Another Shot At Love Read online

  “Is that why you’ve been spending so much time at Mom and Dad’s?”

  She nodded. For a newly-engaged woman, she’d been spending very little time with Jeremy on the weekends.

  The door banged open and Catherine hurried in, a scowl on her pretty face, her pink stained lips puckered. “What is taking so long? I thought I was going to have to gouge my eyes out with a fork and stick napkins in my ears. They’re talking about how important they are at their country club.”

  “Sorry. Lexie’s having a crisis. She just referred to her wedding as a ‘damn wedding.’ Something to do with Jeremy’s mom.”

  Catherine frowned and crossed her arms above her belly. “Lex?”

  “Jeremy’s mom decided that I’m not competent enough to plan my wedding. She’s decided to stick some snotty wedding planner on me. One who, by the way, agrees with everything Deborah tells her to agree with, and they’re trying to change everything I’ve already planned.”

  “What?” I said.

  “No!” Catherine said.

  I put my hands on my hips. “Why would she hire a wedding planner without okaying it with you first?”

  “Because she’s a control freak.” Lexie frowned and massaged her fingers against her temples. “God, I’m getting a migraine again.” She dropped her hands and said, “I know Deborah’s a control freak. I mean, my entire relationship with Jeremy has been based around her approval of everything—where we go to dinner, what we order, who we can be seen with. Appearances are everything right now since Jeremy’s dad is running for senate next year.”

  “That sounds awful,” I breathed. I tried for a joke, hoping to lighten the mood. “But you know Jeremy’s going to be president of the United States so it’s important to prepare early. Your wedding can be like practice for all the fancy balls you’ll have to attend as First Lady.”

  Lexie’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I know!”

  “Oh, Lexie, I’m so sorry,” Catherine said and wrapped Lexie into her arms. I stepped behind her and patted her back.

  “It’ll be okay,” I assured her, but knowing Jeremy’s parents, especially his mom, Deborah, my heart wasn’t in it; things were probably not going to be okay.

  “Maybe,” Lexie said. “The guest list for just the engagement party has doubled in size. She’s taken over that too. Our parents are supposed to split the cost, but now it’s become a political social event full of people Jeremy and I don’t even know, and Mom and Dad can’t afford to feed them all! My seating chart is all screwed up! I don’t know where to put everyone!”

  Oh no, not the seating chart. No wonder Lexie was on the verge of a breakdown.

  “If his parents want to invite all those people then they can pay for it, too.”

  “Jeremy already offered to pay for it all. I can’t let him do that.” Lexie shook her head and wiped at her eyes. “It’s just turning into a mess. His dad’s assistant has taken over the rest of the seating chart because I can’t even keep track of all the new RSVPs anymore.”

  “Maybe this is a good thing, Lex,” I said and handed her a tissue from the box on the vanity. “You’re already stressed out when you should be enjoying it all. All you have to do now is show up and look beautiful, and everyone else will handle the rest. We’ll get to do the fun stuff like pick out cupcakes and decorations. It’ll be great. You’ll see.”

  “Right,” Lexie said, her voice sounding brighter than her eyes let on. “It’ll be perfect. She dabbed at her cheeks to dry them. “Let’s just go out there and pretend Brent’s not a jackass and that Jeremy didn’t invite him and that Deborah isn’t trying to ruin my wedding.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Cupcake testing with my cheating ex was a little like being sent to the depths of a blazing hot, unforgiving hell. My plan was to shove cupcakes down my throat as fast as possible so I could leave soon. And what fun would rushed cupcake testing be? None; that’s what.

  I blamed Jeremy mostly for not knowing better, and Brent for not taking my whole boyfriend story seriously. It didn’t matter at all how bogus my story was, he didn’t know that, but he’d come anyway. He had no right to be here, thinking he had another shot at love with me. I was so upset he once again proved he didn’t take me seriously, that I sat down in my chair, back stiff as a board, with the sole purpose of ignoring him.

  “It’s really nice to see you, Gennie-bear,” Brent said when I sat down.

  Lexie opened her mouth to bite his head off, but I said, “Great. Let’s get started, shall we? Cupcakes, Lexie; remember?”

  It was best to ignore a tyrant than to egg him on.

