Troublemaker - Lisa B. Kamps Page 0,12

altar."

"Probably." I cleared my throat and finally met her gaze. "And for what it's worth, I didn't leave him at the altar. I told him before we got to the church."

"How considerate."

"It was a mutual agreement, one we had discussed in depth the night before." And why was I even explaining myself to these women? I usually never cared what other people thought, and certainly never enough to defend myself. But that was exactly what I was doing and I didn't understand why.

And that irritated me.

I crossed my arms and pinned Jacqui with my best I-don't-care look. "So. Are you interested in buying it? Or do you know someone who might be?"

"I'm interested. I'm just afraid I can't offer you as much as it's worth."

I swallowed back my disappointment. "How much?"

"Four hundred. Like I said—"

"I'll take it."

One of Jacqui's sculpted brows shot up. "You don't know the first thing about bargaining, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just what I said, cher. I offer you four. You balk and demand eight. Then we haggle back and forth until we arrive at a mutually satisfying number and both walk away winners."

Damn, I must have let my desperation show. Fine, I could make a recovery. "Okay then, eight."

"It doesn't work that way, cher. You're supposed to do that before making a deal."

"What was your top price? And don't say you didn't have one. If you were willing to haggle, you must have had a price in mind."

"I did."

"What was it?"

Jacqui stepped back, her mouth pursed as if she'd gotten a taste of something sour. I fully expected her to lie and give me some lower number, or to even argue some more, but to my surprise, she started to laugh.

"Six."

"Fine. I'll take it." I wondered how much the gown cost when Brandon's mother bought it. A thousand? More? Probably, considering the woman was all about appearances. That was why Brandon had cooked up the crazy idea of marrying me: to make his mother happy about appearances.

I wondered if he had told her the truth yet. Maybe—but probably not. And it wasn't my problem, not anymore.

Jacqui moved behind the counter and bent down out of view for a few minutes. When she straightened, she had a small stack of bills in one hand. I stared at them, doing my best to hide my excitement as she counted them out. She tapped them into a neat pile against the glass then gallantly held them out for me.

"Six hundred dollars. As agreed."

"Thank you." I folded the bills and tucked them into the small crossbody bag I had.

"What are you going to do with the money?"

"Addy, don't be so rude."

"I was just curious." The younger woman looked back at me and shrugged. "Sorry. That really was rude of me."

"It's okay. And to answer your question: I'm heading to California." Maybe. I hadn't really decided yet. Maybe I'd just head to the bus station and close my eyes and pick a destination without looking. Knowing my luck, I'd end up picking some place like Buffalo or Fargo.

So what if I did? I could always pick another place. With this much money, I could afford to change my mind. Maybe it wasn't a lot, not in the grand scheme of things, but it was way more than the cost of a one-way bus ticket so I was happy with it.

"You're leaving? When?"

"Whenever the next bus leaves."

"But I thought..." Addy's voice trailed off as she watched me with those dark eyes of hers. I couldn't read anything in their depths and for reasons I didn't quite understand, that made me uneasy.

Almost as uneasy as the sudden smile that lit her face.

"You can leave tomorrow. You already have plans for tonight."

"But—"

"I said tomorrow." She stepped closer and threaded her arm through mine. "You don't want to leave without seeing Dylan play, do you?"

Actually, I did. In fact, it would be easier to leave without seeing Dylan at all. I had already planned on leaving him a note thanking him. I didn't owe him any more than that and something told me he wasn't expecting anything more than that. But I recognized that glint of determination in Addy's eyes and realized she wasn't going to let me leave that easily.

Fine. I'd stay for one night and then leave tomorrow. It was just one night, it wasn't like a whole lot could happen in twenty-four hours.

I pulled my arm from Addy's and took a step back. "Okay, I'll go to the game. Not a