Thank God.
I glanced to Cassie, who'd been sitting in relative silence across from me. In the short time that I'd known her, I'd never seen her so quiet. When our gazes met, she winced.
I gave her a questioning look.
After a long moment, she mouthed one terrifying word. "Sorry."
I tensed. "For what?"
Wincing again, she pointed to a spot somewhere past my left shoulder. "For that, actually."
Chapter 20
I whirled in my seat and heard myself gasp.
Oh, crap.There he was – an obscenely handsome stranger in an overly sexy cowboy getup. He was lugging a portable music player, and heading straight for us, strutting in a way that I knew all too well.
Praying for some sign I was wrong, I studied the guy's outfit. I saw fake leather chaps and a brown suede vest, open nearly to his navel. No shirt underneath. No cowboy boots. Just black running shoes with white laces.
My eyes narrowed. This was no real cowboy.
I whirled back to Cassie and said, "She didn't."
But obviously, she had.
Aunt Gina.
Damn it.
Cassie gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry. I didn't know." She bit her lip. "I mean, the way your aunt talked…"
Oh yeah. Aunt Gina.The one who'd promised oh-so sincerely that she was done with this sort of thing.
Apparently not.
I glanced toward the nearest exit. Happily, I was sitting at the edge of the booth, with no one blocking my path. If nothing else, I wouldn't need to crawl over anyone to make my escape.
And Iwasplanning to escape.
From across the table, April's voice drifted through the noise. "Oh, man. A cowboy." Her voice became almost husky. "Ilovecowboys." I looked to see her eyeing the guy like he was the last pork chop at a meat-lovers convention.
On impulse, I said, "You want him? You can have him."
Her face broke into a huge, sloppy grin. "Seriously?"
Again, I glanced toward the exit. "Seriously." I turned to give Cassie an apologetic smile. "Sorry I'm being so weird about it." I started talking as fast as I could. "But hey, thanks for the party. And the cake. And everything. It was really,reallythoughtful. I owe you one, okay?"
Next to me, Joel said, "You're not leaving."
That's whathethought. With or without him, I was bolting while I had the chance. I turned toward him and said, "Oh yeah? Why not?"
"Because you haven't given me that dance."
I did a double-take. "Huh?"
"Hey, you asked. Remember?"
Yes. Of course, I remembered. And he'd turned me down. Hadn't he?
