His trip had been good. Of course it had. His pictures had been beautiful. His mentions of Elise had been...cute. It had seemed like he was having a lot of fun. So...good for him. That was great. For him. And Elise. And...there was absolutely no reason at all for Abbie to care one way or the other. It didn't involve her. Just because she and Jake kept running into each other, that didn't mean that they were involved in each other's lives. It didn't even mean they were friends. It wasn't fate. It was just...life in a small town. Wasn't it?
But Abbie didn't think he'd asked her to meet him so that they could talk about his island adventure.
Then again, she also hadn't expected those seven words to come out of his mouth.
Is there something going on between us?
Her expression became a blank slate as she mentally tried to interpret exactly what Jake meant by that question, because it couldn't be what it sounded like. Had she done something, said something, to make him think that they were at odds? Because, given their history, that was all he could mean. Right? What he'd meant to say was, Is there something unpleasant going on between us? or Is there something disagreeable going on between us?
He certainly didn't mean anything else, because 'going on between us' implied that it wasn't all in her head alone, and that...that wasn't an option.
Only, as Jake continued, Abbie's look of vague confusion darkened into something else entirely. First, there was surprise. Mixed signals? Okay, perhaps she could understand where he was coming from. She had strayed from the norm with him on a few occasions, but she hadn't thought it was anything that might have given him the idea that...that what? And was that true, or was it just what she'd had to tell herself?
Abbie's eyes flashed when he brought up her engagement though. She didn't need him to remind her about her relationship. She knew. If he'd just asked her here to lecture her about appropriate behavior for a woman who was getting married, Jake could save his breath. She didn't need or want his input. If the things she'd done, the things she'd said, the small moments they'd had...if it made him so uncomfortable, she'd stop. That was all he needed to say. He certainly didn't have any right to start in on Gabe and her future with him. Like he really knew her, knew what she wanted. Fine, she wanted that picture perfect life with Gabe, that was true. Or...a part of her did. The part that had buckled down to live up to the Knight expectations. But what made Jake McKenna think he had any room to talk about anyone else's life when he refused to even try to live up to his own potential?
He'd succeeded in sparking her anger, and that was clear...for all of a second. Then confusion took over again. He kept going and going and it was just too much to soak in all at once. In all honesty, Abbie wasn't sure she even understood why he was taking issue with half of the things he listed. But then he brought up Lanie and things started to click for her.
This was the reason she never went to Hammer & Gin.
Abbie looked up at him when, once again, he asked what she was thinking. Something about the way he said it rubbed her the wrong way, as if he were berating her for making poor choices. Well, so what if she had? Clearly, it was all in her head. So...she ought to thank him for cementing that, at least. Nothing he'd said had a thing to do with why he'd even care what she was thinking or feeling or....
She continued to stare even after he'd stopped talking. She was processing. Her mind was working to catch up. She couldn't tell if she was supposed to laugh or to be angry or to just play the confused innocent. She had no idea where to start.