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“What the hell is your problem, Scarlett?” I shout. The outburst is so unexpected that it wipes the smirk off Scarlett’s face. “You were a rotten bitch in high school, but fine, it’s high school. Everyone’s insecure and trying to figure themselves out. But how is it that ten years later you’re still a bitch? I mean, you’re a horrible, horrible person! Why are you like this? Why did you even come back? Nobody wants you here!”
Scarlett’s model-pretty face turns pale and for a moment, I wonder if I’ve somehow hacked through the armor and actually hurt her.
Then her pretty face curls into an ugly sneer. “Oh, listen to you,” she scoffs. “You were always whining about something. You with your perfect family and your perfect best friend and your amazing grades and all the teachers who loved you, and you were still always so, Oh, I’m so sad and pathetic and no one loves me.”
I’m so stunned by this display of childish sarcasm that my voice dries up again, and I just stare at her.
Is it possible Scarlett was jealous of me in high school?
“Meanwhile,” Scarlett continues, “I finally get out of this stupid hick town and find a decent guy—I thought—and we start a great business together, and then I catch my asshole husband fucking a girl that I hired, and he leaves me for her, and the business, which should have been worth fucking millions falls apart. So I lose my job and my marriage and my future all at the same time.” Tears glaze her eyes. “And now I’m back in this shitty little town where everyone hates me and I’ve had to move back in with my asshole parents who hate me almost as much as I hate them!”
She gestures in the general direction of the Addison. “That building could have changed my life. Meanwhile, look at you! You’ve got the hot hero boyfriend, a great job, the whole fucking town loves you, and you’re still all, Oh, woe is me, I didn’t get a building I don’t even need. You haven’t changed, either.”
There’s so much to absorb here that I can’t take it all in at once. “Why don’t you just buy another building?”
Scarlett slumps against the wall beside me, the cigarette in her fingers trailing smoke. “That was the only one in a good location that I could afford. VivaVentis only wanted me if I could invest enough to buy the building. Now I need a damn job.” She raises the cigarette to her lips and takes a long drag, staring out into the crowded parking lot.
Maybe now’s not the time to point out that VivaVentis is a scam and cigarettes can kill you. As much as I don’t want to feel anything but unadulterated hatred for Scarlett, pity worms its way into my heart. “I’m sorry about your husband, Scarlett,” I say quietly.
She clenches her jaw against the tears she’s clearly fighting and makes a dismissive gesture with her hand. “I don’t want your pity.”
I stomp firmly on the pity worm. “Okay, fine. You don’t get it.” She glances at me, a little put out, maybe, that I’m done spouting platitudes. “But no one deserves to get cheated on or have their life’s work torn away from them, and it sucks that that happened to you.”
There’s a long silence. When she finally says “Thank you,” her voice is so quiet that I can barely, hear her and it sounds like the words are being dragged out by force.
Even so, it feels like something in me heals at that moment, a persistent, aching wound that settled in somewhere around freshman year in high school suddenly closes over, leaving nothing but a faint, character-building scar.
We’re not ready for hugs and I’m certainly not ready to confess that the hot hero fireman is no longer my boyfriend, but it feels good to not have an enemy.
“You know, we have a program at the library that helps people find jobs.”
She sniffs and nods. “Yeah. Maybe.” Our eyes meet. “I’m sorry you didn’t get the Addison,” she says.
“I’m sorry you didn’t either.”
I wish I could say that last bit was me being noble, but really it’s me wishing that Jeremy had gotten screwed out of what he wanted.
Just then, Jeremy bursts out of the town hall doors. “Blaze!” His eyes fall on me and he takes a step toward me.
“Gotta go,” I mutter to Scarlett. I spin on my heel and head for my car.
Jeremy has no problem catching up to me. “Blaze, please listen to me. I don’t know what happened but I swear, I withdrew our bid for the building.”
I pull out my keys and press the button to unlock the car. Thank goodness I drove. At least I don’t have to face an awkward walk home with him.
“Blaze, wait!” Jeremy grabs my arm. “Slow down and let’s talk about this.” I give his hand a hard, meaningful stare and then raise my gaze to his face. Slowly he removes his hand. “Blaze, I don’t know what happened. I’m going to go back and talk to your brother right now. Maybe they didn’t get my email—”
“Maybe the dog ate your homework,” I snap as I head for the car.
He follows me. “Are you accusing me of lying?” He has the nerve to sound angry.
“Is that when someone says they’re going to do something and they don’t? Because yeah, that’s what I’m accusing you of.”
“I sent an email to Walden and cc’d every member of the council on it. I swear, Blaze. I’ll send you a copy. I’m going to talk to your brother. Come with me. We’ll go together now and find out what happened.”
“What happened was that I took my eyes off the prize and let myself get distracted by a pair of warm brown eyes and a lot of earthshaking sex. Why do you even care?” I pull open the car door. “You got your building,” I tell him as I get in. “You don’t need to worry about distracting me anymore.” I slam the door shut and turn on the engine.
Jeremy knocks hard on the window, and against my better judgment, I roll it down. “Is that what you think this was?” he asks. “You thought I was distracting you?”
