I'm Not Charlotte Lucas(42)

Shaking my head, I squeezed her fingers back. “No, that’s not it. Really, it’s nothing.” My gaze sought Andy and the mystery blonde, and Liam caught on, glancing over his shoulder.

Well, shoot.

His shoulders went rigid, and he turned back, his blue eyes hard. “Tell me that’s his sister.”

“I don’t know who it is.”

Chair legs scraped against the linoleum floor, and I clutched Liam’s wrist. “Don’t, please. The last thing I want right now is a scene. It could be his cousin, for all we know.”

Liam’s eyebrow hitched up, but he remained seated. “You’re his girlfriend. It’s within your rights to go say hi.”

I wasn’t his girlfriend for much longer, but Andy should be the first to know that.

Vera’s face snapped back and forth. “I’m missing something here. Who cares to fill me in?”

Liam watched me a moment longer before tearing his gaze away. I liked how his eyes softened when they landed on his grandmother. “Charlie’s boyfriend is having dinner behind us with that blonde.”

Vera covered her surprise quickly. She scanned the restaurant and nodded. “What are we going to do?”

I laughed. “We are not going to do anything.” Liam’s arm flexed under my hand, and I pulled back. I’d forgotten that I was still holding him. “Maybe I should just slip out quietly and call him. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”

Liam’s eyes lit up. “What a great idea. Text him now.”

“I’m not texting him with you two standing sentinel.”

“Why?” He asked, his voice holding a bite of challenge. I wished he wasn’t here for this and that he didn’t smell so good. He was more delectable than my carnitas, and that was saying something. “Are you afraid he’ll ignore you?”

Yes.

Vera shook her head. “You don’t need to do anything you’re uncomfortable with, but we will support you no matter what you choose.”

Liam didn’t relent. “I still think you should text him. If it’s a date, you deserve to know, and if it’s nothing, then we don’t have to worry.”

“When did my love life become any of your business?” I snapped. Liam didn’t seem bothered. He just held my gaze, daring me to do it. Part of me knew it was reckless, that I should wait and handle this in private where I wouldn’t be putting Andy—and myself, in turn—on the spot. But Liam continued to watch me, wearing me down.

And in truth, I kind of wanted to know what Andy would do too—now, in the heat of the moment when he didn’t have a chance to come up with a story to explain it.

Just like last time. Ugh. Good thing Liam didn’t know about the last time we’d dated, when I’d suspected he was seeing one of his dental assistants, and he just explained it all away. His stories matched up, and though my intuition said otherwise, I’d chosen to believe him.

I pulled out my phone, found Andy’s text thread, and typed a message.

Me: Hey, what are you up to? Can we get together?

I hit send and sat up in my chair, leaning back slightly to watch Andy over Liam’s shoulder.

“What’s happening?” Liam asked. “I don’t want to turn around and draw attention to us.”

“How thoughtful of you,” I muttered, watching Andy reach into his pocket. “He got the text.”

“And?” Liam pressed. I could feel restrained energy coming off him in waves, his fingers beating against his knee in rapid rhythm while his foot tapped on the floor.

Andy pulled the phone from his pocket, read the text, and then typed.

“He’s texting me back,” I said, filling Liam in on what he couldn’t see.

My phone buzzed, and I glanced up, holding Liam’s hard, blue gaze. Why was I so worried, so hesitant? I’d already decided that what Andy and I had wasn’t going to last. We’d just been having fun, right?

But this wasn’t fun.

Flipping my phone over, I read the message.

Andy: Sorry, babe, today’s no good. I’m helping my brother with house stuff.

Helping his brother with house stuff? What the heck did that even mean? Anger ripped through me, tearing a hot, bitter path through my core. Babe? He had the gall to put me off while eating dinner with another woman and still call me babe?

I stood abruptly, unsure of what I was planning to do. But my motion seemed to gather attention from the entire restaurant. Well, from everyone except my nearly ex-boyfriend, who was utterly enraptured by the blonde across from him in the uber-short skirt.

Okay, if the text wasn’t evidence enough, this woman was. She was definitely not his cousin. That was not an I’m-going-to-dinner-with-a-platonic-man outfit.

I started crossing the restaurant, gathering awkward stares for the way I’d stood up so fast, asking for the attention I didn’t want. Or maybe no one was watching me and I was just paranoid. Either way, I didn’t care. I had tunnel vision. And I deserved better than this scum.

Andy glanced up, caught my eye, and froze.

Good.





Chapter Eighteen


If I could have any magical power in the world, I would choose teleportation—the ability to pop from one place to another instantly would feed both my strong desire to travel the world and my responsibilities at home. But sometimes, like in this instance, it would simply benefit me to disappear. Catching Andy’s eye turned out to be a bigger mistake than I’d anticipated. Now I actually had to confront him. Oh, heavens. What was I thinking?