in the line of fire.

There’s no way Christy doesn’t recognize her. She keeps up with popular music a lot better than I do, even if it’s stuff she doesn’t necessarily listen to.

Christy’s eyes go wide as they dart back and forth between me and Riley. She’s obviously been thrown off track by the appearance of a celebrity. Although I’m not sure how she didn’t notice Riley in the first place. The red hair is hard to miss.

Riley speaks up again before Christy has a chance to compose herself. “There’s a situation in my room that I need assistance with, and Addison was coming up to help me.” She flashes a big smile, but I can tell how different it is from the genuine ones she gives me. This is her PR smile. “It’sso lovely how quickly the staff here is able to attend to anything I need. They’re really making sure I get the VIP treatment, you know?”

Christy’s mouth drops open, and I fight to keep my face neutral. Riley never talks like that. But she’s playing the celebrity role for me to save me from this confrontation. Still, I find it hard to get with the program and move my feet until Riley grasps my hand and starts tugging me right past Christy toward the front of the inn. As if I wasn’t just trying to make a cowardly escape from this place.

“Hold on,” Christy says.

“I don’t appreciate being kept waiting,” Riley says haughtily. It’s so wildly different from how I’ve ever heard her speak to anyone that I almost laugh.

I turn my head and manage to give Christy awhat can you doshrug, playing along with Riley’s act as I let her pull me away. The stunned look on my ex’s face is priceless. Although when I look back one final time before we turn the corner, I notice her eyes have taken on a more calculating look. Which is somewhat concerning.

I’m so relieved to get away from her, though, that it isn’t until Riley has ushered me into her room upstairs and I catch the panicked look on her face that I realize the potential implications of what she did. The way her holding my hand like that could have been misinterpreted—or interpreted correctly, actually.

“Oh god,” she says, sinking down on the edge of the bed. “Did I just out myself? I wasn’t thinking. She was being so awful to you, and I could tell you were upset, so I wanted to get you away from her.”

I go over to her, kneeling on the floor between her legs. I brace my hands on her thighs in hopes my touch might help calm her down. “First of all, thank you for helping me. I really appreciate it. And honestly, I’m not sure if Christy will read anything into us or not. She probably wouldn’t believe I’d be able to get someone like you.”

“That’s silly.”

I shrug. If she doesn’t realize how far out of my league she is, I don’t need to tell her. “Anyway, even if she does think something is going on with us, I doubt she’d go running to the tabloids with that gossip. She wouldn’t want to give me that kind of clout. Not that I see dating you that way. But that’s how she’d see it.”

Riley reaches for my ponytail and carefully tugs the hair tie free. She slides it onto her own wrist, then gently shakes my hair out for me. “You make her sound like she hates you.”

Well, she certainly doesn’t love me.

“The divorce caused a lot of animosity between us.”

“But it was her fault.”

Again, I shrug. “Mostly. Almost entirely. But by the end, neither of us was very nice to the other.”

“What do you think she wants to talk to you about?” she asks, scratching her fingers lightly over my head. It’s soothing, and I let my eyes slipped close for a second.