“Jensen? That’s your name, isn’t it?” The pleasant smile on her face is fake. I see the strain around her eyes, the lack of emotion in their depths. I glance just beyond her shoulder to see Parker standing a few feet away, carefully observing us with a hopeful smile on his face, as if he wishes we could be friends.
She’s doing this, talking to me, for him. For her husband. Not because she’s kind and wants to reach out. More like she just wants to please Parker.
I swallow hard, hating how dry my mouth has suddenly become. “Yes, my name is Jensen.”
“Glass of wine?” She raises a thin, elegantly arched brow. Her cool politeness is a complete contrast to the wickedly mean woman I encountered at Addie’s party. The one who laughed with Park and made fun of me.
“Yes, that sounds perfect,” I respond, lifting my chin. Going for strong. Probably looking stubborn more than anything else.
Diane moves about the kitchen, plucking a wineglass from the cabinet, uncorking the already half empty bottle of wine near the sink. She pours me a glass of rosé, then offers it to me with a slight smile. “Enjoy.”
I take the glass from her with shaky fingers, bringing it to my mouth and gulping down almost half of it in one long swallow. The wine is cold and crisp, and I pray the buzz hits me quick. I’m not sure how much of this I’ll be able to take, pretending to get along with this woman who is really my mother.
“So tell us, Jensen,” Diane says with a devious little smile as she moves to stand next to Parker. He wraps his arm around her waist, pulling her even closer to his side. The perfect united front. “How did you and Rhett meet?”
I’m sure the bitch is fully expecting me to scramble while coming up with a lie. She most likely thinks we met at City Lights. She’s probably already convinced I gave Rhett a lap dance, rubbed my crotch against his junk, and poof—it was true love.
“On campus, at the library,” I tell her.
“Really?” The doubt in her tone is obvious.
“Actually, Jens, that’s not true,” Rhett says from behind me as he strolls into the kitchen like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
I catch sight of the triumphant gleam in Diane’s eyes, and I try my best to keep my expression neutral. I’m sure she thinks I’ve been caught in a horrible lie.
And I sort of did lie just now, though it wasn’t on purpose.
“Oh, that’s right. It was at that bar…” My voice drifts when Rhett comes to stand beside me, slinging his arm around my shoulders so we’re the perfect united front too. He’s solid and warm, firmly planted by my side and for once in my life, I don’t feel so alone.
It’s a heady experience.
“A bar?” Diane asks, dragging the word out as if she’s scandalized. “How…quaint.”
“Yeah, it was at that one bar just off campus where everyone hangs out.” Rhett smiles down at me. “She was sitting all alone.”
Spying on him.
I send him an adoring look. Not like I’m ever going to admit that.
“She was so beautiful and looked so damn sad, I had to approach her.” His smile grows as our gazes lock. I don’t like him mentioning the sad part, but too late now. “Turns out she got stood up by her date, meaning his loss was totally my gain.”
My cheeks go hot. I love it when he’s so sweet, but it’s still a little weird when he’s so sweet to me in front of other people.
“So that’s all it took?” Diane asks incredulously. “You locked eyes at a bar and you fell madly in love?”
“Oh no,” I say with a slight shake of my head. “He started talking to me—”
“Laying on the Montgomery charm, as usual,” he adds, making his father laugh.
“—and when he wouldn’t stop flirting wi
th me, I bailed on him,” I finish with a sweet smile.
“What?” Parker looks from Rhett to me, then back to Rhett again. “You left him?”
“I ran out of the bar.” I lower my voice, like I’m sharing a secret. “I thought he was too pushy.”
“I bumped into her again at the library a few days later.” He squeezes my shoulders, drops a kiss on my forehead. “My lucky day, right?”