  “Yeah, okay,” Lexie said, staring down at the cupcakes in the box. The whole fun had been zapped out of the afternoon. My twin was working to control her rage, I could tell. It must have taken a lot of self-control on her part not to assault Brent. I hoped she wouldn’t lose it and smash a precious cupcake on his head; I planned to take leftovers home.

  Glancing at the clock on the wall, I wondered if Matt had gotten my message. It was already two in the afternoon, maybe he was already home and too busy to drive back in. I told myself I wasn’t disappointed he wasn’t here—but it was a huge lie.

  “Can I get you a coffee, Gennie?” Brent asked. He’d commandeered the chair next to me and I didn’t think it was my imagination he’d scooted closer than when he’d first sat down. I leaned away and kept my eyes glued to the chocolate cupcake on my plate, two swipes through the frosting where I’d already had a taste before the intervention in the bathroom.

  “No thanks. We ordered coffee already so they’ll be here in a minute,” I said and still I kept my eyes averted. I worried that, if I made any kind of eye contact, he’d be encouraged to follow through with this ludicrous plan he and Jeremy had orchestrated to get back together with me.

  “Oh, okay,” he said and the fact he sounded disappointed annoyed the hell out of me. He had no right to be disappointed.

  Jeremy kept shooting sideways glances at Lexie and by the puppy dog eyes; he knew he was in big trouble. Luckily for him, Lexie’s full attention was again on the cupcakes.

  “I think it’s a really cute idea to do the cupcake towers instead of a sheet cake,” Catherine said, reaching for a white iced cupcake. “Which kind is this?”

  “That’s the S’mores. They’re so good. They’re infused with rum!” Lexie handed one across the table to me, then told Catherine, “You can taste them, too; I think the alcohol bakes out of them.”

  “Oh, good. They look amazing.” Catherine peeled back the wrapper and set it on the cake plate in front of her. “It’s really neat she infuses them with rum.”

  I picked up a fork and pierced the cupcake. “Ooh, it’s really moist.” I hadn’t had one of Melanie’s cupcakes in months. I steered clear of this place—I didn’t have the willpower to stop at just one and torturing myself with cardio to make up for it wasn’t my idea of a fun time. Cupcakes had always been my weakness in life.

  Brent picked up a fork and dug into my cupcake. It was a pretty big cupcake and more than I needed to eat when I had four other flavors to try, but that wasn’t the point. The problem was I’d shared my last anything with him five months ago. Now he appeared, cozying up and taking a fork to my cupcake? I wasn’t even the dessert-sharing type, which he knew. My motto was: Why share dessert when you could have your own? At least, it was my motto starting today.

  At a loss for words, I watched him take another bite.

  No one else noticed, though. They were all busy enjoying their own cupcakes. Alone. Without Brent’s help. Except for Lexie, who was watching like a starved dog as Catherine dug into hers. Lexie asked, “Do you like it? Is it good?”

  “Very,” Jeremy said, already three bites into his cupcake. I would be three bites into my cupcake if Brent wasn’t already three bites into my cupcake.

  I studied the pained expression on Lexie’s face, and said, “Lexie, how can you taste-test cupcakes if you don’t actually eat them? Don’t tell me
you’re still on that dumb diet.”

  Lexie shrugged. “I don’t want to overdo it.”

  I rolled my eyes and pointed at the cupcake. “You have to taste them. Do you want to serve your guests crappy food?”

  “I’ve had Melanie’s cakes before. She’s my friend, remember?” Lexie argued, but she looked close to diving across the table to rip the fork out of Catherine’s hand and go to town on the cupcake. It was hard to watch.

  “Our friend,” I reminded her. “And it doesn’t matter if you’ve had them before; unless you taste them now you won’t know exactly which three to choose for the cupcake towers.”

  I shoved the cupcake across the table toward her.

  “Oh, just eat a damn cupcake already,” Catherine said.

  “Well, maybe just a little,” Lexie said. She forked a bite into her mouth and her face lit up in bliss, making me chuckle. “Oh, my God,” Lexie said, “This is so good.”

  “Just don’t overdo it,” Jeremy warned and I threw my plastic fork at him. It hit him in the cheek and he stared at me with wide, wounded eyes. “Hey! What was that for?”

