“I’m not sure if Natalie told you, but I became close friends with your grandmother, Penelope. She was a wonderful woman. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Her gaze remains stony. “Yeah, she told me.” She blows a hair off her forehead, and when she notices Natalie looking at her expectantly, she forces a smile. “I also hear you and Natalie have gotten close as well.”
Natalie looks relieved as she comes to wrap her arms around my middle, but I’m not fooled. Once Natalie’s back is turned, Lindsay’s face twists into a scowl.
“Okay, I’m going to shower,” Natalie says, pushing up on her toes to kiss my cheek. “I feel disgusting.”
I pull her against me, my palm splaying over her lower back. “You are the opposite of disgusting.” I inhale the skin of her throat. “Delicious.”
She giggles while playfully pushing my chest.
“I’m so glad you two are finally meeting,” she says, ascending the stairs. “My two favorite people.”
“Yeah, it’ll be great for us to chat,” Lindsay replies. “Get to know each other.”
A lump forms in my throat once the bedroom door closes, and I hear the shower turn on. Lindsay crosses her arms over her chest, stomping toward the kitchen. I don’t ask where she’s going. I simply follow along, bracing for whatever she’s about to say.
She pours herself a tall glass of apple cider I made from scratch. I rock back and forth on my heels, hating the silence, which is a new feeling for me. Most of the time, deep in silence is where I’m happiest. That’s changed since Natalie’s arrival. But this is different. Lindsay clearly doesn’t like me, doesn’t approve of our relationship, and I just want her to scold me and get it over with so I can go back to focusing on the woman I love and making her smile.
“Did Natalie tell you about the termites?” I ask, gesturing to the empty rectangle where the cabinets used to be.
She nods. “Yeah, she got the number for the pest control company in town. I called. They’re coming out tomorrow afternoon to give me an estimate.”
Her tone is chilly, her words clipped. I’d appreciate her unwillingness to engage in small talk if she weren’t such an important person to Natalie, and didn’t have such obvious disdain for me.
She sits at the counter, her different-colored eyes leaving me feeling unsettled as she steeples her fingers against her chin. “You know this is going to end badly, right?”
I focus on the loose thread inside my pocket, tugging it, wrapping it around the tip of my finger until it grows numb. “No, I don’t know that.”
Lindsay rolls her eyes. “Okay, let me spell it out for you. Has Nat mentioned Kyle at all?”
I nod. “She has. I know about her miscarriages, and that he wasn’t worthy of being within a twenty-mile radius of her, let alone date her.”
“And you know about her mom, I’m sure.”
I nod again. “Yes, I do.” For a moment, I feel confident. I know Natalie, and I’m acing this test Lindsay is giving me.
The sneer she gives me, however, tightens my stomach. “Look, Winston. It’s Winston, right?”
My jaw tics. The clarification is intentional, an attempt to make feel small. I need to let it go. “Yes.”
“Natalie is one of the kindest, most generous people I’ve ever known. I love her. Love her to bits, and the last thing I want to see is her getting caught up in another relationship with a guy who can’t give her what she deserves.”
That’s it?That’swhere she thinks she’s got me? “I’m aware of how much Natalie deserves, and I plan to give her everything. She’s the only one who matters to me.”
“Aww, so sweet.” Sarcasm. “Kyle was great at spewing all kinds of sweet bullshit in Natalie’s ear, too. But do you know what he did after her second miscarriage?”
My stomach twists. That’s an answer I don’t have.
When I say nothing, she continues. “He convinced her that the reason for both miscarriages was because Natalie’s body wasn’t in good enough shape, that she wasn’t strong enough to carry their babies to term. That it was her fault. He wantedto act as her personal trainer, forcing her to push her body to its physical limits while she was in the process of healing from one of the most traumatic events someone with a uterus can experience.”
A shiver rips through me, and I don’t realize how tightly clenched my fist is until I feel something drip from between my fingers onto the floor. Blood. This likely plays into the discomfort she experiences when I touch her belly. Not the entire reason, but certainly part of it. It all makes so much sense now.
“He was a hockey player, and apparently, he was on track to be drafted into the NHL. When he got injured and his career prospects disappeared overnight, Natalie gave up everything to keep him emotionally afloat. She got into nursing school. Did you know that?”
I didn’t.
“She was so excited about it. I think she got through one semester, maybe two, before she dropped out. Kyle was too much of a ballsack to take himself to therapy, but had no problem destroying his girlfriend’s future so he didn’t have to be alone with his thoughts. She took a job close to home that had more flexible hours, abandoning her dream.”
