“I did, actually,” Lillith said.
Jaxon froze for a moment and then he broke out the fake Blue smile Bryn had seen all summer. “The trees are beautiful. The juxtaposition of the gold against the silver is stunning.”
“I agree,” Lillith said. “The trees are stunning. Anything else you’d like to comment on?” She glanced at Bryn.
Jaxon sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not until there is another male at this table.”
“Asher is male,” Bryn pointed out.
Jaxon nodded. “You’re right, but since he’s nonverbal he’s not much help.”
“Since when do you need help making conversation?” Bryn asked.
“Since all the women at this table seem to be hostile.” He stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
“I think you’re lying,” Bryn said in a sing-song voice.
Jaxon stood and, in as dignified manner as possible, fled.
“If this wasn’t so funny I’d be furious,” Bryn said.
“What is going on between you two?” her grandmother asked.
“Remember when you said he wouldn’t know what hit him? Well he knows and apparently he is not the least bit impressed.”
“I don’t understand,” her grandmother said.
“Me, either. When we went to mingle he didn’t say a word to me. The girls complimented me on my hairpin and asked if it was a Vanleigh.”
“It is,” her grandmother confirmed.
“Good to know.” She sighed. “You know what? As Lillith pointed out, I don’t need a male’s approval to feel good about myself, but I would like to know what the hell his problem is.”
“He’ll have to dance the first dance with you after dinner,” Lillith said. “That isn’t optional, so you can talk to him then.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Jaxon came back to the table when dinner was served. Bryn focused on her food and on making conversation with her grandmother, Lillith, and her grandfather who, surprisingly enough, had joined them.
The interaction between her grandparents almost seemed flirtatious, which Bryn found amusing. Maybe, after his Directorate-sanctioned straying over the years, her grandfather had realized what a treasure his wife was. The whole marriage-is-a-business-partnership-that-produces-children idea bothered Bryn. It would be nice to think of them having a real marriage after all this time.
Jaxon smiled and nodded and gave succinct answers to any questions she lobbed at him. After awhile she gave up.
When the chocolate mint cake was served, Jaxon frowned. “You’re going to eat cake?”
That was the first real thing he’d said to her, so she answered honestly. “My grandmother and I discussed it. I can’t be afraid to eat cake for the rest of my life. Even though I plan to carry out a lifelong ban on carrot cake, other cake is acceptable. And this particular chocolate mint cake is awesome.” She took a bite and sighed in satisfaction.
“I’m not a fan of chocolate and mint, so you can have mine.” Jaxon pushed his cake toward her.
“Thank you.” Was he over whatever his problem had been earlier?
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to Quentin.” And he was off like a shot.
“At least that was something,” Lillith said.
“Two whole sentences worth of conversation,” Bryn said. “I’m such a lucky girl. But he did give me his cake.”
As the dessert dishes were cleared away, the orchestra played the opening bars for Blue Christmas.
“That’s our cue,” her grandfather said. He stood and held out his hand to her grandmother. “May I have this dance?”
“Of course.” Her grandmother took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.
Bryn watched them dance, moving together in perfect synchronicity. “I think something has changed between them, in a good way.”
“I believe you’re right, which gives me hope that Ferrin might warm up one day.”
“Maybe,” Bryn said because she didn’t want to burst Lillith’s bubble.
As the song drew to a close, Bryn kept a lookout for Jaxon. He wouldn’t openly defy convention, would he? Because that would really tick her off. Ferrin came to greet Lillith. He took Asher and held him in one arm while he led Lillith to the dance floor. He managed to dance while holding Lillith and the baby, which was impressive. Maybe Lillith would get her happily ever after one day.
Bryn glanced around. Almost everyone else was out on the dance floor. Less than a dozen people remained seated at their tables. Most of them were older than her grandparents. And most of them were looking at her. What was that about? One of the elderly ladies nodded toward the dance floor like she was suggesting Bryn go out there. She’d love to go out there, but not by herself.
Where was Jaxon? He needed to show up ASAP because people were going to notice that they weren’t dancing, and she didn’t want to deal with any grief from her grandparents. She waited and…nothing.
Wow. This whole sucky situation felt all too familiar. The only good thing about being contracted to marry Jaxon was that she wasn’t supposed to be left out like this again. They were supposed to be a team. Maybe he was just late returning from the restroom. Bryn scanned the area and that’s when she spotted him. He was already on the dance floor, dancing with someone else.
What did that mean? Wasn’t he “legally bound” to dance the first stupid dance with her? That’s the way Lillith had made it sound. Maybe Bryn had misunderstood.
Jaxon turned so that he faced her direction, his eyes glided over her like she was invisible. To him, maybe she was. And that ticked her off even more. Fire stirred in her gut. She focused on snow and pushed the flames down. What was going on with him? They’d been on friendly terms when they left school less than a week ago. Had he decided to publicly humiliate her in revenge for turning his hair pink?
Now what? She could sit here and have everyone gawk at her, or she could leave. She stood and exited the room as calmly as possible. She headed for the restroom, which was empty, thank goodness. She stood at the sink with the water running in case anyone came in, so she could pretend she’d just turned the faucet on and was about to wash her hands rather than the truth that she was hiding out because the one person she was supposed to be able to depend on to ask her to dance had abandoned her. And it’s not like she’d done anything wrong. This strange new behavior was all him.
She checked her reflection in the mirror. Her hair and makeup still looked good. Her dress was beautiful. Whatever this was about, it wasn’t her. At least that is what she’d tell herself to get through the rest of this crazy train wreck of an evening.
She slapped the water faucet off, squared her shoulders, and exited the restroom. Before she reached the ballroom, her grandmother intercepted her. “What are you doing out here? I thought you’d be dancing.”
“I’d be happy to dance,” Bryn said, “but no one asked me.”
“You can’t expect to dance with anyone but Jaxon.”
“Funny story,” Bryn said with a catch in her voice. “He never came back. He never asked me to dance. He danced the first dance with someone else.”
Her grandmother just stared at her.
“And no, I’m not joking.” She needed her grandmother to have a solution to this situation. “So any idea on how I should handle this?”
Frost shot from her grandmother’s nostrils. Bryn had never seen her grandmother lose control of her element so she was pretty sure Jaxon was a dead man. And right now, she was okay with that. “Come with me,” her grandmother said. “Act like everything is fine.”
“Let the fun begin,” Bryn muttered as she followed her grandmother back into the ballroom and sat at their table. Someone brought them more cake. Bryn ate cake, smiled, and waited for Jaxon to come back so she could stab him with her fork.
Lillith came back with a smile on her face. She took one look at Bryn and sat down. “What’s wrong?”