  “Lexie doesn’t need a damn diet, Jeremy; she looks great. Let her eat a freakin’ cupcake in peace,” I seethed. Seriously, the guy really had lost it since the engagement.

  “I know she looks great. But she’s worried about the dress, so I’m being supportive.”

  Jeremy rubbed his cheek and Catherine mumbled, “Lucky I’m pregnant.”

  I confiscated my cupcake and took another bite, savoring the gooey chocolate middle of the cake and the crumbles of graham crackers on top of the whipped marshmallow frosting. After I finished chewing, I washed it down with the coffee that had just been delivered to our table. “If anyone has to worry about a dress, it’s me. I’m going to be so fat by the time your wedding rolls around because I’m now slightly obsessed with these S’mores cupcakes.”

  “No you won’t,” Brent chimed in with a big pearly white smile. I imagined them twinkling, like on a toothpaste commercial. “You always look great, Gennie.”

  “Uh, thanks,” I mumbled. I went for a yellow frosted cupcake this time, one Melanie had called Lemon Drop. It was supposed to taste a little like lemon bars. I love lemon bars. Who doesn’t love lemon bars? The kind dusted with powdered sugar? Yum.

  I pushed the half-eaten S’mores cupcake toward Brent so he wouldn’t feel the need to share the Lemon Drop.

  Catherine’s eyes were fastened on Brent. She tore her gaze from him and said to me, “So Gen,” Catherine said, giving me a little smile. “Is Matt coming?”

  That got Brent’s attention. “I thought you weren’t dating him anymore?”

  “What gave you that idea?” I asked him.

  “Jeremy said you made it up,” Brent said, and looked to Jeremy for back up. Jeremy pretended like the icing on his cupcake was the most interesting thing he’d ever encountered—Brent wasn’t getting any help from him.

  I pinned a glare on Lexie. “Really? I wonder where Jeremy would get that idea from.”

  Brent shrugged. Since Jeremy wasn’t answering, Brent took the opportunity to lean in close and whisper in my ear, “He overheard Lexie and Catherine on the phone.”

  I shivered, and it wasn’t because I was overcome by desire; it was because his hot breath on my skin repulsed me. I thought about his hot breath all over Stripper Barbie and it made me want to vomit. I squirmed and said, “It’s not true. Matt and I are…serious.”

  “Serious,” Brent repeated, as if the idea of it was so foreign, it was from another planet. Like from Mars, where Brent’s aliens had come from. I snickered.

  “He’ll be here soon,” I said, and hoped to hell he would show. If he didn’t, I had no clue how I’d explain his absence. Brent wasn’t a moron, just a cheating leech.

  You can just say he got delayed due to an appointment. Yeah, that was a good excuse.

  “He had an appointment, so he might not be able to make it,” I added.

  “On a Saturday?” Brent asked, and I didn’t appreciate the suspicion in his voice.

  “Yes, on a Saturday,” I snapped.

  “Matt is a financial advisor for a big firm,” Lexie added and Brent’s jaw tightened. “He’s very successful and he did it all on his own.”

  Ouch. She’d just hit Brent below the belt. I almost felt bad about it. As I’d noticed with a lot of the friends Brent and Jeremy had grown up with, they’d been expected to follow in their parents’ footsteps. When I’d asked Brent want he’d wanted to do with his life, he’d answered: My dad wants me to be a lawyer. Once he’d passed the bar exam, he’d waltzed into the family firm, becoming partner by birthright. Deep down, it bothered him. He’d confided his insecurity to me once, though I doubted he’d admitted it to anyone else.

  There’d been a lot of things he’d been interested in; teaching history was one of them, and one of the reasons I’d been able to look past all the rich boy stuff. Behind all of the fake was an actual person—or, at least, I’d thought so until he’d pulled the cheating stunt. And, in a way, I didn’t entirely hold him to blame. His parents’ relationship wasn’t great; they’d both had affairs throughout their marriage. They’d been thrown together like prize ponies by their families and, after meeting his parents, it was clear love hadn’t been a part of their marriage. Sad, really. He hadn’t had much of an example what a real, loving relationship was like. Not like my parents, who respected each other as much as they loved each other.

  Catherine pointed to another cupcake frosted in the palest purple. “Do you think she could get sugar crystal sprinkles on these to match your wedding colors? They’d be stunning on a cupcake tower.”

