Page 84 of Tuxedos and Tinsel

“How would you put it then?”

Susan opened her mouth only to shut it again. She wasn’t sure. “Company social invitations don’t mean anything. There could be any number of reasons why I drew the short straw.”

“And what about last night? Linus said you mingled with the best of them.”

She’d already told them the reason. Lewis had been by her side. “Mingling is easy when you’re dating a celebrity. I’ve been a rock star all month. Everyone wanted to chat.”

“Or maybe,” Rosalind said, “it was that for once, you were willing to chat back.”

Susan frowned. What did that mean?

“I’ve seen you at Collier’s functions,” her sister-in-law went on. “You tuck yourself in the corner and act all aloof. When someone comes up to talk to you, you’re fine, but otherwise you pull yourself away. You’re the one being antisocial, not them.”

“That’s not true.”

Rosalind arched her brow. “Really?”

All right, maybe she did stand off to the side, but it was only as a matter of self-preservation. Pretend you’re not hurting, and you won’t.

“You would too if your coworkers thought you were a shrew.”

“What?”

At the sight of her sister-in-law’s shocked expression, Susan felt a twinge of satisfaction. “Shrewsan. That’s my nickname at work.”

“Who calls you that?”

“Everyone.”

“Seriously.”

“Well, almost everyone,” Susan said, feeling defensive now. “Courtney and Ginger…” She paused. Come to think of it, they were the only two people she’d heard use the term. She only assumed the rest of the company did, as well.

Was it possible she was allowing the nasty opinion of two trolls to color her opinion?

No, because her problems had been going on far longer than that. School. University. She’d been separated from the world her entire life.

She offered her final argument, daring Rosalind to come up with a counterpoint. “If I’m so damn likable, then why isn’t my phone ringing with invitations? Why am I stuck spending weekends alone?”

“Probably because people think you’ll say no if asked.” Rosalind adjusted the baby on her shoulder. “I’ve heard you back out of plans with Linus. I’m sure you back out of others.”

Like invitations to lunch.

“Look, I get it,” her sister-in-law continued. “Thomas told me what your mother is like. But did you ever think that the reason people don’t socialize with you is because you don’t socialize with them?”

“Why should I?” Susan said. “They’re only going to…”

“What?”

“Leave.” She didn’t need to listen to this. Not today. “I’ve got a headache,” she said, starting for the door.

“How do you know?” Rosalind asked. “How do you know people will leave if you don’t give them a chance to stay?”

Was that what she did? Susan sat on the edge of the sofa and thought hard about Rosalind’s words. All this time she was protecting herself, was it possible she was being her own worst enemy?

“Lewis left,” she whispered.

“He’s just upset.” Rosalind’s voice softened, the way Thomas’s had earlier. And like before, Susan felt the tears threatening.