“I wasn’t going to do any of that,” Brea said, reaching for me.
I jerked away.
“Both of you, get out,” my mother said, rising from her seat. “You are ruining this celebration. It is supposed to be about Wes and Liz. Take your trashy drama and lies elsewhere. And do know that we will be suing you for libel and slander.”
“Except it is true,” a woman piped up, coming into the light. There were more gasps from the audience. The woman was an older version of Memphis Eve, though she had Brea’s facial features.
“Jack,” she purred to my father, who looked shocked and confused.
“You were cheating on Mom?” my brother asked my father, clearly heartbroken.
“Never.”
“Liar!” Brea’s mother hollered. “I know you remember me!”
“Everyone, please ignore this lunatic!” my father announced.
My mother was too well-bred to start crying in front of everyone, but I was sure she was plotting how to quietly kill my father and bury him in the garden.
My uncle was squirming in his seat.
“We shared an intense week of passion,” Brea’s mother insisted. “And you got me pregnant.”
“That’s not—we’ve been over this…” Jack said, working his jaw.
My uncle Walter drained his glass then squinted. “Stella Rose?” he said. “Shit, is that you? What happened?”
Brea’s mother squinted at him and looked between him and Jack. “Wait a damn minute.”
“You were sleeping with my brother,” Jack said, tone exasperated. “I told you the last time, Stella Rose, it wasn’t me.”
“Oh!” Stella Rose exclaimed. “Yeah. Actually, now that I see him in person, it was definitely him I slept with. But your ID said Jack, I swear to God!”
“Mea culpa, Jack,” Uncle Walter said. “I may or may not have stolen your credit card.”
Jack looked like he was going to kill his brother. “I know you stole my card. As soon as Stella Rose popped up, I had private investigators look into the whole situation.”
Brea slapped her forehead with her hand.
I’d had enough. “What the fuck?” I yelled. “This is insane! Are all of you lying to me?”
“I didn’t…I was worried about upsetting you,” Brea said.
“Really? Because it sounds like you were using me to get a payout,” I spat, turning on her.
Brea took a step back. “I did this for you! Memphis Eve is crazy. She was always crazy,” Brea babbled, “That’s why I had to intervene at the fundraiser, becauseshewas the one who was going to use you, not me! I was just trying to protect you.”
All the things that hadn’t made sense locked into place in my brain: the kiss out of nowhere, the lying and deception about her relationship to Memphis Eve, how she was hot and cold.
Memphis Eve gave me a nasty look. “See, she was just in it for herself.”
“I wasn’t,” Brea cried, tears running down her face. “I was trying to fix this.”
“I don’t want to hear any more,” I spat. “Of course you were lying and trying to use me. I should have known it was too good to be true. I never should have trusted you. Get out.”
Dejectedly, she grabbed her purse and slowly made her way to the exit. Not knowing what else to do, I sat back down. The room was dead silent.
My grandfather trotted up to the podium and picked up the microphone.