  “She might be able to,” Lexie said. “Melanie does a lot of different things with her cupcakes.”

  “Gennie-bear, you want another bite of this cupcake? You can use my fork,” Brent said and held it out to me. With his saliva on it. I had no idea where his mouth had been lately. Gross.

  I shook my head. “Uh, no thanks. I’m good. I’ll get another fork.” I said and shoved my chair back so hard it made a loud, screeching noise across the floor. I smiled an apology before I escaped and wondered how I could prolong the simple task of retrieving a fork.

  I took my time at the counter talking to Melanie about the weather, about cupcake batter and about where she got her plastic forks, anything to delay my return to the table. When Lexie sent me the twin death glare, I sighed and went back to the table.

  Brent had eaten half of my Lemon Drop cupcake.

  “That one was really good,” he said and sent me a sparkly smile.

  I almost stabbed him with my fork, but the bell above the door jingled and I looked up to see Matt standing there.

  The light flooding through behind him tipped his dark hair in gold. I nearly sighed. Was it weird I thought I heard sirens and angels singing? There he was, my knight in shining armor, saving me again. I threw the fork down and bounded from my chair. It tipped backward, but the sound of it crashing to the floor was muffled as everything else faded to the background. I rushed into his arms and he caught me to his chest with a deep laugh and it reverberated through my body like a bass drum. His arms circled around me, wrapping me in his warmth and I breathed in the scent of him, my face feeling like it might crack with my smile.

  His cheek rested against my temple and I sighed, content. Would my heart ever stop racing when my eyes caught sight of him? I hoped not. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

  “You came,” I whispered, not willing to let him go.

  “Did you doubt I would?” He dropped a kiss to the tip of my nose, sending shivers down my spine, the butterflies knocking like mad into each other in my stomach.

  “I worried you were busy,” I said, reluctantly detaching myself from him, but it was okay because then I got to see his smile and the light behind his hazel eyes.

  He rubbed at his neck. “Sorry it took so long. I had to get the neck brace removed.”

&nb
sp; My jaw dropped. “Oh, my God, are you okay? I am so sorry. I swear, no more scary movies. I don’t know what got into me! What did the doctor say?”

  He laughed and tugged me back into his arms. “I’m just joking. My neck is fine.”

  I groaned and shoved him away, but only lightly so I’d bounce back. “You’re such an ass. But a kind ass.” I beamed up at him. “Thanks for coming. I really needed you.”

  “So that’s your ex, huh?” Matt said, looking over my shoulder. I didn’t turn around, but stayed where I was with his arm around my middle, his hand at the small of my back. I liked it here. Maybe I could set up permanent residence here.

  “Yes, that’s him. Jeremy’s trying to get us back together.” I shuddered and gave him a hopeful smile. “I hate to ask, but do you think you can lay on the PDA? This will be the last time I ever force you to be my fake boyfriend.” I drew a cross over my heart with my finger. “I swear.”

  He gave me a lopsided smile and I went all mushy inside. “I don’t mind. Anything to send that guy packing.” He tightened his hold around my waist and steered me through the tables.

  It was hard not to notice Brent’s hard gaze; he stared at Matt like he were an omen to an apocalyptic plague as we sat down. “So how long have you two been dating?”

  Exchanging a glance with Matt, at the same time, I said, “Two months,” and Matt said, “A few months.”

  Crap, why hadn’t I thought to say a couple months? Brent’s suspicious gaze went back and forth between me and Matt.

  “Well, I think it’s great you two found each other. You’re the perfect couple,” Catherine said, her comment clearly for Brent’s ears alone.

  “At least she’s not pining for Brent.” Lexie’s grin resembled that of a Cheshire cat.

  Brent flashed a stiff, mannequin-like smile. “I’m just happy that Gen is happy.”

  Matt’s arm tightened around my shoulders, drawing me closer into his side. “She’s very happy.”

  Was I a jerk for being thrilled at the protective tone to his voice? I kept cool, because the awkward booty dance I wanted to perform wasn’t appropriate for a cupcake boutique or daylight. And the happy dance would have been a bit over the top. I settled for an adoring smile at the man who had stolen my heart without even trying.