Page 49 of The Floral Arrangement

George nodded. “She’s been making use of the discount I give her at Novel Gossip and reading a lot of non-fiction books lately. All of a sudden, she’s become a wealth of knowledge on a whole lot of useless facts that are only good for trivia.”

Olivia laughed. “You need to stop giving her that discount!”

George’s mom looked harmless enough. She caught me looking at her and shot me a death stare. I quickly averted my eyes.Or not.

“Are you all ready?” Dan roared, positioning himself behind Blake so he could see our answers.

We nodded.

“Who or what is rumored to have started the Great Chicago Fire?”

“I’m pretty sure it was a cow,” Hannah whispered, leaning in with her elbows on the table.

Humph. Sounded like exactly the sort of thing a cow would do.

Blake wrote it down and Dan nodded in confirmation.So far, so good.

Sensing Olivia staring at me, I shifted my gaze. It landed on her just in time to see her eyes dart to Blake. My gaze lingered on her face in profile, traveling over the brown arch of her eyebrow closest to me and down the smooth bridge of her nose to her pink lips. I blinked.Don’t let yourself get distracted again.

“Next question!” Dan boomed. “Which later-assassinated president was a sitting member of the House of Representatives immediately prior to being elected president?”

Our table was silent. Sweat pricked my armpits as my mind raced.I think I know the answer to this...

“I think it was Garfield,” Dana said, gripping her pint glass.

I frowned. “I don’t think it was Garfield. Lincoln, JFK and McKinley were assassinated as well. I’m pretty sure it was McKinley.”

Blake’s gaze darted around the table. “Anyone else? I don’t have a clue.”

Everyone shook their head.

“Shit.” Blake’s pen hovered above the paper.

“You’ve got twenty seconds left,” Dan said.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember the book I’d read on American presidents a few years ago. My confidence grew. “I’m almost certain it was McKinley.”

A vein pulsed on Blake’s forehead. “Okay.” She shot an apologetic look at Dana and wrote down McKinley. On The Gran Masters’ table, George’s mom also scribbled down an answer.

Dan peered over Blake’s shoulder and then glanced at Zach who nodded. “We have a winner!” he yelled. My heart jumped with excitement. Had we— “The Gran Masters win again, for the fifteenth week in a row!”

Shit.

As a cheer rose from The Gran Masters’ table, Blake’s face dropped, and Dana pressed her lips together.

I slumped back in my chair, my chest deflating. “Damn. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry. It’s just a game.” Olivia squeezed my thigh, leaving it tingling and then snatched her hand away as if it had burned her. I stared down at her hand. What was going on with her tonight?

“There’s always next week,” Hannah added. “We wouldn’t have even gotten to the tie breaker if it wasn’t for you.”

“You’re both required attendees from now on,” Blake announced, looking between Dana and me. “Who wants another drink? Now that we don’t need to keep our minds sharp, I’m going to grab another beer.”

I shook my head, absentmindedly running my fingers over a seam in the table. I needed to keep my mind clear for my presentation to Fred tomorrow morning, which reminded me… I glanced at Olivia. She was staring at my fingers, an odd look on her face.

“Hey, is there any chance you’d be able to come to the meeting with Fred tomorrow morning? Just in case he asks anything about the sustainability sections?” Fred would hopefully make his decision shortly after—or even during—the meeting, so I needed it to go perfectly, especially in light of all the bills that had been piling up recently.

Olivia’s head jerked up. Her cheeks were pink, accentuating the long, dark lashes that framed her warm brown eyes. My chest twinged.

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