Page 31 of Easy On Me

The door creaked open. I glanced down the hall to watch his approach, that measured walk and erect bearing of his. I loved to watch him move.

We took our leave not long after, and Mama Nancy hugged him, too, when we left. I kissed her cheek with a see you later, since we would all be at the Bartletts’ in a few hours.

The house was only a couple of blocks off the historic downtown, so we headed that way. He parked in the big lot next to the fire department, and we ambled, hand in hand, to Broad Street. The trees had lost their leaves, stretching naked branches toward the sky, but the area still held on to its charm. A hint of the holiday season remained here as well, with the magnolia swag around the yellow doors at Firefly and greenery still decorating the entrances to Kevin’s.

I loved Thomasville. The town was home, too, and I loved walking here with him, his fingers warm around mine as a chilly breeze flirted with my hair. A hint of woodsmoke and grilled meat drifted from the Chop House. A car rumbled over the brick pavers on Broad, and shoppers streamed in and out of the stores and boutiques in the historic buildings.

He shifted, dropping my hand to loop his arm about my neck. “I think she liked me.”

I darted a look at him from beneath my lashes. “She did.”

A pleased grin curved his mouth, but he didn’t say anything, just tugged me closer into his side, so my hip bumped his.

I folded my arm around his waist as we approached the Farmer’s Daughter. “We should stop in. They have this seasonal–”

“Can you pick me up tonight, Dan?” The female voice rang slightly familiar and a lot nasal. A frisson of tension ran through Jase’s long body next to me, and I frowned.

Phone pressed to her ear, the blonde blocking the sidewalk between us and the Farmer’s Daughter lifted her gaze. Her blue eyes landed on Jase and widened before sliding sideways to me. An ugly avarice flared in her slow smile. “Perfect. I’ll text you when I get home.”

Ending the call, she folded both hands about the phone and pressed the device to her chest, sidling a step closer to us, but not moving out of the way.

“Well, Jase, fancy meeting you here.” Her eyes slid over me again, and she licked her lips, red lipstick perfectly applied but the wrong shade for her skin. “Who’s this?”

He ignored her, dropping his arm from my shoulders to hold my waist with one firm hand, steering me behind him while keeping me close even as he went to walk by her.

“Are you not going to speak?” Her voice held fake surprise and gleeful mockery. She narrowed her eyes further, watching me. “Your mama would be ashamed.”

Jaw tight, he kept his gaze forward. I started to dig a foot in and stop our progress. Who was this chick? That wasn’t the ex – I would recognize her. This one was . . . where did I know that voice from?

He had his arm behind him, holding me in place, a barrier between me and her.

The door to the Pink Valise opened, bells chiming, and another blonde stepped out, shopping bags dangling from one hand while she held her phone aloft with the other, using the selfie angle to check her appearance.

Jase’s steps faltered. My lips pressed together.

That was the ex.

“Elizabeth, look who I ran into,” Ms. Deviated-Septum sing-songed behind me. That’s right – she was the friend, the hanger-on who always sounded so desperate and needy in @LittleTownLuxe’s videos.

Ms. LittleTownLuxe herself froze, her gaze honed in on Jase’s face. Pleasure lit her eyes in the moment before she followed the line of his body, saw his arm wrapped in that awkward angle around me, clocked his palm on my hip. Her eyes widened, a hint of shock there, and pain pinched the already taut line of her mouth.

Her red lipstick was perfect for her skintone, but I already knew she was all about appearances.

“Jase.” His name fell from her lips in a hushed murmur, and pain lingered in the syllable. I hadn’t thought she was capable of real emotions because I’d seen how she treated the people she was supposed to love through that channel of hers, but that hurt was genuine. Seeing him with me was like a knife sliding between her ribs.

He ignored her, too, steady now, moving us forward, sidestepping one of the bronze statues scattered downtown with the benches. The Pink Valise’s door opened again with that cheery jingle of bells, and a tall guy stepped out, navy blazer over khaki slacks, sandy hair just this side of perfectly styled.

“Girl, you put a hurting on my wallet.” With a chuckle, he folded a proprietary hand on Elizabeth’s waist. She went rigid, her gaze still fixed on Jase’s face. After a moment, she lifted her chin, throat moving with a hard swallow, and she turned a brilliant smile on him, resting her hand in the middle of his chest.

“I’m worth every penny.” Her gaze slid sideways to Jase as we passed, gauging his reaction, and her face paled further, red lips standing out like blood, when he didn’t even look her way. Her girlfriend-slash-minion laughed, too loud and too fake, behind us, and I caught Mr. Old Money’s pained wince.

Pretty sure I recognized him from one of Mama Nancy’s fundraisers but I couldn’t put a name with the face. Thomasville had a lot of those men, all cut from the same cloth. I’d never felt comfortable with any of them because even with Mama Nancy’s last name, I wasn’t valuable enough for any of them without that name. I’m sure plenty of them were decent, but I wasn’t their type and they weren’t mine.

Unsettled by the encounter, I slowed my feet once we had some distance between us. Jase dropped his arm, turning so he could look at me.

Only at me.

He never looked back at her, once.