Page 57 of The Ex-Best Thing
And now she has to learn that her sister is engaged through the internet.
She immediately jumps down from the tailgate, pressing her hands to her temples. “Not Olive, right? She and Dash aren’t—” She looks at me, her words dying quickly while she shakes her head. “Zoey and Tag are obsessed with each other. It’s Zoey, isn’t it?”
Is she spiraling? I can’t tell, but she’s literally walking in a circle right now. I hop to my feet and take her hand, forcing her to stop and look at me. It makes me think of holding her, kissing her—almostkissing her—and I want to be back in that moment so I can do it properly.
Focus, man.
“Yes.” I squeeze her fingers. “Zoey posted online. Want me to find it? Colby said it’s a photo of her hand with a ring and the caption ‘Forever.’ People are going nuts over it.”
Bree doesn’t wait. As soon as I’ve opened my phone to Instagram,she takes it and searches for her sister’s handle. The top photo is the one I just described, looking exactly how Colby explained it. Zoey’s nails are perfectly manicured, her hand is sleek, and the ring is enormous. She’s dating the heir to the Bone Appetit dog food fortune, so it tracks. That family has massive old money.
“What the—” Bree whispers, her shoulders deflating. “I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t Tag wait until all the drama has died down? My crap with the song could ruin everything. Her announcement and party and…just everything.”
“Or maybe they did it to take the spotlight away from you.”
She laughs, scrolling through the comments. Then her face sobers, and she looks at me. “You could be right. I need to call her. Can you take me home?”
“Let’s go.”
Bree gives me an apologetic smile and hands back my phone. I catch her unwrapping another taffy and popping it in her mouth before she buckles her seatbelt. The furrow doesn’t leave her forehead, though. When I pull into my driveway, she’s out of the truck before I come to a complete stop. This engagement really messed with her.
I don’t give her an opportunity to turn me down. I follow her to Colby’s house, and when she walks through the door and leaves it open for me, I know she’s okay with me being here.
Bree goes directly into the kitchen and pulls her phone from a charging cord on the wall, then leans back against the counter. A string of curses slip from her mouth in a light whisper as she finds her messaging app and locates her sister’s name. I look from her phone to her face. The color drains from her cheeks as she reads, and I feel like I’m intruding.
“Should I leave?”
“You don’t have to,” she says without looking up.
That’s all I need. She clearly doesn’t want to be alone.
“Did Zoey warn you?” I ask.
“Yeah.” She keeps reading. “She texted me like a hundred times over the last two days about the engagement, but when I never responded, she decided to post it anyway.” Bree looks up, her deep brown eyes settling on me. “You were right. She’s trying to shift the media’s attention away from me.”
I hate to even think it, but it won’t last long. Zoey is well-loved, but she’s not nearly as popular as Bree. Good news doesn’t seem to have as much power as drama, either.
My next thought isn’t nearly as charitable. I really don’t want Bree to leave, and I hope this ordeal doesn’t spur her into going to New York.
She finds a phone number and dials it, then hits the speakerphone button. “Sorry,” she mutters.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say, folding my arms over my chest.
“Oh my gosh, you’realive,” Zoey says, her voice distant like she’s also on speaker phone. Do these women always talk like this?
“Hey,” Bree says weakly. “Congrats, Zo.”
“Thanks. I did try to tell you first.”
“My phone has been buried—almost literally—for like a week.”
“I figured. Where are you?”
“If I tell you, I’m giving up my anonymity.” She cringes. “I’m not quite ready for that.”
“Ouch. I can keep a secret.”
“Yeah, you can. Tag, though?”
