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Eric pulled his away, but Holly grabbed it again. It was time. She slowly brought their joined hands above the table. “I’m sorry, Aimee. We didn’t want you to feel bad.”
“And you think lying to me would be the best way to accomplish not hurting my feelings? Because you’re wrong.”
Justin took Aimee’s ticket, and with one glance, got her to sit. “I’ll take care of that. Sit there for a hot minute so I can pay for this.”
Anger bubbled in Aimee’s expression, and Holly knew exactly what to do when Aimee got that way. Tiptoe, talk quietly, and ignore the problem until she found another distraction.
“I can’t believe this,” Aimee said loudly, getting the attention of the booths closest to them. “We’ve been back for three weeks. How long ago did this start?”
Holly bit her lip, worried if she talked now, the whole restaurant would know their story.
“Let’s wait till we’re home,” Holly said weakly.
Eric patted her leg under the table, and she flinched away. If only she’d told Aimee earlier, it wouldn’t be so public now. Aimee was probably humiliated.
“I want to know. When? At the dance? Did you like each other then?”
“I kissed her under the mistletoe, the day of the dance.” Eric’s voice was firm, but soft. “It was no one’s fault. We just like each other.”
Holly’s heart melted at his kind words, but she refused to look at him and stoke the fire more. “Aimee, I didn’t mean to hurt you. That’s why we’ve kept quiet. I knew that you liked him, and I didn’t want you to think I took him away from you.”
“But you did.”
Oh boy, it was coming any minute.
“You just said you knew I liked him. That means hands off.” Aimee’s voice rose with every word.
“Whoa, let’s calm down,” Eric said, quietly. “You didn’t have dibs on me. You can’t help who you like.”
Aimee shot a look of murder to Holly. “Actually, you can. Out of all the boys you could’ve liked, you chose him?” She stood and stomped away from the table.
Eric nodded to Justin, and he followed after her.
“Should we go?” Eric asked Holly.
“What about Aimee?”
“Justin will get an Uber ride home for them.”
Throughout the day, Holly noticed Eric nodding at Justin, and without a word, Justin took care of Aimee, no questions asked. Suddenly, it hit her. “Wait,” Holly said suddenly, “did you two plan this? I mean, you brought the necklace with you. Did you plan to let her know everything today, with all of us here?”
Eric’s attention veered behind her or above her, but never again directly at her.
“Eric, answer me.” Emotion crawled up her neck and strangled her voice. How could he do this?
Other patrons in booths seemed to lean forward, listening to their drama. Why did it have to be in a restaurant? With everyone watching, Holly covered her bare neck self-consciously until she could slip her scarf around it.
“I told you I needed time,” she said when he didn’t say anything for a full minute.
He nodded and finally met her hard stare. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just—why should we let others dictate whether we share our relationship or not? It’s our relationship.”
Hot anger trickled through Holly’s conscience. “Let’s go home. I definitely do not want our relationship on display like this. That’s not what we talked about.”
She stormed off before he could protest. As they reached the car, Holly sat on the passenger side before Cameron had a chance.
“I’m sorry,” Diane said, settling in the car next to her. “Are you okay?”
Now that someone had asked, she wasn’t. How could he be so insensitive? Before, he said he was fine with waiting, taking things carefully and revealing them to Aimee at a good time. In a restaurant, full of their friends and strangers was not the right place.
