“I see it in your eyes. I can feel it in the energy your body is letting off. You’re in love with her, Miles Warner. Why don’t you simply tell her that?”
“What in the hell are you talking about? You look into my eyes for one minute and think you know everything?”
She smiled, then winked.
“Ah hell, are you still claiming to be a damn psychic?”
Her arms folded over her chest. “You’re up to something, Warner. I intend on finding out what it is. I love Kynslee like a sister, and I will not let you hurt her again. She’s had enough heartache in her life without you adding to it.”
I remembered the day Kynslee’s sister passed away after her yearlong battle with cancer. I held her tightly as she cried so hard I thought for sure she would make herself pass out.
I took a step closer. “If you think for one single moment I would hurt her, then you’re no psychic, lady.”
Before I turned, I saw Kynslee still dancing with the same guy. She was smiling up at him and had yet to see me. Instead of walking to the bar, I headed to the exit and left.
Kynslee
“I’M TELLING YOU, the jealousy in the man’s eyes was beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”
I looked down at my feet as the girl at Baron’s On the Creek Spa finished painting my toes. Heather, Patty, and I had all gone on our once-a-month girls’ trip for a pedicure in Fredericksburg.
“He had just been out to eat with Becky. I’m sure you read it wrong, Heather.”
“First off, I don’t read anything wrong, Kynslee Maxwell. And second, Becky told Linda who told Lana who told me, that Miles informed Becky he only asked her to dinner to catch up as friends. He said it wasn’t a date and he was sorry if he had led her on.”
That piqued my interest. “He said that to her?” I asked, trying not to sound like that made me happier than it should have.
“Yep!” Heather said, popping the p.
Patty nodded in agreement. “And I heard that Becky told Mary who then told Cara, who told Susan who passed it along to Karen who then told Jen who told me, that he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you the whole time.”
Heather and I both looked at Patty as I said, “I don’t know what in the hell you just said.”
She frowned. “What was so hard to understand?”
“Personally, I got lost somewhere between Susan and Karen,” Heather said with a giggle.
I nodded.
Patty sighed. “Becky said Miles had been staring at you almost the entire time he was at dinner with her.”
“Now why couldn’t you have just said it like that?” I asked. “Instead of going through the whole chain of gossiping bitches who have nothing better to do than talk about me! Why is my life so fun to talk about, anyway?”
Patty went to talk, but then paused. “Wait, are you calling me a gossiping bitch?”
“If the shoe fits, wear it like a badge of honor, babe,” Heather mumbled.
Patty crossed her arms. “Excuse me, Heather? You were the one who was overheard in the women’s bathroom of Jonny G’s talking about how Kynslee had her heart broken by Miles when she was eighteen.”
Heather’s eyes widened, and she reached over to smack Patty but was too slow.
“Wait. What?” I yelled, causing everyone who was getting their nails done to look my way. Jonny G’s was the local beer joint everyone in town went to. Everyone. Even my folks were there on Tuesday nights for Polka night. I hadn’t even realized Polka dancing was still a thing until Heather, Patty, and I had accidently walked in one Tuesday night and seen it all going down.
“You said what?” I asked in a lower voice.
“I didn’t say it exactly like that, and Becky asked me!”
“Becky asked you what?”
Heather shrugged. “Nothing.”
Patty leaned over. “She asked if you were still upset about Miles leaving you behind.”
I let out a sigh. “Well, thank God they don’t know about me turning down his proposal. Lord knows the tales they would spin on that.”
Neither Patty nor Heather said a word. As a matter of fact, they both suddenly seemed very interested in the painting of their toes.
“Who did you tell?” I demanded.
Patty spoke first. “I didn’t tell a damn soul. It was Heather!”
Heather reached over to hit Patty and missed. Again. “You idiot! I didn’t tell anyone either. Someone overheard me talking to Miles at Jonny G’s. I might have mentioned him asking you to marry him.”
I groaned and dropped my head back into the seat. “Who heard?”
“Elaine Turner.”
“Elaine? She won’t say anything to anyone,” I said in relief.
Heather shrugged. “Maybe not, she’s not much of a gossip. Although, rumor has it she has the hots for Miles, so that’s cause for concern.”