Page 27 of Love or Leave

She wondered how Jalen would react to her having a “friend” that looked like Antonio. And well dressed. With expressive eyes and a perfect smile. That was also brilliant and smelled like a million bucks.

She shook it all off as she approached him, her heels clicking against the uneven pavement. No matter how attractive he was, he was taken—sort of—and had made it very clear, on several occasions, that he wasn't interested in anyone but his wife. And especially not his friend's little sister.

He didn't even want her uttering the word “sex” in his presence.

"Hey!" she said, trying for the most “I like you only as a friend” tone she could muster.

Antonio looked up, their eyes met, and he smiled. "Hey," he said, pressing a button on his phone and slipping it into his pocket.

"Scrabble?" she asked as she came to a stop in front of him. She had to raise her voice slightly to be heard over the music coming from inside.

He gave her a smile and pushed his hands into his pockets. "I'm getting better."

"You've overcome your fear of q's?"

"Not entirely, but I'm making progress."

They smiled at each other for a moment before falling back into silence. Why did she feel so awkward around him? It was probably because she was trying to act like he was just a friend when she knew she didn't think of him that way.

At all.

She needed to fix her brain so she could look at him and see a friend, not a funny, smart, caring, hot guy who she wanted to make out with.

She banished the thoughts from her mind, focusing instead on thoughts that would place him alongside Ethan and Adam in her mind.

"So how do you and Max know each other?" she asked.

His forehead creased a fraction. "We played hockey together when we were teens."

She scanned his face again. "I should have met you before."

He shrugged. "It was a triple A team when we were eighteen. I only played for half a year before I broke my leg and had to stop. But we stayed in touch."

Cara nodded. "And you reconnected after your separation?"

"Yeah," he said. "I reached out to see if he was still in Mapleton when I moved to my apartment here. I lived with my parents for a while, but I couldn't stay there."

Cara scoffed. She couldn't imagine living with his extremely disapproving mother would have been easy. "I wondered whether—"

The thought exploded in her mind as she caught sight of the last person she expected to see on that sidewalk.

Cooper.

He was striding toward her with a grin, and when the crowd cleared, she saw he wasn't alone.

"Lily?" she asked, even though they weren't close enough to hear her.

Lily seemed to read her lips and faltered her steps, but Cooper kept marching toward her.

Oh no.

Her rage bubbled at seeing her ex and her old friend together at a concert that she paid for. She forced herself to calm down so as not to make a scene.

"Who's Lily?" Antonio asked, turning around and scanning the crowd.

"My best friend," she said, seeing nothing but red. "Formermy best friend."

"Cara," Cooper said with a smile as he strolled toward her. "I was hoping you'd be here to sort this all out."

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