Not that sleeping next to Dustin was that terrible.
Feeling Sienna’s knowing eyes upon her, she squelched down her pleasure and said, as casually as she could, “Hey.”
“Hey, back.” Dustin, on the other hand, didn’t seem to think it was a problem to reveal how pleased he was to see her. “I’m glad you’re back. Did you have a nice trip?”
“Super,” Sienna enthused and winked at him.
“Where are my brothers and Samantha?” she asked, diverting the conversation to a more neutral topic.
“Shopping, I was told.” Dustin folded his arms and leaned against the wall, not taking his eyes off her face.
She really wished he would stop that.
“Hi, Nate,” Sienna said.
As if remembering his manners, he introduced the man standing beside him. The man’s name was Nathanael, and Sienna was quick to inform her that Nathanael was Shaundra’s husband. He was gorgeous, she thought to herself. She could understand why Shaundra looked so happy. She was probably getting some good, good loving on the regular.
Stop that.
So she kept it cool, asking, “What are you guys up to?”
“William and Alex put us in touch. We got together for lunch, and then Nathanael came over for a tattoo.”
Sienna squealed. “Cool! Show it! We wanna see!”
Without hesitation, Nathanael grasped the tail of his t-shirt and peeled it upward over his head, revealing a large, reddened patch across his chest.
Both Chantelle and Sienna leaped to their feet to take a closer look.
“It’s red and raw,” Dustin hedged. “So you won’t see its full glory.”
“Oh, hush,” Sienna enthused. “It’s fantastic!”
Chantelle stared in amazement at the wordShaundrascrolling across the man’s chest in elaborate script, surrounded by finely detailed decorative swirls.
“My wife,” Nathanael announced, as if they hadn’t already figured it out.
Chantelle was aware that both Dustin and Nathanael were staring at her, waiting for her pronouncement. But all she could think was, who the hell got another person’s name tattooed on their body unless they were your kid? What if you broke up?
She thought of her two broken engagements and cringed at the idea of what it would be like if she’d done something that daft. She’d still be walking around with the names of a user and a liar on her body.
Sienna, forever the intuitive one, spoke on her behalf. “She thinks you’re nuts to wear a woman’s name on your body.”
Chantelle gasped and gave Sienna a warning look, but Sienna wasn’t a woman who took kindly to warnings. “She thinks you’ve lost your mind, dude.”
Nathanael laughed. “Maybe, in another time, another place in my life, I’d agree, but I know this to be true. Shaundra is my life and we’ll be together even after we’re old and gray. I will wear her name with pride until the day I die. Everyone will know who all this belongs to.”
Imagine that,Chantelle thought. What must it be like to have someone feel like that about you? To be so insanely in love with you that they were willing to literally have your name written under their skin?
Dustin seemed to read her mind, because he asked, with the merest hint of an edge in her voice, “Do you not believe that it’s possible for someone to be so devoted to you that they would wear your name?”
“I didn’t say that,” she answered defensively.
But he went on, prodding. “Don’t you believe that marriage can be forever? That you can love another person throughout your life?”
She pursed her lips, irritated. Why was he doing this, and in front of someone else? Sienna knew the truth between them, but she could see from the puzzled look Nathanael was throwing back and forth between her and Dustin that this conversation between newlyweds must seem weird to an outsider.
She set down her water bottle carefully and stood. “I said no such thing.” She turned to Nathanael and offered her hand. “I’m so happy for you. Dustin is an excellent artist. You were in good hands.” She tried to find an excuse to leave, but none came to her. She simply said, “please, excuse me,” and walked out of the kitchen.