Before Joe could even get a word out, a voice called his name.
I turned instinctively—and froze.
Emma.
Her lips were curved in a polite smile, but the second her gaze landed on me, the warmth drained from her face. Her eyes iced over, and she looked right past me like I was a stranger cluttering up her view. She kept her smile fixed on Joe, like she hadn’t just dismissed me in one deliberate flick of her gaze.
Joe didn’t miss a beat. He smiled at me first and said, almost casually, “Rae, this is Miss Emma. Care to say hello?”
It was such a simple sentence, but every word was loaded.
One—our closeness was obvious.
Two—he knew the history between Emma and me.
Three—his allegiance couldn’t have been clearer.
He was on my side.
The flicker of surprise in Emma’s eyes told me
