“She’s beautiful, Chris,” she says, touching one of her pigtails. I wonder how long I should stand here before she acknowledges I’m in the room.
“Lauren, you always dress her so adorably,” Mrs. Scott says, and I try to force a smile but fail miserably. “Don’t you think, Jenna?” she says, obviously attempting to give Jenna a hint.
“It’s very pretty,” she says flatly, keeping her eyes on Chris and Caylen. I feel my cheeks start to burn. She’s doing this on purpose, not acknowledging me. The same way Mr. Scott did. To her, Caylen’s a package deal with Chris but I’m not included.
“You know Katie was saying our wedding colors should be yellow and white but I thought it was too simple. I’m thinking of something more chic like taupe.” She glances up at me. Chris’s face flushes and I feel my throat starting to burn.
“I think yellow is a beautiful color,” Mrs. Scott says as I try to ignore the mounting pressure in my head.
“We took Caylen to the zoo last time they were here. She loves animals just like I do,” Chris interrupts, trying to ease the tension in the room.
“Would a one year-old even know what’s going on at the zoo?” she asks in a playful tone, but it comes off as condescending. Is she really trying to offend me?
“I think we all had a nice time,” I say. I don’t realize the edge in my voice until their heads jerk in my direction. Chris looks nervous, Mrs. Scott smiles at me warmly, while Jenna gives me a mirthless grin.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” she says innocently, but her tone is far from apologetic.
“Jenna’s not really a kid person.” Chris chuckles nervously, and she gives him an offended look.
“What does that mean?” she asks sharply.
“I just meant you’re not really around kids much.” He throws up his hands in defense.
“Just because I don’t want to have a thousand of them doesn’t mean kids don’t like me,” she says, rolling her eyes at him, and at that moment it’s solidified; I don’t like Jenna. Her attitude makes me feel a whole lot better about the fact that I want my husband, her fiancé, back.
“I’m sure Caylen and I will get along just fine,” she says, reaching for Caylen who, I hate to admit, goes to her pretty easily.
“See,” she retorts to Chris, and her eyes dart to mine as if she knew about the secret bet I placed on Caylen not going to her.
“So, Lauren, you’re from Chicago?” she asks, finally acknowledging my presence in the room.
“Yeah.” I decide not to correct her that I’m really from Michigan.
“She grew up in Saginaw,” Chris adds, and she doesn’t look pleased that he added the information.
“It’s such a small world, isn’t it?” Mrs. Scott adds.
“I imagine it must have been inconvenient to drop everything and come here, and I hear you’re staying for three weeks?” she asks as Caylen starts to wiggle in her arms. She’s going for the cookies.
“No, not really. I’m a free-lance editor so I can work from pretty much anywhere.” I answer as I see Caylen successfully grabbing a cookie.
“She’s an artist too,” Chris adds, and the glare she gives him makes him look down.
“I’m sure she can speak for herself, Christopher,” she says tightly. I make my way to the table and take a seat since it seems like I’m being interviewed even though she’s the one who’s going to be around my daughter.
“What type of work do you do?” she asks as Caylen starts to suck on her cookie.
“I haven’t done any in a while,” I say shortly. “What is it that you do?” I ask and see Chris starting to run his hands nervously through his hair.
“I’m in law school. My last semester,” she says proudly. That explains it.
“Congratulations,” I say, trying my best to seem friendly.
“Jenna comes from a family of lawyers,” Chris interrupts, and I smile pretending to be interested as I wonder how long it’s going to take before Caylen’s cookie crumbs and chocolate are going to be all over that beautiful sweater Jenna’s wearing. The evil part of me wants to see how she reacts but seeing how nervous Chris is, I decide to give him a break.
“You want me to take her?” I offer.
“She’s fine,” Jenna says adamantly.
Okay.
“One of my mother’s firms is based in Chicago. Klaron and Franklin?” she asks as if I’ve heard of it.
“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever need a lawyer,” I reply. She opens her mouth to say something else but Chris takes her hand and squeezes it. And I feel my heart sink. Don’t look affected. Don’t look affected. It helps that Jenna seems more irritated than pleased by the gesture. She then glances down at her cashmere sweater that now has a big chocolate stain accompanied by drool and she looks absolutely disgusted.
“Oh, Caylen. Look what you did,” I say in a faux-scolding tone.
“Oh, I have a towel.” Mrs. Scott comes over with a wet cloth.
“It’s just chocolate,” Chris says, and she cuts her eyes at him. I reach for Caylen and this time she doesn’t hesitate to hand her off.
“Here, let me help,” Mrs. Scott says.
“No, no. It’ll just smudge. It’s dry clean only,” she snaps. “She probably shouldn’t have been eating that anyway. Isn’t that bad for her teeth?” she asks with derision.
“I think Lauren made an exception since I made them.” Mrs. Scott smiles at me.
“Her first batch of Grandma’s homemade cookies is a special occasion,” I say simply and return Mrs. Scott’s smile. Is she really giving me nutritional advice about my daughter?
“I’ll give you one of my shirts to wear for dinner,” Chris says.
“Actually, I’m not staying,” she replies, and I thank God. Chris looks surprised; I, on the other hand, am thrilled.
“We had my dad’s fundraising dinner,” she says quietly.
“Oh, I forgot about that,” Chris says guiltily.
She sighs. “Of course you did.”
“Lauren, do you mind if we talk outside for a bit?” she asks and both Chris and Mrs. Scott look as shocked as I feel.
“Sure,” I say.
“I’ll take her,” Mrs. Scott offers, and I hand Caylen over to her. Chris eyes Jenna, and she smirks.
“We won’t be long,” she says before giving him a quick peck on the lips. She turns to me.
“Ready?” she asks, and I restrain the disgusted sigh that is begging to be released. I don’t know Jenna, but in the brief time I’ve been around her, I gather that she likes to be in control. I think about Chris and wonder if he’s easy to control. He and Cal are almost exact opposites. Since Cal was completely uncontrollable, Chris must be completely controllable. How she treats Chris would never fucking fly with Cal.
“I’m just going to get to the point,” she says, looking me directly in the eye. I can already tell this is going to be a fun conversation.
Not.
“Chris is a simple man. That’s one of the things I love about him. He wants to do what’s best for everyone. If he’s doing that, he’s happy and that makes me happy,” she says wryly. Then she walks closer to me.