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“Oh, come on,” Melody says. “It’s notthatbad. Lots of people are in arranged marriages. You know, like coachmen, and chimney sweeps, and cobblers… I can’t think of more old-timey jobs.”
Tina laughs and nudges Melody under the table. I groan and cover my face with my napkin for a second before I sigh. “I didn’t picture it like this when Grandpa pitched the idea. You guys know my mom’s been in some trouble—”
“Yeah, I’m so sorry, sweetie,” Tina says softly.
“I thought it would be good for the family, you know? Pitch in and do my part?” I lower the napkin and slump back. “But now it sort of feels like I’m giving up or I’m finally admitting that I’m—” I stop myself from sayingbroken and worthlessand just shrug instead.
Tina knows immediately what I was going to say and puts a hand on my arm. “Don’t think that way. You never gave a crap about relationships for all the years I’ve known you and if you really tried to meet someone, I bet you could. There’s still time.”
“Maybe you could get up and meet that gorgeous guy over at the bar,” Melody says as she runs a finger along the stem of her wineglass and grins. “Holy crap, he’s incredible. And I’m pretty sure he keeps looking over here.”
“What are you talking about?” My back’s to that part of the restaurant, and I start to turn around to look but Melody hisses at me.
“Don’t do that! He’s watching!”
Tina laughs and cranes her neck to look over and immediately starts cursing as she slumps back down. “Oh, god, Melody, you have no clue who that is, do you?”
“Uh, should I? I’m not like you crazy people! I just train your stupid horses.”
“Kat, it’s Ford Arc.” Tina leans toward me, pitching her voice lower. “And he’s definitely staring at you.”
Suddenly, it’s like my back is directly in front of the sun. My neck is glowing and my shoulders are on fire and, holy crap, Ford is here. Why the heck would he behereof all places, and why’s he staring at me right now, and oh, god, I’m pretty sure I still have his number in my clutch from the night of Sara Lynn’s party.
I didn’t call him. I refused to let myself think about him, even though I did more than once, vacillating between being excited by the way he touched me and looked at me and hating myself for even thinking about him that way. Fact is, Ford Arc is a total bastard, and evenifhe was remotely nice to me one time, that doesn’t change anything about the guy, and it doesn’t give me license to consider something so scandalous.
He’s everything I hate. Rich, gorgeous, privileged, the kind of monster that would gladly throw me under the bus for a laugh. He hung around with the popular kids in high school and ran in the same circles as Sara Lynn despite our families hating each other. After that, he went to the prestigious and impressive Blackwoods College. Meanwhile, I stayed home and got my vettech degree. Ford is destined to sit atop the social pyramid and kick anyone he deems unworthy directly in the face as they scramble up to get a glimpse at his ankles, and I’m squarely at the bottom buried so far beneath a thousand other people that I can’t believe he even knows my name.
Let alone is looking at me right now.
“Can you two stop it?” I say through my teeth. “Forget about Ford. We’re here to celebrate, right?”
“Sure, sure,” Tina says and tilts her head. “Aren’t your families in some kind of feud though? He’s not looking at you like you’re feuding. He’s looking at you like he wants to—”
“Stop it.”
“He’sreallygood looking,” Melody whispers and she practically licks her lips. “If you’re not interested, I might be.”
“Aren’t you into girls?” I snap at her.
“I’m bi and stop trying to label me.” She sighs and cracks her neck. “I wonder if he’d be interested in learning how to ride. Or letting me.”
“You’re awful,” Tina says, laughing.
My face is bright red, and all I want is for this conversation to end because the thought ofridingFord is a little too exciting and more than a little too disturbing. “Anyway,moving on, please. Can we talk about something else?”
“Sure, Kat, sure, we’ll just forget the Adonis that keeps staring at you. Oh, wow, Carmine Scavo just walked in with his new wife. She’s really cute.”
I can’t resist anymore. I turn around and watch Ford greeting Carmine and a pretty young girl with dark hair named Brice Rowe, a girl from another prominent family in this area. They seem very friendly, very familiar, and I’m reminded that Ford runs in deep circles. I’ve only heard of Carmine because of Brice, and the way all these people are connected feels very incestuous and strange. As Ford sits back down with his two friends beside him, he glances back over and we lock eyes for one brief second.
It’s just like back at the Oak Club. His lips quirk in a tight smile and his eyebrows raise like he’s got a question on his tongue, and now I’m thinking about histongueand his lips and his mouth, and my cheeks are turning red and I feel a flush between my legs.
I whirl around and pick up my wine. “He saw me.”
“Yep,” Tina confirms. “Totally saw you. He’s smiling now.” She waves a little. “Oh wow. Ford Arc’s waving back. How about that.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Melody says with a sigh. “I think Kat is about to explode from embarrassment. Let’s be nice. Oh, no, he’s coming over.”
“No he’s not he better not be coming over oh my god are you joking you—” I stop as Melody cackles happily. Nobody’s coming to the table. I’m burning up and I swear the only thing that stops me from throwing my wine in her face like a reality TV housewife is the knowledge that Ford will see it. “You’re awful. Truly history’s greatest monster.”
