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I can’t help it. I smirk. “It’s called Bambi’s,” I tell her. “And it’s amazing. He named it after Bailey Hart, who owns the art gallery on the first floor. It’s his nickname for her.”
I’m hoping Scarlett will ask if I know Nikko personally, which I do, but she doesn’t.
“Bailey Hart?” Scarlett’s face crinkles, sincerely perplexed. It takes her a moment. “That great gangly tall girl?”
“Yes. She and Nikko just got engaged.”
“She’s engaged to Niko Cassavetti?” Scarlett drops the fake-sweet act just long enough to look legitimately shocked. The tiny bit of shame I feel at using my friend’s engagement to name-drop is completely eclipsed by the satisfaction I get at watching Scarlett struggle to reconcile the fact that Bailey, who was awkward and shy and a head taller than most of the other girls in high school, has snagged a hot celebrity chef.
Scarlett recovers herself. “Well,” she titters, “I guess miracles do happen. And what happened to Noah Babcock’s little sister? I seem to remember the two of you were besties, weren’t you?”
“Still are,” I tell her, happy to report on Joyce’s good fortune. “She owns the Flying Saucer Cafe. She and Hunter Baldwin just had a baby together.”
Scarlett bursts into laughter. “Hunter and Joyce have a baby? Goodness me, what a topsy-turvy world we live in!” she says with a big, plastic smile. “I’ll have to stop by the cafe and say congratulations.”
I make a mental note to call Joyce asap to give her a head’s up.
“Speaking of Joyce, how is Noah? I seem to remember you have quite a crush on him.” Scarlett looks innocent. “Don’t tell me you ended up with him? I mean, it seems like anything’s possible these days.”
And here it is. The leverage that Scarlett held over my head most of my freshman year. She knew I had a crush on Joyce’s brother, who, along with Hunter, was one of the most popular boys in school, laughably out of my league, and Scarlett’s boyfriend to boot.
Noah and Scarlett were the couple my freshman year in high school. The couple most likely to get married. The homecoming king and queen. The star quarterback and the head cheerleader. Every possible romantic high school cliche was wrapped up in those two—until a dramatic and messy breakup that kept everyone gossiping and taking sides for weeks.
The idea that frumpy, dumpy me could aspire as high even as Scarlett’s leftovers was laughable.
I take a deep breath. “He’s married now to a lovely woman named Katie, and they have two kids.”
I got over my crush on Noah a long time ago, but Scarlett has a way of making me feel I’m in ninth grade all over again, trying out for and failing to make the cheerleading team, terrified that she’ll tell the world I adore Noah, standing silently in the girls’ room while she and her pretty, popular friends make catty remarks about my weight, my clothes, my love of books, and my general loser-ishness.
“Oh.” Scarlett makes big sympathetic eyes at me. “Anyone special in your life?”
Absurdly, an image of Chief Wainwright pops into my head. “Not at the moment,” I reply breezily.
“But you’re working here? So that must be nice?” Scarlett smiles bravely like she’s trying to make the most of a bad situation. “You always did love books.”
Yay, another person who thinks all I do is read all day. “Believe it or not, I’m actually fairly busy, Scarlett. Can I help you with anything?”
She glances at what looks like an expensive watch. “So sorry, Blaze, I’d love to stay and catch up, but I need to run.” Her tone implies that I’m the one who wants her to stay and that she has more important things to do. It’s a good thing she’s leaving before she sees the steam coming out of my ears. “Great seeing you, though!”
“Yeah, you too,” I tell her as she spins around on her expensive heels and heads for the door. I’m relieved that she’s gone, but her quick retreat confirms my suspicion that she only came in to torment me.
She’s probably got her sights trained on Joyce now. I’m less worried about Bailey, who was a year ahead of me and Joyce in high school and kind of sweetly oblivious to Scarlett and her pack. She might not even remember her, whereas I was scarred for life.
The library is fairly empty now, so I text Joyce to let her know Scarlett is back in town.
My phone rings almost immediately. “Are you freaking serious?” Joyce hisses when I pick it up. “Did she ask about Noah?”
“Yeah. I told her he’s married.”
“She was totally pumping you for information. For goodness sake, if you run into her again, don’t say anything about him and Katie splitting up.”
“Wait, Noah and Katie are splitting up?” I never particularly liked Katie, but Noah is such a dedicated family man that I never would have seen him getting divorced. “I didn’t know that!”
“Trial separation. Very recent, and Noah really doesn’t like people knowing his private business. The last thing he needs is Scarlett’s kind of crazy waltzing back into his life right now. She did a real number on him in high school.”
I’m a little hurt that my best friend doesn’t remember what a number Scarlett did on me, but I don’t want to get into it in the middle of work. “Well, she said she’s married now. She and her husband are looking for real estate to invest in or something. I don’t think she’s after Noah.”
“I hope not.” Joyce doesn’t sound convinced.
