Olivia leads us up the central stairwell between the two front rooms before I can see any more of the first floor, and my heart cramps again.
Jake replaced the banisters.
Instead of the intricately carved deep-brown wood, they’re iron with glossy black wood railings.
He ruined my house.
I know, I know, it’s not my house.
But for a few months, I thought it would be. I was here when he closed on it. I transferred money to him to help pay for the down payment, which he claimed later was rent money since I’d moved in with him. We had sex in the kitchen.
And now it’s all his, and he ruined it.
My eyes start to burn again, this time for me instead of my parents, but I shake it off.
I’ll feel sad later.
When I’m alone.
Right now, all I want to feel is rage.
At the top of the stairwell, Olivia leads us down a short hallway and turns into what was once a bedroom.
Six four-person tables are squeezed in here, and all but two are occupied, and my shoulders relax as I realize none of the people in this room are Jake’s parents.
I was sure we’d run into them.
So far, though, we have not.
Olivia seats us at a table in front of a window overlooking the lake.
Simon sets the bottle and his flute on the white-clothed table so that he can pull out my chair for me.
Tank takes the other table in front of a closed door that’s hiding a bathroom.
I wonder if it’s still a bathroom or if it’s been converted to storage. My vote had been to leave it as a bathroom with the clawfoot tub on display behind glass.
So it’s probably storage.
Dammit.
Murmurs go up around us, and Tank glares collectively at the whole room.
“Aileen will be your server tonight,” Olivia tells us. “She’ll be around with the bread presentation soon.”
Simon moves forward as if he’s going to lift his hand and ask for something, but then slouches back in his seat.
And then Olivia’s gone, and once again, it’s the two of us.
Except we’re on display.
I recognize half of the other couples in the room.
None of the women are in sparkly red dresses.
Worse, Quincy and Wendell Thomas are here.
Or possibly better.
