Page 88 of Holiday Love
I blink. “You have?”
“Sure. Why do you think I’m always trying to talk to you in the hospital? I meant what I said—you’re my favorite.”
“Me?” I ask, looking behind me, sure she’s mistaken. She must mean someone else.
“Yes,you. I’ve been nervous about talking to you, too. You’re intimidating.”
I nod, finally understanding. “You mean because of my RBF, resting bitch face.”
Lindsey barks out a laugh, and I tense until I see she’s not laughingatme, but rather at what I just said.
“What’re you talking about? You don’t have RBF. I was scared to talk to you because you’re so smart and confident.”
“I am?”
She laughs again, light and easy, like she does it a lot. “You are, but now look at us, chatting away. Bonding over boys and how dumb they can be, like friends do.”
“Friends,” I repeat with wonder, realizing I accomplished my mission.
Teddy’s gonna be so proud. Right after I kick his ass.
Chapter thirty-eight
Teddy
Helen enters the condo like a hurricane, a lanky brunette in a leotard right behind her.
Jamie and I snap our heads up from where they were bent over our textbooks as we sit together on the couch. Jamie holds a yellow highlighter and a bag of chips. He drops both and holds his hands up like he’s about to be robbed.
“Theodore Wright,” Helen booms, pointing a finger of judgment my way. “I have a bone to pick with you.”
“Oh, shit,” whispers Jamie, low and grim. “She’s using your full name. You’re so fucked, man.”
“What?” I stand and look at the women’s faces, noting how the brunette stares at me with pure hatred glittering in her eyes. “What’d I do?” I ask, pointing to the stranger. “And who are you?”I point to a furious Helen, who’s practically glowing with a fiery radiant energy. “And what have you done to my Helen?”
Helen falters for a beat, her eyes softening when I called hermyHelen, and that’s when I think I might actually have a chance.
The brunette steps forward, hands on her hips. “I’m Lindsey—”
Jamie interrupts, his eyes tracing each of Lindsey’s curves. “Hey, Lindsey, I’m Jamie.” He leans an arm across the back of the couch and gives her his trademark panty-melting smile, practically smoldering.
“I wasn’t talking to you.” Her glower is directed his way, and Jamie’s usual bravado fades. He slumps back into the couch, uncharacteristically silent.
I suppress my snicker, which earns me a dirty look from him.
Helen strides toward me until she’s up close, her chest brushing mine, which would be a dream if not for the way her mouth is in a tight line.
Foreboding stirs.
“You.” She bites off the word. “You slept with me at your sister’s wedding and then never called,andthen you have the audacity to show up half-dead in my ER. I risked my job, my entire career, helping you when you almost drowned.”
“Ah! I knew it,” I bark, half-triumphant, half-panicked. “IknewI was the reason you got into trouble at work.” I’m gearing up to say more, to throw out every explanation and apology I’ve been choking on for weeks when the first part of her sentence detonates in my chest.
“Wait! What?” I say, stunned. “YouthinkIdisappeared?” I take a step forward, my voice rougher now. “You’ve got it all wrong. It’syouwho never calledme. As a matter of fact, you told me quite clearly in theletteryou left on the pillow that the entire thing was a mistake and it was better to never talk again. You put a smileyface on it at the end, remember?” I hiss out like it’s a mortal sin,“A smiley face! Who does that?”
Lindsey gasps like she just got to the plot twist in a thriller. “Helen, you didn’t!”
Helen splutters, “I didn’t. I mean, I did, but then I regretted it. I texted you a week later. Once I cooled down and had time to think.”
