“Are you saying you’re not going to marry me?”
“Hell yeah, I’m gonna marry you, but that’s way off in the future.”
“So good then, it’s a deal. You can pay me back later.” I dragged him across the store to the men’s section feeling like I’d won a monumental battle.
CODY
“Does Lisa seem different to you?”
“Different how? Did something happen?”
“It’s nothing, forget I asked.” If her closest friend hasn’t noticed a difference, then I’m probably overthinking, and there’s nothing wrong. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that she’d changed somehow.
Not in a bad way, of course; I doubt she has a negative bone in her body, but her sweetness seems a bit edgy these days. I’d noticed it subtly after the night with the picture, but since neither of us had dwelt on it much after that, I guess I’d missed the signs. She’s still her sweet, adorable self, but there’s an underlying element that wasn’t there before, or at least I thought there was.
I’d waited for her to disappear into the dressing room before approaching Jessica with my question. Though I’d let her talk me into letting her buy me a suit and some stupid designer shirts and slacks, along with shoes that I don’t need, I was still not too comfortable with the situation. Though things had made sense when she said them, now that I think about it, I’m not so sure.
Don’t get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with a wife doing these things for her husband, but Lisa and I are still in the beginning stages of our relationship, and I don’t want her thinking that I’m with her because of her wealth. I should’ve known something like this would happen, that the glaring differences in our finances would pose a problem at some point, but I didn’t expect it to happen in this way.
My dad didn’t raise me to be a taker but more of a giver. And though I’m not one to think that just because something cost more, that meant it was better, I can see where Lisa’s different. She was raised different, her outlook is different, and I don’t want to hurt her, but neither can I compromise my ethics. I don’t care about her money, and to be honest, I don’t mind her buying me stuff; it’s just that the kind of stuff I’m comfortable accepting from her, and the things she seems to want to give, differ.
A baseball cap, a cute little memento she picked up somewhere, that’s acceptable. But the girl just bought me a three-hundred-dollar shirt, and that’s only because I refused the one that was eight hundred dollars, like what the hell? She seemed so psyched to do it, though, that I feel bad not sharing that same level of excitement.
I’ll call my dad later and get his take on things before I do something to mess up the best thing that has ever happened to me, and that’s including my love of the game. Whatever the case, something’s changed about her, and I can’t put my finger on what or why. Maybe Jess knows her in a different way than I do, and that’s why she hasn’t noticed.
I haven’t heard anything more about her asking around for information on Susie in the last few days, and she never brought it up to me, so I didn’t know how to broach the subject with her without opening a can of worms. I’d long learned from Parker that Susie was the one who’d sent the picture but knowing her, any kind of response from me would just play into her sick head games, and I don’t want that.
I’m at the point now where whatever she does is fine, as long as she doesn’t cross the line and go after Lisa. One of the reasons I didn’t want her going to the stupid party is because I know Susie is big into that stuff, and she even holds some kind of office in that particular chapter.
I’ve come too far and sacrificed way too much to lose it all now, but if she does anything to my girl, I can’t guarantee that I won’t lose my shit and go full Hannibal on her stupid ass.
LISA
In all my planning, I forgot one little thing, my nerves. Now that the time was here, I was as squeamish as I’ve ever been. I’d spent the day at an upscale beauty salon with Jess and Alexis, courtesy of mom. Not that they could do much with me, or so I thought until I saw the chic new layered cut that framed my eyes and added contour to my otherwise bland face, or maybe that was the work of the expert makeup artist who’d rounded off the day’s adventure.
Our look was very understated elegance with a heavy hint of luxury. As these things tend to go, only those in the know would recognize and know that the dresses were made of the finest silk, and the name on the tag was worth a few thousand, and that’s before we even got to the design. Jess seemed rather accepting of all this, while Alexis wasn’t faring much better than me.