“And when I know you were raised so well.”
“I did try,” Barb says with a laugh.
“How will I know what to order now if I don’t know what Gigi’s gifting me later?” Ruby’s lips push into a pout, and I relent.
I love giving gifts, especially to grateful and excited recipients like my cousin. I hand over the bag, and Ruby coos and thanks me before peering inside. “Yay cherries for me! And Harrison is going to love that chili number, but who’s that for?”
She points at the No Grey Area Here bar.
“No one special,” I say breezily. “Just another friend. No one you know.”
Ruby straightens and stares at me, a wicked smile spreading slowly across her face. “You bought that for a man, didn’t you?”
I huff. “Yes, a man who is a friend.”
“No, this is a man you like. You wanted to buy him a treat but didn’t want to feel weird about it, so you hid his present in with all the friend gifts to trick yourself into deciding it was okay to buy him an ‘I like you’ present,” she says, seeing inside my guilty little soul.
“That’s some serious psychology,” Barb says, a Sherlock Holmes tone to her voice.
A flush creeps up my neck.
I’ve been caught.
And even though deep down I knew all along this was a West-focused mission, having Ruby lay it all out there is still…uncomfortable.
Like being caught with nothing but socks on—the rest of you feels even more naked somehow.
Dangerously naked.
It’s dangerous to like a man enough that you go hunting gross chocolate just for him.
Ugh. What am I doing? Especially when West made it clear he isn’t up for anything but a fling?
“It’s for the man who’s opening Tea and Empathy, isn’t it?” Ruby asks with a knowing quirk of her brow.
I wrinkle my nose. “Yes.”
“Oh, him. He’s really something,” Barb says, her eyes going wide. “I saw him carrying some paint into his shop the other morning on my walk. Just a stunning man. I bet he already gets marriage proposals slipped under the shop door.”
A spark of jealousy ignites in my chest. “He better not,” I mutter.
Ruby cracks up.
So does Barb.
Then Ruby gives me a long, exaggerated nod. “Never mind. I was mistaken, he’s clearly just a man who’s your friend.”
Barb pats my hand. “I’m sure he’ll be fooled, too.” With a wink, she slips out of her chair. “Be right back, girls. I need to go talk to Linda about a bulk order for the pies I’m cooking for the Boys and Girls Club fundraiser next week.”
As soon as she’s out of ear shot, Ruby grabs my arm. “Liar, liar, pants on fire. I didn’t want to spill the beans in front of Mom, but you slept with the competition again. Didn’t you!”
Heaving a tortured sigh, I cave, pouring out my insides like a snowman melting on a summer day. “Sort of, but Ruby, I couldn’t help myself. He can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under a minute. He looks and sounds just like Henry Cavill. He’s smart and clever and filthy in bed, and he can cook like nobody’s business and he’s sweet to shy people, and to me, and I’m just —”
“A cruel, terrible person,” she finishes.
I blink. “What? Why am I cruel and terrible?”
“Because you didn’t call me to tell me about all this! I thought Weston was still persona non grata. I thought we were still hating him until the end of time or not talking about him because it was upsetting to you or whatever.” She nudges my arm. “You should have told me you’d had a change of heart and maybe even…” She hesitates before continuing in a hopeful whisper, “found the man of your dreams?”
I shake my head. “He’s not the man of my dreams.”
“Stop. You’ve already withheld yummy gossip from your best friend and favorite cousin,” she says, “don’t add fibbing to your list of sins.”
I press my lips together, at war with myself, and my chest is suddenly so tight it’s hard to breathe.
“Hey, babe,” Ruby adds in a softer, more serious voice as she lays gentle fingers on my arm. “I’m just kidding. You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. Your romantic business is your romantic business, not anyone else’s.”
“It’s not that,” I say, biting the side of my mouth. “It’s…everything. Everything is dumb.”
“Everything?” She arches a brow. “Would it help to maybe break that down a little?”
I take a fortifying breath. “Okay, one, he’s in