Page 71 of Desserts for Stressed People

Chapter18

Admit Defeat

A small butrowdy crowd welcomes me into the bar, a run down place mostly in wood and isolated from everything and everyone. It wasn’t easy to get here, because it’s forty minutes out of the city, and, once again, Alex has the car. So after four hours of sleep, eleven hours of work, and two trains, my soles throb, and my eyes burn every time the stage lights shine a bright purple. But I’m here to see the damn band.

Shane’s nowhere to be seen. Only dirty, sticky-looking floors, walls covered in posters, and a few drunks enjoying the music of a guy with a ukulele on stage.

I sit at a free, and mostly clean-looking, table and wait. I swear to God, if the band isn’t here tonight, I’ll properly lose it.

As I order a glass of white wine, an old man in a white cowboy outfit comes onto the stage to introduce the band. Thank God. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough and Shane won’t show up. After all, he did say he has a date. Maybe he forgot about the band.

I don’t see it happening, because someone needs to show up. Plus, I guess it wouldn’t be as satisfying to tell him at the office I was here. I want him to see that he has no control over me, and that the more he fights me, the more I’ll fight back.

“You gotta be kidding me.”

The sweet embrace of victory puffs up my chest even before I turn to look at him. He stands a few steps behind me, his eyes two unforgiving slits...and a gorgeous brunette with a sweet smile and heart-shaped lips is by his side.

He brought a date. Oh my God, he brought a date. He wasn’t just messing with me—he’s really here with a girl.

My eyes blow wide as I stand in an instant. “Are you serious?”

“Excuse me?” he asks with a flat tone and a horrible scowl.

“You brought a date?”

His face softens as he wraps an arm around the girl’s shoulders, her light brown, upturned eyes darting from Shane to me as we speak. Her dark hair cascades in soft, messy curls on her bare shoulders. Her perfect skin peeks from the crop top she’s wearing, the same color as sand or gold. She’s gorgeous, just like him. “So? What if I did?”

“So—” My heart is like a jackhammer in my chest, and my neck tenses up. “So...this is a work event!”

“A work event?” He shakes his head. “You weren’t even supposed to come.”

“But I did, and you’re not here to make a move on your date. You’re here to listen to the band and decide if it’s the right one for our event. Do you think it’s appropriate to bring a girl along? Can’t you date in your free time, like normal people? I mean—unbelievable.”

I huff and puff, short of whistling like a train, and the smile on his face stretches until it’s from one ear to the other. He’s loving it. He loves that I’m flustered and scrambling for a reason to justify my outrage.

The girl clears her voice, offering me her hand to shake. “Hi, I’m Riley. Shane’ssister.” She glances at him and grins. “And this must be Heaven.”

Oh. Oh, sweet Jesus.

“Hi.” I take her hand in mine with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I—I just assumed...We’re kind of—”

“We’re at war,” Shane explains.

Yes, we’re at war, and he might be winning this battle, but Riley knows my name, and considering he didn’t know I was here, he had no reason to talk to her about me. But he did. What did he tell her?

“You didn’t mention she was so pretty,” she mocks him.

Wait, is that—it is. That’s Mr. Hassholmblushingas he shoots her a deadly glare. “I didn’t tell you anything at all.”

Pinching his cheek, she leans with her elbow over his shoulder. “Oh, you’ve saidsomethings.”

Some things? Which things? “There’s a girl I like and I want to kiss until I consume her lips” things? Or, “a horrible woman tricked me and I’m now determined to ruin her work life” things?

Shane points at the door, ignoring his sister’s giggles. “Anyway, the band’s about to start. And we’re here, so...you can go, Heaven.”

I almost fall to my knees to beg her to spill the beans. “I’m not going anywhere,” I say instead, crossing my arms. “It took me an hour to get here.”

Shane’s jaw drops open. “An hour?”