I said, "Where areyouworking?"
With a breezy wave of her hand, she replied, "Oh, I do this and that." She turned and gave Flynn a flirty smile. "These days, I'm more about personal expression."
From the gleam in her eyes, she'd like to express herself personally all right – andnotto the guy she'd arrived with.
My left hand was resting in my lap. Under the table, I extended my middle finger in my own personal expression of what I thought of Mackenzie and her attempts to make me feel like a loser.
Still, I had to ask myself, how was this even possible?
Supposedly, I was dating one of the hottest guys in the whole world. Knowing Mackenzie, she'd kill to take my place. I took an embarrassing amount of satisfaction from this idea for like thirty whole seconds before concluding that none of it counted if it wasn't real.
And besides, that wasn't how I valued my self-worth, anyway.
I mean, even if Iweredating Flynn, that wouldn't make me a better person. It would just make me luckier in the eyes of the world.
And now Mackenzie was smirking – not at Flynn, but at me. "Funny story. I heard you were working at that waffle place. You know, thatpinkone on Fifth Street." She said "pink" like it was a medical condition that required a lot of time in the bathroom.
Well, at least we agreed on that.
Still, it was sad in a way. Until working at Pinkie's, pink had been one of my favorite colors.Not anymore, that's for sure.
When I made no reply, Mackenzie said with a little laugh, "I hope you're not as clumsythereas you were at the hospital."
I felt my fingers clench. The last time I'd seen her, I'd been delivering a tray of coffee and creamers to a table of hospital administrators. I'd tripped halfway there, sending everything crashing to the floor.
It wasn't until the next day that I started to wonder at the fact that Mackenzie had been sitting at table directly along my path. I'd been so busy that I hadn't noticed her at all, well not until I heard the snickering, that is.
Unfortunately, that wasn't even the worst of it. Afterward, Mackenzie and I had gotten into a raging argument in the ladies room after she'd made one too many snide comments about my family's fall from grace.
She'd left in laughter. I'd left in tears.
I felt my jaw clench.Not again.
Back then, the change in my family's station had been fresher, harsher, and a whole lot stranger. Now, I'd been poor for so long, I was mostly used to it.
In reply to her dig about my so-called clumsiness, I forced a smile and said, "Let's hope not." I lifted my glass in a mock toast. "Unless youwanta face full of wine."
As far as a comeback, it was incredibly stupid. I wasn't even sure it made sense.
And yet, her lips pursed. "Well, someone sure is snitty."
Yes. Someone was.But it wasn't me.
Mackenzie looked to Preston and said, "Don'tyouhave something to say?"
"Yeah," he muttered. "I need another beer."
Mackenzie frowned. "That's not what I meant."
As they went back and forth, I snuck a quick glance at Flynn. He was giving me that look again, the one that I couldn’t quite make out.
Unfortunately, he looked obnoxiously good doing it, and my glance turned into a look, which turned into a long, lingering stare.
I was still staring when the waitress appeared to take our order.Thank God. Anything to break the spell.
Quickly, I scanned the menu and ordered a chicken dish that was apparently a house specialty. I didn't care. After that whole scene with the bread, I doubted I'd be eating much, anyway.
But I definitely needed a moment alone.
When the waitress left, I looked to Preston and said, "Would you excuse me? I think I'll freshen up before the food arrives."
By freshen up, I mostly meant catch my breath and come up with a game plan – because one thing was for darn sure. Thiswasn'tgoing well.
It was such a happy thought, the idea of getting away for a minute or two. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, because surprise, surprise, when I left the booth, Mackenzie insisted on joining me – like a shark after a swimmer.
And somehow, I just knew I was about to get munched.
