I glance around. There are people milling about everywhere. “I can’t check right now. Too many people.”
“Guess you’ll have to wait then.” She laughs and I kiss her again, squeezing my fingers around her waist, pulling her a little closer. If I don’t watch it, I could pop a boner right here in the middle of this party…
“Ah, the two lovebirds have arrived.”
At first sound of my dad’s voice and I’m springing away from Jensen, all thoughts of an erection evaporating just like that. “Hey, Dad,” I say weakly. Jensen is tugging on the hem of her dress, like she can magically make it look longer.
“Hello, son.” He claps my back with his hand, nodding toward Jensen. “Good evening, Jensen.”
“Hi, Mr. Montgomery.” She smiles, and I can tell she’s nervous. Probably not too thrilled my father found us in semi-compromising position/situation either. “Thank you for inviting me to Addie’s party.”
“Ah, you should thank Addie. This is all for her tonight. I’m glad you could make it.” He’s smiling at her, his expression friendly and open. Very unlike my dad. Though he did say at dinner a few nights ago he wanted to encourage me dating a nice girl.
I’m not one-hundred percent sure Jensen is actually a nice girl, though…
“You two just get here?” Dad asks me.
“Yes, a few minutes ago.”
“Talk to Addie yet?”
“No, we saw her outside dancing with her friends and Trent when we first got here. Didn’t get a chance to say hi to her, though,” I explain. “We just saw Park.”
Dad’s face goes stern. “With his date?” he asks through tight lips.
“Yeah. She seems all right.” I shrug.
“She’s a thirty-five year old tramp with three children born to three different fathers, and not a one of them she married either,” Dad says disgustedly.
What the hell? Guess I was right about the age thing. “How do you know all that? Park tell you?”
“Sort of.” He lifts his head, a smile appearing on his face. “Ah, there’s Diane. Come here, sweetheart. Come say hi to the kids.”
Diane spots Dad and plasters a fake, closed-lipped smile on her face as she makes her way toward us. Jensen is immediately standing extra close to me, reaching for my hand. I interlock our fingers, noticing how cold hers are. Diane sets her on edge every single time she comes around, and I don’t get it.
“Darling, please. I don’t have time for this. I need to go speak with the caterers,” Diane says, leaning away from Dad when he tries to kiss her cheek. His irritated expression tells me he knows he just got dissed. Funny, I figured my old man was used to it. “There seems to be a problem in the kitchen, and I need to go check on them.”
“I’m sure they can handle whatever—” Dad starts, but she cuts him off.
“No, they can’t handle it. I need to supervise. No matter how much you spend or how often you work with them, the hired help are totally incompetent.” With an irritated huff, Diane walks away, not once acknowledging me or Jensen.
“I’m sorry she was so—short just now,” Dad says once Diane is gone. He’s speaking directly to Jensen, since I already know Diane’s rude almost all the damn time. “Parties seem to stress her out.”
“There’s a lot that goes into planning them, I’m sure,” Jensen says sympathetically.
I squeeze her hand. “Yeah, Diane must be planning parties all the time, since she always acts that way.”
“Rhett,” Dad chastises, and with a shake of his head, he’s gone too.
“You think I offended him?” I ask Jensen after he leaves.
She releases her death grip on my hand. “You were a little rude just now.”
“I was rude?” I rest my hand on my chest. “You know I’m not wrong.”
“You probably shouldn’t have said it to your dad, though. He knew she was being awful. He didn’t need the reminder.” Jensen winces.
“Yeah, but he’s always making excuses for her. It sucks. And it’s so unnecessary. We all know she’s rude. Why can’t he see how terrible she is?” I rub the back of my neck, thoroughly irritated, and we’ve only been here for fifteen minutes tops.