Page 55 of Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice

“Uh, yeah, he did.” Mike’s worried eyes darted back and forth to the door, as if Alec might appear any minute and slug himon the head for spilling the secret. “The original invoice was for five thousand. He paid two, so we only charged you three. Look, I wasn’t supposed to tell you, so you didn’t hear this from me, okay?”

Alec did WHAT?

“You need to say something.” Mike peered at me, looking wary. “Are you okay?”

I was most definitelynotokay. Eyes popping, jaw agape, I held my cup suspended in midair, as if I’d just witnessed Mike magically levitating and evaporating into nothingness. Meanwhile, my brain was cheerfully reminding me to add this to the list of Alec’s Supremely Thoughtful Gestures.

Which, at the rate he was going, would probably fill up an entire notebook in no time.

“You’re kidding, right? Why would he pay for almost half ofmycar repair fees?”

“You’ll have to ask him. He called the garage the day before I delivered your car and asked how much it would be.” Mike’s eyes turned curious. “That’s very generous of him. I’ve known Alec for a while, and he’s never done anything like that before. You two must be close.”

“He’s my brother’s best friend.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “He’s just looking out for me because my brother asked him to.”

Are you sure, Ellie?

A confusing concoction of emotions churned around in my head. Was that really why Alec did it? To keep a promise he’d made Eric to keep an eye on me?

Because no matter how good of a friend he was with Eric, everything that he’d done so far was above and beyond “keeping an eye on me.”

Hope bloomed in my chest. Maybe because he was… starting to care for me?

But a small part of my brain nagged at me, reminding me that this was all too similar to what my mother had done: paying someone behind my back. Sure, their motivations for doing so might be completely different, but it still hit just a little bit too close to home.

Shame, guilt, and a tiny bit of disappointment clouded my brain. My family had been overprotecting me since I was young, and whatever Alec’s reasons for doing this were, I didn’t want—or need—him to treat me the same way. I wanted him to see me as someone who was perfectly capable of looking after herself. Someone independent, and capable of making her own decisions.

As someone else other than his best friend’s younger sister.

I took a deep breath.You’re being ungrateful, Ellie.He knew that I was on a tight budget and had obviously just been trying to help. My throat started to clog up. I should be thanking him and paying him back. Every single cent.

Because otherwise, I’ll know that I have truly failed to come into my own.

CHAPTER 16Childhood Crushes Do Matter, Damn It

When I got home that afternoon, Alec was lounging on the sofa, staring at the TV. He was wearing the same pair of shorts from this morning, although the glasses were gone, and the T-shirt was different. His hair was damp, as if he’d just stepped out of the shower.

“Judging from your clothes, I’m guessing you haven’t left the house the whole day.”

He made a noncommittal sound, not taking his eyes off the TV.

“What are you watching?” I adopted a cheerful tone, then glanced at the screen and made a mock gasping sound. “The Bachelorette? I thought you hated reality TV shows. See how good of a fake girlfriend I am? I remembered that useless trivia about you.”

Alec sighed, my quips clearly testing his patience. “Well done.”

I sat down next to him, pointedly ignoring his sulkiness. “Having a lazy day off today? Thought you’d be at the gym, or hiking, or canoeing, or whatever it is you do on the weekends. Your girlfriend’s busy again?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Sorry. Yourpotentialgirlfriend.”

His jaw ticked. “She was working. Not that it’s any of your business.”

I ignored the small thrill I felt at realizing that he wasn’t spending time with the woman he was interested in. “Are we back to being frenemies? I thought we’d gone past that.”

He finally glanced up at me. “How was your coffee date?”

I gave him a teasing grin. “Jealous, are we?”

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