Page 65 of Bottle Shock
“You know,” she starts, leaning across the table like she’s whispering, when really everyone can hear her. “I used to think you had a little crush on her.”
My fork stops midair. I set it down carefully, like it’s fragile. “Nope.”
Another lie. I’m pretty sure I graduated fromcrusha long time ago.
She lifts her brows, not the least bit convinced. “I guess maybe I was wrong.” Her smile turns sly. “Must’ve mixed thatup, then.” She glances toward Elyse, grabbing her attention. “Didn’t Scottie have a crush on Gavin when you two were younger?”
Elyse snorts. “Oh, yeah. She’d always lie and say she didn’t, but it was obvious.”
That’s news to me. Not that it matters. I’m four years older—an age gap that might as well have been twenty when we were kids.
“What about me?” Shane chimes in. “She ever have a crush on me? I am, after all, the best-looking Ledger man.”
Ariana launches a pea at him. “Stop being disgusting.”
Elyse rolls her eyes. “None of my friends ever had a crush on you, so stop asking.”
Shane leans back, smug. “That’s not what they said when I was eating their pu?—”
“Don’t,” I cut in, my eyes flicking to Lily. “Do not finish that sentence.”
“Pie,” he recovers, clumsy as ever. “That’s not what they said when I was eating their pie.”
Lily looks up from her plate, completely oblivious to what this god-awful conversation is actually about. “Why were you eating pie from Auntie Elyse’s friends, Uncle Shane?”
Jesus. Kill me now.
I shoot Shane a warning glare. He’s skating on very thin ice. I may be nearing forty, but I can still kick his ass.
“Because pie is amazing, Lily Bear,” he says, all innocence. “All the flavors. I’ve been really into French silk lately?—”
“That’s enough, Shane,” Dad cuts in, his tone like steel. “You’ve got some screws loose, son. Your mother must’ve breastfed you too long or too little or something. I’m still trying to figure it out.”
Laughter ripples around the table—Ariana’s snort, Elyse’s muffled giggle, Dad’s unimpressed exhale. The tension breaks, but only in the room. Not in me.
Because while everyone else is busy making fun of Shane, my mom’s eyes are still on me.
And I can tell she’s not going to let this Scottie thing go.
Her gaze softens, knowing and a little too perceptive. She winks—giving me the kind of look that says she’s already drawing her own conclusions, even though I’m positive she doesn’t know anything.
“All right.” She tears a roll in half and slides part of it onto Lily’s plate. “Eat two peas between each bite of bread. Deal?”
“Deal,” Lily says, mouth full of roll already.
I lean back in my chair, pretending to focus on Lily’s negotiation tactics, but my mom’s look sticks with me.
Did Scottie really have a crush on me?
All this time, I thought it was one-sided. Turns out, maybe it wasn’t—we were just out of step. Wrong timing. Different versions of ourselves.
When she was a kid, I was too old to notice her that way. And by the time I finally did, it wasn’t something I could act on—not without holding her back.
CHAPTER 18
Scottie
FAIRYTALE ENDING
