Page 103 of Sit, Stay, Love
His jaw was clenched and his face was as pale as Sera had ever seen it. Even paler than the time he had a horrible flu.
The cat was out of the bag now, no shying away from it. She sat up straight, pushed her shoulders back and faced him. ‘Last night. After you rang and interrupted us.’
Toby flinched, looked away and took a swallow of beer. ‘And what did you say?’
‘I told him I’d think about it.’
He nodded and stared at the ocean.
A long, exhausted breath passed Sera’s lips and she slouched with a huff against the cushions. ‘He’s asked me to go as his on-set consultant to assist him working with the dog in the movie. To help his confidence.’
‘Just professionally then?’ Her mother sounded disappointed.
Sera’s parents were sitting forward in their chairs, their eyes glued to her.
‘Yes,’ Sera said flatly.
Toby snorted.
‘You don’t agree, Toby?’ her mother asked.
‘All I know is the guy’s been sniffing around Sera from the moment he laid eyes on her.’
Sera turned on him. ‘Why is that so strange to you? Is itsobizarre that someone would find me attractive?’
A muscle in his jaw twitched. ‘Of course not. You’re gorgeous.’
For some reason, his compliment made her even more furious. ‘He’s notsniffing around me. He’s not some dog. He’s been a perfect gentleman.’
‘Yeah, took you to a party and perfectly ignored you. Have you forgotten whose arms you fell into? Who wiped away your tears?’
His vicious tone shocked her. ‘I haven’t forgotten. Isn’t that what friends do? Aren’t friends supposed to support each other?’ she asked, continuing before he could respond. ‘Except all you’ve done is be mean and bitchy about him, even when I’ve asked you not to. You say you’re happy if I’m happy, and then you’re likethis.’ She waved her hand at him. ‘How do you think that makes me feel? He’s the first guy to look at me for ages.’
‘I look at you.’
‘You know what I mean.’
‘Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.’
Her parents shuffled to their feet, her mother mumbling something about sorting dinner as she grabbed her husband’s elbow and hauled him away.
Sera scowled at the ocean, her pulse thudding in her throat.
‘Why did you even want me here tonight?’ Toby asked. ‘If you’re so in love with James, why isn’t he here? I could be at home chilling out instead of…’ He tapered off and took another pull on his beer.
Toby’s harsh voice sliced through her like a dagger, jamming into her heart and twisting. ‘I’m not in love with Ethan.’ She turned to him and glowered. ‘And I didn’t want you here; my mother did.’
Toby recoiled. ‘Right.’ He chuffed a hard laugh. ‘Then maybe I should go.’
‘Maybe you should.’
They sat in heavy, awkward silence, each glaring out at the view as dusk settled and the last of the sunlight mixed with the coming night.
Tears prickled the corners of Sera’s eyes, and she furiously blinked them away. Why was he being such a dick? Why couldn’t he respect her feelings for Ethan? He didn’t have to like him, but he could at least respect that she did. Sure, throwing the LA thing at him like that was a little uncool, buthe’d pissed her off. Again. He’d been pissing her off a lot lately. And it hurt. Fighting with him hurt.
She gulped back the lump in her throat and blew out a shaky breath. ‘I don’t want you to go. I just don’t want to fight anymore. We never used to fight, and now all we seem to do is bicker.’
‘We always bickered,’ he said softly. ‘That’s us.’
