Free The Last Bride (DiCarlo Brides #6) by Heather Tullis

ahead of us.”
    “Who are you rock climbing with?” Angela asked.
    There was no way Jonquil would tell Angela in front of her staff. “Walk me out? Do you need me to drop you somewhere?”
    She shook her head. “One of the guys will pick me up from home.”
    “That’s nice.” Jonquil called goodbye to her staff and entered the hall. The outside door where she parked was close by. “How are rehearsals coming?”
    “Fine. Who are you rock climbing with?” Angela asked.
    “A friend.” Jonquil wasn’t looking forward to being teased over nothing.
    Angela’s eyes narrowed. “It must be a guy if you won’t tell me. Who is it?”
    Jonquil sauntered out into the June heat—which wasn’t very hot yet, but felt good on her head and shoulders. Not telling Angela was making it into something bigger than it was. “Gage. He’s going to show me a great place to climb.”
    Angela stopped walking and gasped. “Gage? My Gage?”
    Jonquil wanted to correct her and say he was her Gage. But he wasn’t. And he’d made it very clear that he never would be. “Just because he flirted with you once doesn’t mean that he’s your anything.”
    “Twice. We had lunch twice.”
    Jonquil’s chest tightened with jealousy, but she fought to keep a straight face. “Good for you.”
    “So now he’s dating both of us?” Angela asked, hands on her hips.
    “I’m not dating him. I’m just using him as a rock climbing partner.” Jonquil opened her car door and turned to Angela, wanting the conversation over with. “You want a ride back home?”
    “Yes.” Angela slid into the passenger’s side. “Do you think Joel and Sage would let me have a pool party at their place? It’s a cool pool.”
    “You’ll have to ask them. Joel doesn’t bite, so you’ll probably come out of the conversation unscathed even if he says no.” Jonquil grabbed her sunglasses and slid them onto her nose, glad for the excuse to hide her eyes. It really was just her that Gage objected to a real relationship with, then. Great. It wasn’t like she was looking for anything, either.
    “You’re trying to be funny, aren’t you?” Angela asked, a little put out. “You never were very good at that. You weren’t very good at a lot of things.”
    “And you’re good at everything, which is why you never settle on anything for long.” Jonquil couldn’t help by snap back.
    Hurt crossed Angela’s features. “I’ve been a drama major for two years.”
    Really? “Has it been that long? I guess I’ve been busy.”
    “It’s better than you managed. And you call me a flake.”
    Jonquil managed not to grit her teeth. “I’ve never called you a flake.” She’d thought it a few dozen times, but she’d never said it aloud.
    “Why are you so prickly?”
    “Why do you intentionally say things to make me feel like crap?”
    Angela crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the passenger side window. “I thought coming here would help us bond, get to know each other better. You haven’t even given me a chance.”
    “You haven’t exactly been the poster child of good manners.” Their mother’s words about how Angela needed her big sister echoed in her mind again and Jonquil sighed as she pulled into the driveway at home. “Look, I do want to spend time with you, see if we can be the friends I would have liked us to be growing up. I’m having trouble getting over myself. And so are you .”
    “This isn’t my fault at all.”
    Jonquil nodded. She didn’t expect anything different. “Here’s your stop. Tomorrow whenever works for you, call me for lunch and I’ll come get you.”
    “Sure.” Angela shoved her way out of the car, slamming the door behind her.
    Jonquil sighed. She thought of Gage and Angela going out for lunch twice and wondered what she was doing spending time with him. Was she really that masochistic?
    She considered canceling their outing, but it seemed a little bratty at this point—especially considering he’d