I glanced up at him but found him staring at my breasts. This dress did have a certain milkmaid quality so I couldn’t blame him. Though I didn’t mind the attention just as I didn’t mind the strong, sudden reaction to that kiss. Not when it made me feel like I’d been plugged in and turned back on after months—years?—of waiting for someone to finallyseeme. To want me, exactly as I was.
“He’s not my boy,” I said, running my knuckles along the scruffy line of his jaw. “He’s not mine at all.”
“Good.” Ryan pulled me back to him again, a growl low in his throat. “Because I don’t share.”
There weretwo things I knew to be true right now.
First off, my husband was a really good guy. Probably the best guy. If there was a ranking system for this sort of thing, my guy would be at the top of the chart all day every day.
Two hours into this party, he was still taking photos, answering every random question thrown at him, and recounting his most recent championship win down to the minute. There was one point when he couldn’t remember something about a play and called up Hersberler, put him on speaker, and had the tight end tell the story from his side of the field.
Ryan had so thoroughly captivated everyone that Grace, Audrey, Jamie, and I parked ourselves at the island with our bottomless margaritas and decimated the charcuterie. It was mostly margarita for me since I’d sampled enough of the cheese board while preparing it and that was just fine by me.
I kept seeing big, rugged firefighters share bright, soulful expressions and a shake of their head likeCan you believe we’re talking to Ryan Ralston?They slapped each other on the back or landed light blows on biceps when he revealed some insider info or said something like, “I had no idea whether that move would work but I was fucking thrilled when it did” or “That one was all luck. I couldn’t have called that play if I’d tried.”
Everyone except Teddy.
No, like the toenail fungus he was, he lingered on the fringe of the group and made himself look busy with his phone or thegrill or literally anything else. He slid between scowling at Ryan and leaning one ear in to hear more of his stories.
It was almost funny. I couldn’t drop all of my resentment to embrace that humor but it was enough. It was what I’d needed from today.
Until I raided Grace’s medicine cabinet for anything to turn off these allergies and found myself staring at the woman last seen half naked in Teddy’s apartment. I hadn’t noticed her in the crowd though I’d never thought to look.
She was wearing more clothes now which was a nice change of pace but it forced me to notice that we had quite a lot in common. She was a couple of years younger than me but we were both short and dark-haired, full in the bust and fond of sundresses that showed it off.
And we both wore engagement rings.
Mine lazed toward my pinkie like usual and hers…well, I’d seen hers before.
Heat burned in my cheeks. I glanced away, motioning down the hall as I tried to squeeze into the slip of space between us. “Sorry. It’s all yours.”
But she blocked the way, saying, “Hi. I don’t think we’ve met. Not the right way. I’m Clara.”
“Clara,” I repeated, my lips a tight line that couldn’t pretend it was a smile. “Emme.”
“I know,” she said. “And I’m so sorry about—about everything.”
I drew in a breath and stared down the hall, mentally willing anyone to come and rescue me. A long moment passed and I resigned myself to the fact I was stuck in this quicksand conversation. With a steadying breath, I forced myself to face her. My lips parted but nothing came out. Except a gross, wet sniffle.
Clara twined her fingers together as she hurried to say, “You should know it was my fault. I never asked Teddy whether he was seeing anyone else and I should’ve.”
I’d never blinked so hard at anyone in my life. “Excuse me, what?”
“If I expect monogamy in a relationship, I have to ask for it,” she went on. “I didn’t and”—she shot me a small, pitying glance that made me want to rip the shingles off this house—“I guess you didn’t either. I’m so sorry that we found ourselves on either side of that situation. I didn’t want that and I hate that you were hurt in the process. I would’ve ended things with him if I’d known.”
“You don’t think he shares any of the responsibility?”
Her tanned shoulders rolled in an easy, unbothered gesture. “He could’ve said something sooner. He knows that was a mistake.”
My heartbeat thundered in my chest. I couldn’t comprehend how it was merely a mistake to her when that betrayal had overturned my entire life. “Then you’re aware that he doesn’t prioritize monogamy in a relationship. You know who he is,” I snapped, “and you’re still marrying him.”
She glanced down at her ring. “Yeah, I do. And I am.”
Clara finally stepped back, giving me enough room to get past her. But I studied her, desperate to understand how we could experience the same event in such wildly different ways.
Maybe I was wrong about it all. Maybe I was the presumptuous fool who’d never thought to ask whether we were seeing other people. We’d only been together for a year. What if I thought I deserved more than I did? The relationship had obviously meant much more to me than him so it would stand to reason that I’d just inflated the importance all around.
“Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and clear the air,” Clara said. “We’ll probably run into each other a lot and I hope we can be friends or something like that. Someday.”
