THE CUPCAKES GLOWED behind the glass and I tapped my chin as I stared at them. “I should get a few of those as well.”
Veena grinned and placed them into the box with all the other baked goods I couldn’t say no to.
I straightened up. “And four pop tarts, please.”
Veena’s was a tiny bakery in town, named after the owner and head baker. She was a petite woman in her forties with very shiny black hair and bright eyes. I often stopped in at lunch to pick up some treats for Liya and myself, and always enjoyed my chats with the friendly Veena.
“How many people are you watching The Bachelor with?”
“Just four of us.”
She laughed. “You have enough for a hockey team here.”
“It’s your baking. It’s like crack.”
“You say the sweetest things. I should put that on the window.” She sealed the box up and cleared her throat. “How’s your dad?”
“He’s good. He’s house sitting for his brother over on Salt Spring for a couple months.”
She nodded, turning her back to me to place the box in a carrying bag. “Right. He mentioned that. He has a farm, right?”
“Yep. Does my dad come in a lot?” My dad didn’t like sweets.
When she turned, her smile strained. “Sometimes.”
“Next time, you should remind him that I like cupcakes and that he should bring me some at the store.”
The warmth returned to her eyes. “I’ll do that.”
I left the bakery with the treats and walked over to Div’s apartment.
Max opened the door when I knocked, and I held out the bag. “Treats.”
His eye lit up. “We like you. You’re forever welcome on Bachelor night.” He stepped back and gestured for me to come in.
“Is that Hannah?” Div called from the kitchen.
I slipped my shoes off and placed them in the closet. “Yes.”
“Does she want a glass of wine?”
“She does,” I replied, following Max into a pristinely clean kitchen.
Avery sat at the counter, pouring red wine into four glasses, while Div arranged gummy bears on a plate. He caught sight of the bakery bag and gave me a flat look.
“Veena’s?”
“Where else?”
He approached the bag like there was a wild animal inside and peeked in before closing his eyes and inhaling. The moan he let out made all of us uncomfortable.
“Div, are you okay?” Avery asked, laughing.
Div frowned at the bag like he didn’t trust it. “Hannah, why are you tempting me like this? Do you hate me?”
My mouth fell open. “Of course I don’t hate you. Everyone should experience Veena’s cupcakes.” I nudged the bag closer to him. “Taste one.”
He patted his stomach. “I like having abs.”
“Oh my god.” Max shook his head. “No one needs to hear about your abs anymore. We get it.”
We collected plates, glasses, and the bag, and moved into the living room.
“Why don’t you start surfing?” I asked Div, placing my glass on a coaster on the coffee table. There wasn’t an object out of place in Div’s living room and I didn’t dare get rings on the table. “Wyatt eats whatever he wants and you could shred cheese on his abs.”
Avery clapped, delighted. “Well, since you brought it up—”
“You shouldn’t have brought it up,” Div sang.
Avery settled next to me on the floor, staring hard at me with a huge grin. “Hannah.”
I cut a glance between the three of them. “I feel like I’m being set up.”
Max put his hands up. “I’m just here to make fun of people on TV.”
Avery rested her chin on her palm, watching me with bright eyes. “What’s going on with you and Wyatt?”
I made a face. “Nothing.”
“You’re hanging out.” She narrowed her eyes. “A lot. He doesn’t really do that.”
“Hang out with people?”
She nodded. “He surfs. That’s it. Sometimes he goes for a drink with Emmett or Holden, or Finn if he’s in town, or a friend, but mostly he just surfs.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, and what was the deal with you asking people out while he supervised?”
“What???” Avery’s pitch was so high, it could have cracked the TV screen.
I did my best to skewer Max with my eyes. He fought a grin, staring at the TV. “I thought you were just here to watch TV.”
“I’m shutting up now.” He stuffed half a cupcake in his mouth.
Avery stuck her face very close to mine and I started laughing. Her eyes bored into mine. “Tell. Me. Everything.”
I shrugged and wiggled away from her. “It’s nothing. Wyatt’s teaching me to surf.”
Avery narrowed her eyes. “By making you ask guys out?”
My face was hot and I was blushing again.
Div cleared his throat. “There was a blog post.”
Avery and I whipped our heads at him in unison. “What?”
Div handed his phone to us. We read the title of the post on the Queen’s Cove Daily blog. My stomach dropped through the floor and Avery fell back, laughing. I took the phone and read with an expression of total fucking mortification.
