Page 41 of Hiss and Make Up
This time, she rolled her eyes as they shifted to make room for an older couple to pass. She lowered her voice to whisper, “She didn’t exactly wear that dress forme.”
Marc glanced across the room. Chloe was sitting alone with a confused look on her face, trying to figure out who Marc was talking to. She wore a yellow sundress with tiny shoulder straps, and her blonde hair fell over her shoulders in long waves. She’d changed clothes since they saw her a few hours ago, but it was a Saturday evening. She probably had plans.
Although it didn’t matter what Chloe’s plans were or who she wore that dress for. What really mattered was who Sierra thought that dress was for.
“Sierra Menard, are you…jealous?”
“No.” She brushed past him. “Let’s get this over with.”
A step behind her, Marc leaned toward her ear and whispered, “Not my type, by the way.”
She didn’t even bother to lower her voice this time. “Cute, blonde, and perky’s not your type? Since when?”
There was an edge to her voice that Marc didn’t quite understand, but this wasn’t exactly the place to get into it. They dodged a small table where a guy sat with headphones and a laptop. Given their public location and lack of time, Marc decided to deflect rather than dig. “I’m more into cute, brunette, and impossibly stubborn.”
“Ugh.” She picked up her pace leaving him a couple steps behind.
* * *
Sitting at a tiny cafe table watching Chloe make sweet-eyes at Marc wasnothow Sierra wanted to close out an already craptastic Saturday.
To be honest, it shouldn’t have mattered. Chloe shouldn’t have mattered. Sierra didn’t have anything against the woman aside from the fact that she could have been a clone of the one and only Kassie Bergeron.
Exactly Marc’s type.
Despite the delicious smells of roasted coffee beans and sugar dancing with soft jazz in the air, Sierra wanted to march right out of there. She wanted to take Marc with her and hide him from Chloe's hungry eyes.
“Sierra.” She held her hand out and slid into a chair across from Chloe. “We met earlier today. Sort of.”
“Oh, right.” Chloe shook Sierra’s hand and plastered on a smile. “I didn’t know you’d be joining us.”
“Neither did I.”
Marc pulled a chair over. “My car died, and I needed a ride.”
Sierra felt a little pang of jealousy at the introduction, like she was nothing but a chauffeur to him. But she brushed the insult aside.
First of all, she shouldn’t care how Marc introduced her. Second, if Marc wanted a favor from this girl, he might need to downplay his connection to Sierra. Which was the whole reason Sierra wanted to stay in the car, or at least outside with the dog.
It was freezing in the gelato shop, so that lightweight sweater draped over Chloe’s chair should have been covering her arms. No reason for that except to bare her smooth freckled skin and dangle her long hair over the tops of her breasts. Normally Sierra would have been more than happy to be at a table with a cute woman in a low-cut dress. But the current cleavage show wasn’t on display for Sierra’s benefit. The woman couldn’t keep her eyes off Marc.
“I’m sorry about your car.” Chloe played with the ends of her hair.
Yep, definitely all for Marc’s benefit.
It was a fine tactic. Under any other circumstances, Sierra might have applauded Chloe for the effort. But these weren’t other circumstances, and Sierra wasn’t in the mood for applauding Marc’s ex’s look-a-like.
“Anyone want anything?” Marc asked.
“I’m fine.” Chloe put her hands around a white mug containing the prettiest pink liquid Sierra had ever seen. “Hibiscus tea.”
“Sierra?”
She wasn’t hungry after all those nachos and didn’t want to sit through a whole snack with Chloe, but this was the cost of information. Plus, it wasn’t like Sierra would turn down gelato. She'd have to hike the longest trail all the way through the Barred Owl Prowl trail twice tomorrow to burn off the junk she’d eaten today.
“Biscoff,” she said. “No, chocolate. Whatever chocolate they have. No, wait…”
He smiled down at her. “How about half and half?”
