Page 106 of Regretting Youu

“You need help with anything?” Jonah asks.

“You can put icing on the cake,” I suggest. Anything to get him out of my line of sight.

Jonah just finishes icing the cake when the doorbell rings again. We both look at each other with confusion. “You expecting anyone else?”

I shake my head, then hand him Elijah before I head to the front door. But once again, Clara is rushing across the living room, beating me to the door. When she opens it, I freeze.

Miller Adams is standing in the doorway. He looks nervous, but I have no time to register his appearance or even yell at him before Clara grabs his hand and pulls him into the house. Jonah is standing next to me now. Clara is dragging Miller toward the hallway when Miller gives us a half wave.

“Hey, Mr. Sullivan.” He swallows, and his voice is quieter when he addresses me. “Mrs. Grant.”

We don’t even have the opportunity to say anything back because Clara has pulled him out of the living room.

“I don’t know what to do,” I whisper.

“About what?” Jonah asks.

I look at him incredulously, but then I realize he has no idea what Clara did last night. I push on his shoulder, shoving him back to the kitchen. He turns to face me, and I’m trying to keep my voice down despite my anger. “I caught them in bed together this morning,” I hiss. “There were condoms on the table. Clara was practically naked. He slept in her room the entire night!”

Jonah’s eyes widen. “Oh. Wow.”

I fold my arms together and slump down in one of the breakfast nook chairs. “She’s testing me.” I look up at Jonah for a little bit of advice. “Do I make him leave?”

Jonah shrugs. “It’s just dinner. It’s not like he’s gonna get her pregnant at the table.”

“You’re way too lenient.”

“It’s her birthday. She was upset with us last night, so she probably invited him over out of spite. At least he’s here and you’ll have a chance to get to know him better.”

I roll my eyes and push myself out of the chair. “Dinner is ready. Go tell them before he gets her pregnant.”

This is so awkward. Not only because I know Miller more than likely took my daughter’s virginity last night but because Jonah and I are barely speaking. We haven’t discussed what happened between us, and that hangs thickly in the air.

Clara has only given me clipped answers when I try to talk to her, so I finally stopped asking her questions because it was embarrassing. Miller and Clara aren’t even really talking because she’s scarfing down her lasagna like we’re at a food-eating contest.

Jonah is holding Elijah, feeding him a bottle as he eats. It’s cute, so I stare down at my plate and avoid looking at them.

“How’s the film project coming along?” Jonah asks.

Miller shrugs. “Slowly. We haven’t come up with a solid idea yet, but we’ll get there.”

Yeah, because you’re too busy doing other things, I want to say.

Clara points her fork at Miller’s plate. “Eat faster.”

I can see the confusion in his expression, but he picks up his fork and takes another bite.

I know exactly what she’s doing. She’s playing nice, hoping all will be forgiven if she spends her birthday dinner with me. She figures if she doesn’t put up a fight, then I won’t put up a fight when dinner is over, and she wants to leave with Miller.

She’s not leaving with him. Not a chance in hell.

Clara finishes her food and stands up. She walks her plate into the kitchen. When she comes back, she looks at Miller. “You finished?” He’s midbite when she pulls his plate from him regardless.

“There’s still cake to eat,” I say, pointing at the three-layer chocolate cake in the center of the table.

Clara stares at me. Hard. She grabs Miller’s fork from him without breaking her stare, and she digs it into the center of the cake, then shoves a bite into her mouth.

“Delicious,” she says wryly. She drops the fork and takes Miller’s hand. “Ready?”