“Are millennials desperate?” I read. “Hannah Nielsen of Pemberley Books aggressively pursued all men in the vicinity on Thursday.”
Avery wiped tears from her eyes as her chest shook. Max covered his mouth with his hand, chest also shaking. Div winced.
“Don wrote about this on the blog? This is so embarrassing!”
“Hannah.” Avery stopped laughing so hard and sat up. “What were you doing?”
“Wyatt is teaching me how to be a hot girl.”
“What?” The three of them repeated it in unison, staring at me like I’d grown another head.
Div studied me. “I can see it.”
“Hot girl?” Avery reared back. “What?”
I sighed. “I’m turning thirty in one month and three weeks and I’m sick of being boring little Hannah who’s shy and scared of everything.” And I want to find true love, I didn’t say.
Avery blinked in surprise. “Hannah.” Her tone was soft.
“I didn’t say anything to you because I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to tell me to be myself or some crap like that.”
“That’s exactly what I would say. You’re already a hot girl.”
I gave her a flat look.
“What? You are!”
“Div.” I knew he’d tell me the truth.
He glanced up from his phone. “You should cut your hair. Something shoulder-length and choppy. And stop wearing sweaters two sizes too big.”
Avery threw a gummy bear at him and it fell down his shirt. She turned back to me. “Hannah. You’re gorgeous and funny and smart and—”
“I know, I know.” I shrugged. “I just want to try something different.”
Avery rolled her lips. I knew what she was thinking, but she’d never say it. She was wondering what a guy like Wyatt was doing hanging out with a girl like me.
“I’m doing his social media stuff,” I explained. “He’s trying to get a sponsorship. See?” I stood to retrieve my phone from my bag by the door, and by the time I returned to the living room, I had pulled up Wyatt’s page.
Div’s gaze skimmed over the stats on my page. “Wow. You did this?”
I nodded with a smile. “Yeah. I started last week.”
“Last week?” Max’s eyes bulged and he grabbed the phone from Div. “You have a lot of content already and your account is doing great. This video has two million views.”
It was the video of Wyatt walking out of the sparkling water the other morning with his board tucked under his arm, shaking his hair out. He’d probably hate that this video existed, but it had catapulted his social media to a new level.
Avery watched the video over Max’s shoulder before giving me a funny smile. “Hannah. This is amazing.”
I shrugged but a smile broke through on my face. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” She shook her head, watching me and thinking. “It’s cool. Not a lot of people could do this.”
“Thérèse commented,” Max said, showing me the phone.
theresebeauchampofficial: mon dieu, the man should be on billboards
The comment had ten thousand likes and several hundred comments in a thread below it. My heart squeezed and I grinned big at my phone.
Max unwrapped his second cupcake. “Who else did you ask out?”
My gaze snapped from my phone up to him. “Hmm? Oh. Let’s see. You two, Don,” I counted, starting to laugh at the memory of Don’s pitying expression. “A couple tourists, Holden, Carter, and Beck.”
“Carter?” Avery winced. “Oh no.”
“We went to the bar last night.” I took a bite of one of Veena’s pop tarts. “He did a beer bong and got kicked out.”
Div cringed. “Good god.”
“Holden’s a babe,” Max added.
Avery made a face. “He’s my brother-in-law, dude.”
He shrugged. “I don’t care. He’s hot.”
I reached for my water on the coffee table. “Holden’s nice, but I’m not into him. He’s a practice date.”
“Okay, but Beck?” Avery raised an eyebrow. “Beck is cute. Paging Dr. Gorgeous, am I right?”
Max nodded and fake coughed. “Doctor, I think I’m sick.”
A giggle ripped out of me, and Avery snorted. This was fun, even if we were covering all the topics I didn’t want to talk about tonight. I spent a bit of time with Max and Div leading up to Avery’s wedding last year, but we had never all hung out like this. Maybe I’d have them over next time, now that I had the house to myself for the rest of the summer.
“Beck is cute,” I agreed, but when I thought about asking him out, Wyatt’s face popped into my head, sitting across the table at the bar last night. Any time I glanced at him during karaoke, he was watching me with a little smile. Even the memory sent zings through my chest.
If only all my dates could be as fun as hanging out at the bar with Wyatt.
Max turned up the volume. “Everyone shut up right now, it’s starting.”
