“Joe’s boss?” Tessa popped the last piece of Yorkshire pudding into her mouth.
“Frederick is the captain of Joe’s fire station, and…” Bethany sighed. “He’s everything.”
“Everything, eh?” Tessa smirked. “He must be hot.”
“Yes, he’s hot, but that’s not all.” Bethany stuck her nose in the air. “He’s kind and smart and really funny.”
“Thatisbasically everything.” Tessa looked impressed. “I gotta meet this guy.”
“Well, he’ll be here any minute. Shoot, I bet I ate away all my lip gloss. Why didn’t you guys say anything?” Bethany rushed out of the kitchen, presumably to reapply her lip gloss.
Anne slowly returned to her body and unthinkingly smacked her lips to check if her lipstick was intact. With an impatient shake of her head, she gathered Tessa’s and her empty plates and carried them to the sink, then briskly washed the dishes. Frederick barely even looked at her the last few times they’d seen each other. The state of her makeup hardly mattered.
“Have you met thisFrederick?” Tessa came to stand next to her and dried the clean dishes. Anne was pleasantly surprised to have her little sister help without being asked. “Bethany is so into him.”
“What?” It belatedly registered in Anne’s head that her cousin did seem rather infatuated with her ex. Did Frederick return Bethany’s feelings? Was there a budding romance between the two that Anne hadn’t noticed? Something hot and bitter slithered through her stomach.
Tessa gave her an odd look, then shrugged. “Have you met Bethany’s captain?”
Bethany’s captain?Anne’s blood pounded in her ears.No, no, no.
“Uh, yeah. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the station.” It was the truth even though it wasn’t the complete truth. Even so,Anne took her time drying her hands and avoided meeting Tessa’s eyes.
“Do you agree with Bethany?” her sister pried with gleeful curiosity. “Is heeverything?”
Anne was saved from answering the question when she heard a chorus of greetings from the hallway. To her relief, Tessa rushed out of the kitchen without a backward glance. Anne planted her hands on the kitchen island and forced herself to breathe. She could handle spending an hour or two with Frederick. But it terrified her that she might find confirmation of his attraction to Bethany.
She loved her sweet cousin, and Frederick was a good man, the best of them. Anne had no reason to object to their dating—her stomach churned with nausea—if he returned Bethany’s interest. No reason except for the stubborn speck of hope in her heart that Frederick could be hers again.
Anne Lee, you’re a fool.
On days like these, she hated her ever-hopeful heart. She could never do anything to hurt Bethany, even if Anne had loved Frederick first. If he and her cousin wanted to be together, she couldn’t stand in their way. Bethany must never find out that Anne would have Frederick back in a heartbeat, if only he wanted her.
By the time she forced her legs to carry her out of the kitchen, everyone seemed to be in the living room. Bethany was already there with glistening pink lips, chatting with Frederick next to the bookshelves. The sudden urge to hiss at her cousin shocked Anne.
Just as she scolded some sense back into herself, Frederick’s eyes locked with hers as though he knew where to find her, and her breath caught in her throat. She’d missed him so much, even though she had seen him less than a month ago. He looked unfairly handsome in a forest-green shirt with the sleeves rolled pasthis elbows and black slacks that hinted at the hard muscles in his legs. God, one of his thighs had to be thicker than her waist.
Anne couldn’t stop staring at him, and his eyes roamed her face and traveled the length of her body like he couldn’t look away either. Shehadto be imagining the heat in his gaze, but liquid warmth gathered low in her stomach regardless. She felt positively lovesick, not to mention turned on.
Before she made a fool of herself, she acknowledged him with a polite nod, then joined Tessa, Coraline, and Auntie Sharon on the sofa. Juliette was there, too, but she sat at the other end, scrolling languorously through her phone. Anne’s skin prickled as though Frederick were still staring at her, and it took all of her willpower not to turn around.
Her father, Uncle Paul, and Joe stood by the windows. She caught Joe’s eyes and gave him a small wave in greeting. He gave her a broad grin before returning his attention to whatever Anne’s father was saying. By the animated look on his face and the expressive movements of his hands, Jonathan Lee could only be talking about his favorite subject. Himself.
Anne listened to the conversation at the sofa with half an ear, too busy not looking at Frederick and Bethany. What were they talking about? She refused to eavesdrop, but it was hard to ignore her cousin’s constant giggling. She sounded like one of her second graders. Anne dug her nails into her palms to stem the tide of jealousy.
“I’m feeling peckish,” Juliette announced to the living room, finally glancing up from her phone. “Weren’t we invited over for dessert? Or did I misunderstand?”
Auntie Sharon let out an offended puff of breath. Anne squeezed her aunt’s hand in silent apology for her sister’s rudeness.
“Yes, of course. Sorry.” Bethany rushed over to the sofa with an apologetic cringe. “Give me a few minutes to finish preparing it.”
“Take your time,” Anne reassured Bethany. “There’s no need to hurry.”
Juliette raised her eyebrows at Anne and opened her mouth to disagree, but Coraline called out to Frederick, who still stood next to the bookshelves. “There’s a blowtorch involved. I think Bethany needs you for backup, Frederick.”
“Yeah,” Joe said with a sly wink at Frederick, crossing the living room toward his fiancée. Anne watched his approach, fighting back a scowl. She had no idea he could be so obnoxious. “You should go help her, Captain.”
The barest hint of a grimace rippled across Frederick’s face, as though he, too, found his friend’s blatant matchmaking distasteful. But before Anne could feel too hopeful, his expression smoothed into a pleasant mask as Bethany blushed and smiled shyly at him.
