But Sean beat me to it. He even served me lasagna and bread before filling his own plate.
Jesse glared at him.
“So, tell us about your love life, Sean!” Karen asked, her tone way too cheerful. Seeing her wink at my mom made me want to barf. I knew she was trying to set him up with my mom.
Sean glanced at me, handing me a glass of water. “It’s complicated,” he said, without adding anything further.
I took a huge bite of lasagna and stared at his side profile. He was giving them one-word answers and acting distant with smiles that didn’t reach his eyes. But he didn’t act like that when we were together—or even with his colleagues. He liked talking, but I guess?—
“I thought you were engaged,” my mom said, taking a hard look at his left hand.
I stared at his ring finger and then at his face. He had told me he had never married before and didn’t have any kids, but I didn’t know about his engagement.
Putting my fork down, I glanced at him. I was bracing myself for what he would say next. My chest felt tight. I held my breath.
Sean said, “I broke the engagement two months ago.”
24
STEP-DADDY
CHELSEA
Iswallowed, forcing my attention on the plate and the delicious homemade food made by my mom.
But I couldn’t.
“Two months ago?” Karen asked. I was glad she was nosy enough to ask about it, because I didn’t know if I had the courage. “I thought your wedding was this month.”
I grabbed the stem of the wineglass and took a huge gulp, even though it burned my throat. I needed liquor for whatever he was going to say next.
“Weren’t you dating Liza for like… two decades?” My mom asked, leaning on the table and peering at his face as if it would reveal all her answers.
Two fucking decades. I was barely four when he was dating Liza, his ex-fiancée.
Before Sean could reply, Karen interjected. “No, it was definitely over two decades. They started dating straight out of high school.”
I grabbed the wine glass again and drank all of its content before wiping my lips. I blinked when Jesse and Sean kept peering at me.
Ignoring their looks, I grabbed the fork and stabbed the cherry tomato from the salad before eating it.
Sean’s jaw clenched when Jesse poured me more wine, but I wasn’t planning on drinking more.
“It didn’t work out,” Sean said in his lawyer tone. It was the end of the discussion.
But he clearly had never met Karen, who loved to know everything about everyone. My mom had even told her about my crush when I was four-years-old and my first kiss.
“Why not?” She asked, almost accusing him. “You dated for two decades and ended the engagement because it didn’t work out?”
My mom calmed her down. “Karen, it’s their decision.”
I could feel eyes on me when I took another huge sip from my glass. “By the way, Karen, how’s your relationship with your second husband—oh wait, third? Or was it fourth?” I asked, flashing her a saccharine smile.
“Chelsea,” Jesse said with a dark look, but I ignored it.
“I’m sorry. You get married and divorced so quickly, it’s hard to keep up, Karen.”
“I…” she was speechless and even my mom looked at me like I wasn’t her daughter. “My relationship is perfectly fine. We have a couple’s therapist now and working through his struggles.”
