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Great. I was a ma’am now. Could this day get any worse?
I mumbled a thank-you, tipped hard to rearrange the universe so my karma wouldn’t suck, and went back to Dylan and Kieran, who were now—thank goodness—discussing the safe topic of jock itch creams.
“I have a prescription for hospital-grade stuff,” Kieran boasted. “Itraconazole. You could run a marathon and chafe your thighs to death and not feel it. You know, if you ever need it.”
“Thanks for the offer, but it’s been weeks since I could reach my thighs,” Dylan grumbled. “Longer for my ankles. The only proof I still have them is that I can walk. If you can call my wobbling walking.”
“Oh. Right.” Kieran pinkened, scratching his jaw. “Well, I can always help out, if you need a…hand.”
Her luscious lips tugged in a sly smile. “My brother would murder you.”
“I can take him.”
My God. Had they just made jock itch romantic? I shoved the pizza plates in their faces, not in the mood to see other people enjoying themselves. “Here ya go.”
“Pineapple?” Kieran frowned. “What the fuck, Cal? Is this a call for help?”
“Dot, why do you look like you’re about to cry?” Dylan dumped her pizza plate on top of Kieran’s as soon as she took one look at me. The playfulness disappeared from her face. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” I let out a pathetic attempt at a laugh, glancing around me. Mom and Zeta moved closer to the barricades surrounding the generator. They had found a few of their bingo friends and were chatting with them. “When is this thing starting? I need to wake up early tomorrow.”
Kieran gave me a blank stare. “It’s six thirty.”
Over his shoulder, Row finally spotted me. Allison was still talking his ear off. He raised a hand and offered me a wave. I looked the other way, clenching my teeth. Childishly, I was mad at him. He was standing with the girl who had helped break my ankle, who had broken me.
An angel and a devil rested on each of my shoulders.
The angel said, You don’t know what they’re discussing. Let him explain.
But the devil said, If someone shows you who they are, believe them.
Kieran turned his head to see what I was looking at, then pierced me with a pointed look. “Still can’t believe you’re into him. He looks like the kind of asshole to kill you, then join the search party.”
“My guess is Row is shitting bricks right now.” Dylan stroked her belly distractedly. “He’s been spending too much time in forced proximity with Cal, so now his self-destruction urge has kicked in and he is trying to push her away by paying attention to Allison. Classic bad-boy mechanism.”
“You’re just trying to make me feel better,” I said.
Dylan let out a small laugh. “I’d never spare you the truth, Dot. I love you. Good friends never blow smoke up your ass.”
Allison grabbed Row’s hand and dragged him toward the center of the square, past the barricades. He followed with all the enthusiasm of a war prisoner. She stopped in front of a microphone and tapped it with an excited grin. It made a loud screeching sound. “Oopsie. Sorry!”
People quieted, watching her and Row with interest. Tears needled my eyes. Jealousy festered inside my body like poison. It was a medical miracle I could still function with the havoc watching them together wreaked inside me.
“Hello, everyone, and thank you so much for gracing us with your presence as we light up the Christmas decorations for the year!” Allison gave a big smile. “Traditionally, mayors in town have always tried to bring a celebrity to help turn on the lights. Most of the time it’s people who have no affiliation to the town and don’t know our customs and traditions. So this year I thought, why not bring our most famous citizen?” She flung her arms to the side, giggling girlishly. “But then Kieran Carmichael politely declined.” She gestured toward our corner.
Everyone whipped around to look at us, laughing at her fantastic joke. Kieran was more famous than Row. Kieran stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Jesus Christ. In fact, the latter was marginally less popular, even in Catholic countries. There was a Brazilian city named after him. Kieran saluted Allison snidely.
“You said no?” Dylan’s brows furrowed. “Why?”
“Wanted to go incognito and not have the paps follow me here. It was one of the things I’d agreed to when Ashburn let me do my physical therapy in Staindrop and take some time off. Too fucking late for that, thanks to Ms. Murray here.”
Oof. It was the first glimpse I’d had of the old Kieran, the one who was mean to people sometimes, and it made me wonder if his good-guy act was all a persona he’d adjusted to, now that he was famous.
“And so I had to settle for this guy.” Allison gestured toward Row like a Price is Right girl. “Which was all right with me, considering I know how to butter him up.” She winked suggestively.
I was going to be sick. Row stared directly at me, his eyes burning with something unreadable. Hopefully acid. That prick.
People chuckled, enjoying Allison’s schtick. I felt as small and meaningless as I had all those years ago when Allison had hurt me.
