Page 25 of All This Time

Knowing that makes it harder to hate him, doesn’t it, Laney?

His eyebrow lifts. “Oh?”

I plant a hand on my hip and shrug. “I mean, who knew you could consider other people’s feelings?”

He huffs out a laugh. “Come on, Laney. You know I’ve always been a nice guy…”

I tilt my head. “That’s weird…because I didn’t think nice guys told lies?” The words slip out before I have a second to process them. But if hewas truly worried about how I felt, he wouldn’t have acted the way he did all those years ago.

Regret fills my chest, but there’s no taking it back now.

Fletcher’s head rears back. “What?”

My heart hammers in my chest as I turn my back to him. “Never mind.”

He steps up behind me, his chest brushing my back. And for one split second, I forget how to breathe.

“Don’t think for a second that I’m going to let that comment slide, Laney.” His finger dances up my arm, lighting my skin on fire as breathing begins to feel almost impossible. “You can’t avoid me this time. You can try to pretend we weren’t friends once and that we are strangers now, but you and I both know that’s a fucking lie. Like it or not, we’ll be working together for the next three weeks, and it’d be great if you didn’t make the wedding duties more difficult than it needs to be. Don’t you agree?”

“What’s going on here?”

I lift my eyes to find Dilynne standing next to the popcorn cart, her arms crossed over her chest, smirking at me with a knowing grin.

Fletcher steps away from me—thank God—and I brush my hair from my face, forcing a smile while desperately trying to cool down. “Just helping set up a few things for the movie night. Have you—have you seen my dad?”

“He was talking to Elliot and Tori in the tasting room, last I saw.” Dilynne rolls her eyes. “Of course they’d be here tonight.”

Fletcher studies Dilynne. “I’m beginning to think you’re just as much of a fan of Tori’s as you are of Elliot’s.”

Dilynne feigns shock, placing a hand to her chest while her mouth drops open. “Why, whatever gave you that idea?”

Fletcher laughs. “What’s the deal, Dilynne? Did she do something to you?”

“Just stupid shit back in school—saying a classroom smelled like a grease monkey whenever I walked into it, calling me a lesbian behind my back because I loved working on cars instead of painting my nails and doing my makeup like her and her friends, and generally always acting like she was better than everyone else. But don’t worry, I got back at her.”

Fletcher winces. “Uh, what did you do?”

Dilynne leans over the table and lowers her voice. “I slipped a laxative into her smoothie during first period drama class. About twenty minutes later, she was shitting her brains out in the bathroom,American Piestyle.”

God, I love her.

“Wow. Remind me never to leave a drink unattended around you. Does Tori know it was you?” Fletcher asks.

Dilynne smiles proudly. “Nope, but I have video of her running into the bathroom with shit on her leg in case I need leverage one day.”

“Noted.” Fletcher looks over at me. “And you knew about this story when you agreed to be Tori’s maid of honor?”

“I did, and I never would have said yes if Dilynne asked me not to. But I agreed for Elliot’s sake, not Tori’s. And if Elliot is so crazy about her, she must have changed a little bit.”

“And this way I have someone on the inside to get intel,” Dilynne adds, popping her shoulder.

Fletcher hooks his thumb over his shoulder. “Well, I’m gonna go greet the bride and groom.” He turns to me before walking off. “You coming?”

“I… I’ll be there in a minute.”

Dilynne and I watch him walk off before she rounds the table and comes to stand by me. “Sooo… Did I interrupt something?”

“Absolutely not.” My eyes scour the courtyard and the crowd that has doubled in size since I last looked.