I crack my neck. “My ex.”
JP scrunches his nose, then points at him with his glass in his hand. “That guy?”
I grab his arm and pull it down. “Don’t point. It’s embarrassing.”
He furrows his brow, looking at how animated and lovely my mother is with my ex. Then he turns to me. I can tell he’s passing judgment in his mind.
“He’s not that old,” I say, and JP laughs.
“I didn’t think he was.”
“He’s only forty-two.”
“And you are...” he draws it out as a question.
“Thirty. How old are you?” I ask, taking a sip of my champagne.
“Twenty-one.”
I spit the champagne out, gathering the attention of virtually everyone around us. Mom shoots daggers at me from across the lawn. I can hear her voice,for heaven’s sake, Julia, act like a lady.
“I’m joking. I’m twenty-nine,” JP says, pulling my attention back to him.
“Oh.” I breathe a sigh of relief, and he dabs my chin with his napkin. “That was embarrassing.”
“It was cute,” he smiles down at me. A moment of silence lingers as I try and fail to act nonchalantly.
“You should go say hello,” JP disrupts my thoughts.
I make a face and respond with, “Why?”
“Trust me. You look like that, and he’s just... that,” he says with an air of disgust. “Say hello. Pretend you don’t give a flying fuck he’s here.”
“I don’t,” I say, then take a long pull of champagne.
JP watches me, his gaze gently dancing over my skin like he’s known me for years. “It’s okay if you care that he’s here.”
“I don’t care,” I retort, and he narrows his vision on me. “I don’t. He’s a dick, and I want nothing to do with him, but I’m not going to fall apart at the sight of the man I realized wasn’t right for me after three years of torture... I mean, dating.”
JP raises his eyebrows and sizes me up. “I’m proud of you,” he says like he’s impressed.
I roll my eyes. “I’m a grownup, JP.”
“You are,” he agrees.
“Oh shit. He’s coming. I don’t want to be nice,” I groan.
Steven strides over to us on the edge of the lawn.
“Julia.” He shakes his head slowly like he can’t believe it. Even the twinkle in his hazel eyes would indicate he’s so damn happy to see me. Then he wraps his arms around me and rocks me side-to-side, and my mind is screaming,what the fuck, dude?“It issogood to see you!”
A breath of a laugh escapes me because it’s not at all good to see him. But I just smile as I pull away. “I’m glad to see you’re doing well. I’ve heard things are good at the agency as well.”
He nods. “Yes, and I hear therapy is going well.”
The phrasing makes it sound likemytherapy is going well, and I scrunch my nose. JP snorts.
“Steven, this is JP, a friend of Austin’s,” I say, remembering my manners, and JP takes his hand.
