Lexie smacked right into Bree Lockhart in front of the drugstore. Bree, who’d just been exiting, squeaked in surprise and dropped the plastic bag in her hands. A bottle of herbal shampoo popped out of the bag, rolled down the sidewalk and collided into a metal newspaper dispenser with a loud clang.
“Crap!” they said in unison, before releasing simultaneous laughs.
“Sorry,” Lexie said. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Neither was I,” Bree admitted.
An awkward pause fell, and then they both darted after the runaway shampoo bottle. Lexie reached it first, bent down to scoop it up, and handed it to Bree.
“Thanks,” Bree said as she tucked the bottle back in the bag.
Awkward pause number two descended.
Lexie shifted her purse to her other shoulder, wondering why she felt so damn uncomfortable around other people. With the exception of her staff at the Post, she sucked when it came to making connections. Funny how she’d had no problem being a bitch to Bree Lockhart back in high school—or at least pretending to be a bitch. These days, she’d given up on acting all tough and superior. It was too exhausting.
Gulping, she tried to come up with something to say, wondering if she should bring up that weird bump-in at Nate’s place yesterday.
But Bree beat her to it. “Sorry if I was acting strange yesterday. I didn’t expect to see you with Jake.”
“And I didn’t expect to see you with Jake,” Lexie answered with a faint smile. “You two are dating now?”
The other woman looked ill at ease. “Not really. Just hanging out while we’re both in town. So, our families are having dinner Saturday night, huh?”
Okay, no Jake talk. Lexie got the hint at the abrupt change of subject. “Yeah, I can’t see how that could possibly go well, but I guess our parents are braver than we are.”
Bree grinned. “Guess so. Are your sisters going to be there?”
“Yep. What about Gabe?”
“No, he’s too busy with work.”
Since neither Bree’s tone nor expression changed, Lexie figured that Gabe Lockhart hadn’t told his sister about his former involvement with her. If you could even call it that. She and Gabe had slept together a few times over the past couple of years, but she’d ended it once she’d started seeing Cooper. Thank God Gabe wouldn’t be in town this weekend. Dinner would already be awkward enough without her and Gabe having to pretend they didn’t know each other as well as they did.
“Alexandra, there you are!”
Miranda Price’s icy voice rivaled the chill in the afternoon air. Suppressing a groan, Lexie turned to see her mother barreling toward her, high-heeled Louboutins clicking against the sidewalk.
“We’re late for our salon appointment,” Miranda said, disapproval ringing in her tone. The second she spotted Bree, her face transformed into a mask of civility. “Bree Lockhart! What a treat it is to see you!”
Bree seemed to be fighting a laugh. “You too, Mrs. Price. My mom just informed me we’re having dinner together Saturday night.”
“Yes. The mayor and I are looking forward to it.”
Lexie tried not to roll her eyes. It annoyed her to no end that her mom referred to her dad as “the mayor”. But Miranda loved reminding people of her husband’s position, pretentious social climber that she was.
“Anyway, it was nice seeing you both,” Bree said, edging away. “I’ve got to run. My mother’s waiting for me at the florist.”
As Bree dashed off, Miranda turned to Lexie with shrewd eyes. “Is Bree’s brother also in town?”
“How would I know?”
“Oh, don’t play coy, Alexandra. I know about you and Gabriel Lockhart.”
She was startled. “You do?”
“You thought you were being so sneaky,” her mother said with a surprisingly playful gleam in her ice-blue eyes. “But Brenda Huntington spotted the two of you last year at a restaurant in Denver. She said you looked very familiar with each other.”
Wonderful. So now her mother’s snooty friends were spying on her.
“We had dinner,” Lexie conceded. “But we’re not seeing each other anymore.”
“Why on earth not?” Miranda made a clucking noise with her tongue. “He’s handsome, wealthy, well-mannered.”
Control freak. Ice cold. Boring.
She kept the not-so-pleasant descriptions to herself. If she were being honest, her mother’s adjectives were what drew her to Gabe in the first place. Gabe was precisely the kind of man her parents would pick for her, and fine, he wasn’t hard on the eyes, that was for sure. But after the night she’d met Cooper outside Bishop’s Corner, she’d realized just what her relationship with Gabe had been missing.
Cooper might not be wealthy or well mannered, but he turned her on like nobody’s business. He also made her laugh, something she didn’t do too often. He challenged her. Called her on her bullshit. Made her feel appreciated, feminine, worthy.
Unfortunately, her parents would never understand that. Cooper lacked the one prerequisite needed to gain her parents’ approval: money. And Lexie lacked the one thing required to stand up to her parents: courage.
“Are you listening to me?”