Taking What's His(52)

She tensed. “It never had anything to do with him. I wanted to stay here, with my family and friends. With you, you idiot.”

“I know that now.” He stopped walking. Awkwardly, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “I’m sorry that I acted the way I did, but I have something to make up for my bad behavior. A present, if you will.”

She pursed her lips. “It’ll make up for you not talking to me for seven days?”

“Don’t exaggerate.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’ been a week since—”

“Fine.” He sighed heavily. “It’s been six—I called you last night to invite you here, after all.”

“Whatever,” she murmured, scanning the crowd for Holt.

So far, he hadn’t shown his face, but she saw Gianna in the corner of the field, talking to one of Steven’s coworkers. His boss, Cooper, stood nearby, too, with his arm around his fiancée. They made quite the pair.

“Okay, smile pretty,” Steven muttered, leading her up to a group of four people. Two of them were obviously siblings, since they had the same exact shade of eyes and hair. The other two, she could only assume, were their significant others. “Tyler, this is my sister, Lydia. The one I told you about.”

“It’s lovely to meet you.” Tyler, it turned out, was the man on the left with dark hair and bright green eyes, and he was devastatingly handsome. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Lydia said politely. “I can’t say the same. Do you work with my brother, too?”

“No, I don’t. I’m a doctor.”

Lydia froze. “O-Oh.”

The redhead next to him jabbed her elbow in his ribs. “Oh, and excuse me for my rude manners. This is my fiancée, Christine. Next to her is her brother Jake, who does work with Steven, and his girlfriend, Tara—who also works at Shillings Agency.”

Her head swam a little bit with all that information, but she forced a smile and nodded as if she’d actually kept track of who everyone was. “Nice to meet everyone,” Lydia said, smiling at the group.

“So, anyway, I hear you’re looking for a position.” He glanced at Steven, who smiled. “I happen to be looking for a good OR nurse. Think we could make an appointment to have a formal interview?”

This was the second time that her brother had hooked her up with a potential employer. It had to stop at some point. “I’m very happy to hear this, but please know I’m not in the habit of using my brother’s friends to land interviews.”

Tyler’s fiancée smiled. She was gorgeous, with red hair and blue eyes. “Oh, I like you even more now,” she said.

Tyler laughed. “If it helps, I’m not friends with your brother. I never met him until a few minutes ago.”

“Well, then, I’d love to chat. Especially since you’re not friends with my brother.” She shook hands with him, grinning when he laughed again. “May I ask one more question, then?”

“Sure,” Tyler agreed.

“Is this position in Maine?”

Tyler blinked. “Yes.”

Sold. “Great. What day works best for you?”

The rest of the conversation passed quickly, and they settled on a time Monday morning to meet. After they’d changed topics to Jake and Tara—who had the most interesting story of how they fell in love—the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

She quickly found Gianna, who nodded once. It was official. Holt had joined the party. Lydia stood completely still, afraid to turn around. What if he looked at her with cool detachment, or looked resigned to see her, as if she was the one ex he couldn’t escape? What if he hated her now, because he couldn’t avoid her?

Even though she nodded and smiled her way through the conversation, she’d stopped listening. All of her senses were tuned into Holt, and his arrival at the party. Had he seen her yet? Would he say hello, or turn the other way?

Unable to stand another minute without knowing, she scanned the crowd…and found him. He stood with another man, talking, but he stared at her as if he’d seen a ghost or something equally horrifying. And his stare was anything but empty.

Oh my God.

He had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn’t been sleeping. And beneath the haunting pain she could see even from this far away, she saw a spark of life underneath—something that made her think, for a second, that he’d missed her as much as she’d missed him. But that was ridiculous.

He’d broken it off with her, after all.

They stared at each other from across the field, the distance seeming to disappear, and she felt as if she’d been punched in the chest. She’d thought she could stand there and act cold and casual? She’d been wrong. They might have only been together for a short time, but in that short time, she’d fallen for him. Legitimately, head over heels, truly fallen for him. And he’d wanted nothing to do with her.