With a deep breath, I chanced a glance at him. He looked…exactly the same. Except not.
Same tall body with chiseled features. Same clean-cut look with the dark hair and puppy-dog eyes. But he looked drained and downtrodden. The last time I’d seen him was at the stupid five-year high school reunion party that Heidi had forced me into going to because she had been the student body vice president. I’d gone in protest and reverted to my Vans skate shoes and oversize T-shirt. Heidi had hated it. But Landon had looked as sharp as ever. He hadn’t lost his luster then. I wondered what had happened.
I seemed to have missed part of the conversation while staring at him…or maybe it was due to my buzz. But Landon was now holding his hand out to me. I furrowed my brows and stared at it.
“Sorry. I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said with his classic nonchalant attitude.
Heidi laughed next to me, but I couldn’t even turn to look at her. Is this happening?
“Seriously, Landon?” I drawled with disdain.
Landon’s eyes widened, and he instantly dropped his hand. “Emery?”
“In the flesh.”
He opened his mouth like a fish out of water. It was nice to see a flustered Wright brother. “I didn’t even recognize you.”
“Um…thanks?” I couldn’t decide if that was an insult.
My ex-boyfriend couldn’t even recognize me. Awesome.
I finally turned to face Heidi. She looked like she was about to combust.
“How much makeup am I wearing?”
“No, I’m sorry. That was rude,” Landon said, reeling it back in. “I recognized your voice right away. At least, the way you said my name. I just…wasn’t expecting you to be here, is all.”
“Yeah, I showed up with Heidi at the last minute.”
Landon nodded, but he was still staring at me, as if I were a strange lab rat he was about to dissect. “Are you back in town for the holidays?”
“Maybe permanently.”
“Permanently?” he said with raised eyebrows.
I shrugged. “We’ll see. I’m back from college at the moment.”
“Huh. Who would have guessed you would come back to Lubbock?”
And, right then and there, I remembered why I’d wanted to punch him in his pretty face. He was the one who had left me and made me feel like a pariah in my own hometown. He couldn’t turn the tables around on me, as if I were the one who had left on my own.
But, instead, I giggled through the champagne buzz.
“I’m pretty sure, no one. Ever,” I said dryly.
“There you are, honey,” a woman said, walking up behind Landon and latching on to his arm. She was taller than me in heels with a bleach-blonde bob and glamorous makeup. She was good-looking in an overdone sort of way. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Oh, Miranda,” Landon said, his face falling. “I was just talking to some old friends from high school.”
“Well, introduce me, lover boy. Your friends are my friends, of course.”
I caught Landon’s grimace, and suddenly, his downtrodden expression made sense if he had to deal with her every day.
“Y’all, this is my wife, Miranda. Miranda, this is Heidi and”—he cleared his throat and apologetically glanced at me—“Emery.”
Miranda eyed me up and down, as if she were sizing me up for a Miss America competition. “Emery. Like…Emery?”
“The one and only,” I muttered.
“Your ex-girlfriend is here, and you didn’t even tell me?” Miranda hissed.
“He didn’t know I would be here,” I said, stepping in for him for a reason I couldn’t fathom. “I came with a friend.”
Miranda didn’t seem to hear me, or she didn’t care. She turned on her heel and fled in the opposite direction.
Landon rolled his eyes and then scowled. “Sorry, y’all. I’ve got to…” He nodded his head after Miranda and then jogged to catch up with her.
My eyes widened with shock. Heidi’s mouth was hanging open.
“Wow, what a bitch!” Heidi said.
“You’re telling me.”
“At least we know one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re way prettier!” Heidi said, holding up her glass for a toast.
Five
Jensen
The hardest part of the night was over, and now, I could finally have another drink. Dealing with Sutton had been harder than I’d anticipated, and the whiskey bottle was calling to me stronger than normal.
Or maybe it was that woman who had been seated in the third row. I didn’t know where the hell she had come from, but damn! Long dark hair, perfect legs spilling out of the slit in her dress, gorgeous mouth that had been begging me to kiss her. I had decided within three seconds that she was the hottest person in the room, and it had taken everything in me not to ditch the bridesmaid on my arm. I’d wanted to escort her straight out of the room and into my bed.