Just Being Neighborly: A Sweet Romantic Comedy by Heather Miekstyn

Author:Heather Miekstyn [Miekstyn, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Gia

So far dinner has been…awkward. Whitney’s fajitas are delicious, and if I thought she’d actually give it to me, I’d be asking for her salsa recipe. But the conversation…yikes. In an unexpected twist Whitney doesn’t appear to be trying to make Brahm jealous. Instead she’s acting like she planned this whole thing as a way to introduce me to Darnell, because, as she’s said at least seven times, she just knew we’d hit it off.

That’s right, she’s using this dinner to try and break up Brahm and I by switching my romantic interest to Darnell- thereby leaving herself free to date Brahm without any more obstacles in her way. I mean, she’s either a mastermind or a psychopath. Either way she’s got it in for me. And yet here I sit across the table from her eating food she prepared. What if poison is her secret ingredient?

No, that's ridiculous.

“Did you know Darnell went to Duke for undergrad, Gia?” Whitney gushes. “Such a prestigious school. And of course he went on to get his PhD in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from UF.” She grabs his elbow and shakes it a little as she crows, “Which of course makes him a doctor!”

Darnell looks pleased by her accolades which really irritates me. He doesn’t seem to have caught on to Whitney’s plan, so he probably thinks she’s praising him because she likes him. And as the saying goes, the higher they rise the harder they fall. I need to put a stop to this banana behavior from Whitney.

I just have to figure out how.

“You went to UF, Darnell?” I say. “I didn’t know that. My sister Meg is there right now. She’s in her second year of dental school.”

“Oh yeah? That’s great. I loved my time there.”

“Look how much you two have in common!” Whitney gushes, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Whitney glances my way and frowns. “Oh my, I’m sorry, Gia, you must be baking. The sun always hits hardest right there. Here, switch with me.” She stands from her chair and pats the back of it. “It will give you a chance to talk more with Darnell about UF.”

“Oh no, I’m fine really,” I protest, but she shakes her head.

“Nonsense.” Her eyes rise to my forehead and park there. “I can’t have one of my guests sweating at my table.”

Sweating? I’m not sweating? I put my hand surreptitiously to my forehead. Nothing. The little liar.

“C’mon, up, up.” Somehow she’s on my side of the table now, standing there with her plate in hand, waiting expectantly for me to move. So I push my food across the table, scoot my chair back, and stand up. But instead of going around the table the short way, I take the long way so I can walk past Brahm. As I do, I dip down to whisper in his ear, slipping one hand up on his opposite shoulder and letting my hair fall across the other. “Why, darling” I whisper

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