“Darling, if you think we’ve reached the point where I can finish your sentences, we’ve a ways to go.”
“The ones who fell in love with you, Benedict! What about them, how long did youcharmthem?” She spits the last bit. Something heavy clicks in my brain, and in my gut.
“You think I led them on?”
“Didn’t you?”
“No, never.” She scoffs and I double down, “Not on purpose. No. And honestly there’ve only been two who really thought—”
“Thought you loved them?” She says, sounding angry.
I’m tempted to get angry too, that she clearly doesn’t think much of me. Is clearly lumping me in with a group of tossers, led by that wanker Theo, I assume.
“Thought we were more serious than we were. You can ask them, I’m not some heartless jerk, Janelle, come on. One wasRebecca. We dated a few months but it was more partying our way through Europe than it was dating each other.”
“Sorry. I guess I might be projecting a little.”
“You think?” I breathe deeply, trying to calm myself. Why am I so bothered by this? She’s made it clear I’m too much for her. Too much like Theo and I guess all the other past boyfriends. This is just par for the course she’s set.
“It’s none of my business anyway.” She says, shrugging.
“The other,” I say, hoping she’s secretly as interested in my past as I am in hers, “Was Penny. Again, it was just a couple months. It was around the holidays, actually, like this. Lots of parties and festivities and we went to them all together, she took that as serious. I took it as,” I stop myself.
“What?” Janie narrows her eyes at me.
I wince, “convenient.” I rush to add, “But I never took her to meet Mum or proclaimed my feelings or anything. I’ve never led anyone on, I promise you.”
“Sorry,” she whispers again.
“He did though? Theo?”
She looks at the sky, then back at me. “Isn’t it time for you to make a joke about my legs or something?”
“I would never joke about your legs. They’re dear to me.” She starts to smile. “Will you tell me at some point, what he did?”
She takes a deep breath in. “Steven will just blab it if I don’t. Theo and I started young and were on-again-off-again for years. He was a mess. He needed me.” Something must flicker across my face, so she nods. “Yeah, I have a thing about that. Being needed. Feels a lot like being wanted, which I wasn’t by my mother, blah blah blah, I’m working on it, ok? But his art career stabilized, we moved in together, he proposed. I thought we were solid. But…but he broke up with me three months before our wedding, at our engagement party.” I curse under my breath. “Yeah, all our friends were there.Lovedthat forme. Then months later, he said he wanted to try again. Then broke it off again.” I inhale slowly, deeply, trying to keep from responding with a slew of words for this Theo that I don’t want to be overheard by the Aunts watching us nearby. “And again.”
“What?”
“Yup. Third time’s a charm.”
“Ugh, I...I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine now. I’m over it.” She lies, her eyes turning glassy.
“Are you now?” I snipe, angry, but not at her. I hate this, all of it. I hate that he did that to her, multiple damn times and I hate that this town uses her life for their busybody entertainment and I especially hate that she’s still so affected by all of it. By him.
“I am.” She straightens her spine and her fire is back in her eyes, beautiful as ever. “It’s just the kind of thing that sticks with you.Isn’t that the girl that got dumped at her own engagement party?”She says the last part in a hushed tone.
The song ends at the worst possible time because she pulls away, in a million ways.
I have to lean down to her ear to say, “He’s a bloody fool.”
She gives a sad smile and begins walking toward the car, “You have to say that now as myhusband.”
“As your husband I’d sure as hell like to say a lot more than that. I’d like to have my P.I. find his home. I’d like Nigel’s scary Irish biker friends to visit him in the dead of night with a crowbar.” Her eyes widen.
“Ben!”
