He finishes his rounds, then darts out of the room again, yelling, “Bye-bye, underpants!”
Amelia throws her head back and runs a hand down her face, groaning. “Fucking hell.”
Lizzie smirks. “It’s all that Red Bull I gave him for breakfast.” Amelia flips her off before following after Henry.
“Alright, gotta get the boys home.” Lizzie turns to me with a pinched look on her face as her brothers leave the room. “Mom wants to ask you something or tell you something or…I dunno, something.”
Oh, joy.I sigh quietly, but Lizzie knows how I feel about her mom.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make it quick so you can get to your hotel, and hopefully, you won’t have to deal with her much this next week.”
“It’s your wedding, kiddo. I’m here for you and whatever comes up.” We stand and I turn toward Barry. “Thanks for letting us crash your dinner and for everything your family has done for my daughter.”
“It’s all been our pleasure, Alex. I hope you’ll stop over again while you’re in town. We have a lot of photos and videos that include Lizzie if you want to check them out.”
“I would love that. I never got much of those kinds of things,” I say. He nods, giving me a knowing look.
“Don’t worry, Barry. I’ll bring him back,” Lizzie promises.
I follow Lizzie through the house, hearing some faint cursing and water splashing from upstairs along the way. In the kitchen, I thank Joan as well.
Lizzie’s brothers lead the way to the house next door. I’m already thinking up excuses to leave as soon as possible.
“Zander, it’s so good to see you again!” Tiffany wraps her arms around me and kisses my cheek. I fight the urge to wipe the spot with the back of my hand. I do take a step back and remove her arms from me when she presses against me.
“Tiffany. It’s been a long time. And you know I hate it when you call me that.”
She pouts as I pull away from her. She’s a beautiful woman, but she’s cold and manipulative. Lizzie’s the only good thing that came from our relationship.
“Boys, go get ready for bed.”
“What the heck, Mom? It’s only nine and it’s summer!” Travis exclaims. The teenager looks horrified at the prospect of going to bed so early. Can’t say I blame him.
“Then go find something to do. I want to give Zander a tour.”
“I don’t need a tour, Tiffany. I need to get to my hotel. It’s midnight in New York.”
“Well, at least let me show you some pictures of Lizzie really quick.”
I sigh and motion for her to lead the way. Lizzie follows us up the stairs and into what I can only call a trophy room. There are framed photos of all four of Tiffany’s kids on the walls, and in each one, they’re posing with some kind of award, medal, trophy…something that signifies winning. Lizzie groans quietly behind me. In her photos, she’s holding bouquets of roses and wearing crowns and sashes. The sashes are framed as well, and the crowns sit in glass cases.
There are similar photos of Stephanie. More of them than of Lizzie, actually. The photos of the boys are from sports. They seem to play a lot of them. There aren’t many of seven-year-old Aaron. Yet.
“Wow. This is… This is a lot of stuff.” I don’t know what the fuck else to say.
Tiffany’s chin goes up, and she beams with pride.
“Ugh. Gag. I need to go to the bathroom before we head out, Dad.”
“Okay, kiddo.” I look at her photos again, cringing at the fake smile on her face before turning away.
Tiffany’s standing closer to me than she was before. She looks me up and down and licks her lips as she takes a couple more steps toward me. “You know you could stay here, Zan. You don’t have to be all alone in that hotel room; my bed has plenty of empty space.” She trails a fingernail down my chest.
“I’m not interested, Tiffany. That ship sailed a long ass time ago and it’s never coming back.” I side-step around her and head for the door.
She reaches out and grabs my bicep. “Ah, come on. For old-time’s sake,” she purrs.
“It’s not happening, Tiffany.” I shake her off and meet Lizzie in the hallway. “Can we get the fuck out of here yet?”
