He trails a finger over my shoulder, and I slap it away. “Don’t fucking touch me, Jamie.” My breath is a harsh pant, that light-headed feeling back with vengeance.
“I just hate seeing you get hurt, is all. Don’t want you caught up in this mess.”
“That’s rich coming from you. I’m sure your great sense of altruism is at the heart of your advice.” I step around the island, needing to put space between us. He follows two steps behind like a predator.
“Honestly, I think you probably saved their marriage. Ethan might deny it to you, but I know for a fact they’ve been talking every day.”
The air in my lungs stalls when I look for some hint that he’s lying, but he stares me straight in the eye.
In my head, the comparison is quick. I’ve barely spoken to Ethan during the last two weeks, but he’s been talking to Allison daily?
The corner of his mouth tilts up and he continues his assault to my heart. “Want to hear the ironic part here?” He lifts his thumb over his shoulder. “Ethan’s the one who talked me into staying with Felicia. Said the side chick I was seeing wasn’t worth my time. Wasn’t worth my marriage. That marriage was sacred and worth any sacrifice. Wise words. Ones I’m guessing he’ll probably heed once Allison tells him she’s reconsidered the divorce and wants to come home. I think she saw the hot piece of ass Ethan was fucking and had a change of heart, and she has you to thank for showing her how good she had it. See. I told you. Ironic.”
He laughs, the sound scraping over my skin like white-hot coals.
A boulder of emotion builds in my chest, and I shake my head. “You’re lying.” Isn’t he?
“Sugar plum, I’ve lied about a lot of things in my life, but I’m not now.” With one hand on the counter, he leans back, cool and collected.
He’s telling the truth. At least in part. But which part?
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he lowers his voice. “Why are you with Ethan anyway? I thought you and I had a good thing.”
Laughter, shrill and maniacal, sweeps out of me. “You can’t be serious.” Why does this asshole care?
His spicy cologne and smug smile take me back to the days and weeks after that dreadful day at his house. The messages he left on my phone. Those stupid bouquets of carnations. How he kept trying to track me down at work.
“Are you jealous I’m with Ethan?”
He scoffs, but there’s that weird tick in his jaw. “Just saying when it goes to hell here, you know who you can turn to.”
Yeaaah, no.
Outside the window, guests are leaving. A steady stream of voices leads around the side of the house to the cars parked out front.
Thank God. Let this day end.
The back door opens and several sets of footsteps echo closer. My heart is in my throat when I see that it’s Ethan, Allison, and Felicia.
Jamie’s wife watches me warily as she strides up to her husband and wraps her arm around his waist. “Boo, Allison and I were saying we should go on a double date while we’re still in town. For old times’ sake.”
Jamie’s thousand-watt full-of-bullshit smile lights up. “Definitely.”
Needing to see his reaction despite the dread building in my belly, I glance at Allison and Ethan across the island. She tugs on his arm and stares up at him. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”
Confusion etches across Ethan’s face, and he removes her hand. “Allison, I don’t think that’s—”
Her other hand slithers up his chest, and a pout forms on her lips as she leans closer to him.
My vision hazes red like that elevator scene from The Shining.
“Get your fucking hands off him.” The words are out of my mouth before I can think better of it. And now that I’ve started, I can’t stop. “You had your chance with him, and you walked away from him and your kids, you selfish bitch.”
Everyone stares at me, mouths open, eyes wide. Let them stare.
It takes a second for her to gather herself, and I can almost see her talons extend, but I also see victory in her eyes.
She wants this. She’s been waiting to strike like a viper.
“Guess what, you slut, now that I’m a partner on this ranch, you’re fired, so get your shit and your trampy ass out of my house. This is my kitchen. Those are my kids. This is my husband.”
Ethan rears back like someone slapped him. “Allison, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
Little feet come padding down the hall, interrupting him. Mila immediately hugs Allison. “What’s wrong, Mommy?”
With a dramatic sniffle, Allison wipes her eyes. “I’m just trying to make Daddy see how much I love you guys.” Oh, my God. This woman has no limits. I’ve never seen her extend one compassionate gesture to her kids or husband in private. Allison turns to Ethan. “Didn’t you tell me you’d do anything to have me back? That you’d do anything for your kids to have their mommy home? Didn’t you say they cry at night because they miss me so much? We could end all of that right now.”
Ethan glances down at his daughter, a pained expression on his face.
The tick tock of the clock on the wall swells in my ears as he stands still and I silently beg him to say something. Anything.
Chuckling, Jamie smirks at me and stretches an arm around his wife. “Gotta say, man, I’m kinda surprised you hired Tori. What with her record and all. Hope you didn’t let her drive the kids anywhere.”
“What?” My voice is fragile, like spun glass. One misstep and I’ll break apart.
Why would he bring that up? He knew how mortified I was about that time in my life.
His wife sneers like she just stepped in a steamy pile of horse shit. “I thought you needed certain standards to hold this kind of job.”
“Sorry, Tori,” Jamie says as though the man feels even a hint of remorse. “Want to make sure my friends know the real you. Know that they’re getting a college dropout who partied so hard, she nearly killed a car-load of her friends when they were out joyriding. Not sure that’s the kind of woman I’d hire to watch my children.”
The gasp I hear is mine.
Because that’s a version of the truth, but it’s distorted and ugly. It’s my life, the blood and guts of it all smeared and inside out, like some victim of a horror movie.
For a second, I can’t breathe.
I’m underwater.
Sinking. Sucking in water. Suffocating.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
I don’t know how to explain what really happened. How to untangle the thread of truth from the ball of lies Jamie just threw in my face.
Absurdly, my thoughts go to that astronomy course I nearly failed. Of the way planets collide so powerfully, they rip apart time, gnawing it open with their jaws.
I wonder if this is how it feels to be trapped in that kind of wreckage. Like noiseless, dark energy sparking out of existence.
Ethan’s voice slices through the overwhelming silence in the room. But it’s not the voice of my boyfriend. It’s the man who interviewed me months ago. Harsh. Demanding. Angry. “What’s he talking about, Tori?”
My eyes dart between everyone in the room.
Ethan, who’s pissed and confused, whose eyes beseech me to tell him that Jamie’s lying, that beg me to tell him he knows the real me.