She blinked hard. “I’mnotcrying.”
“You should be, Emma-Jane Bennett,” Jordan said. “Then maybe you’d wake up to yourself and realise what is real and what is a lie and who your real friends are.”
He said this with a look of contempt at Eric and Gwen, making her cringe inside. “Whatever happened to you preaching about loving your enemies? I can’t believe you’re being so cruel.”
“I’m not the one who’s being cruel. You are with your entitled, selfish ways and your bubble of self-importance that seems to make you feel like you’re better than everybody else.”
“I don’t—”
“Come on. We both know that you secretly do.” He grimaced. “I can’t believe I supported you all this time. I hate to think that I’ve probably contributed to it as well. Well, sorry,babe“—he said that word like a swear word—“you’re not more important than the rest of us. You’ve been blinded by the big-city lights, and you’ve gotten arrogant and fake. You seem to have forgotten that as a Christian you’re supposed be humble. Now you seem to think you’re deserving of princess treatment, and that proves just how immature you are. It might’ve been cute when you were eight, but it’s way past time to grow up, Emma, when you’re twenty-eight.”
Body blows couldn’t hurt more than his words right now.
Beside her, Eric and Gwen were protesting, but she couldn’t make out their words; they felt blurry, like they’d been smothered by clouds. Her gaze was focused on Jordan and the avenging angel role he’d appointed himself to play.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Oh, you meant it. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of, after all.”
“Obviously your heart is mean and nasty,” Gwen snarked.
“My heart has only ever spoken the truth to EJ, and she knows it.”
Ouch. Yes, she did. But it didn’t mean she’d let him see that. She flicked back her hair, tilted her chin, eyed him like she used to do to Lionel.
Jordan drew out a small package—wait, he had got her a present after all?—and grabbed her hand and shoved it in. “I don’t need this anymore.”
“And I don’t want it, whatever it is,” she sniped, more to save face than because it was true.
“Then do what you want with it. I don’t care.”
She gripped the box until she felt it start to crumple, and was hugely tempted to hurl it into the sea.
But before she could move a muscle, he met her gaze one last, harsh time and shook his head. “Have fun with your new friends, EJ.”
Then he turned and walked away.
Her heart felt shaky, like he was walking away with part of it. They’d never argued. Never. And this, in front of everyone, was excruciating on so many levels.
“Wow.” Various swear words were dropped by various people. She didn’t know who. She didn’t care. She felt like she’d been stripped naked and everyone could see her. She wanted to run away and hide and never be seen again. How could Jordan treat her like that?
“He’s obviously jealous,” Eric said, giving her cheek a kiss, tugging her near. “Don’t listen to a word he said, babe. He’s obviously upset that you’re living the life he’s always wanted.”
Except Jordan had never wanted the bright lights of the city. He’d done this—Dream Match, Donwell, moving to the city—for her. She wanted to crumple.
“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other,” Gwen said, giving her a sideways hug. “Who cares what he thinks, anyway? You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”
But seeking what she’d thought had made her happy had only led to this.
Gwen swung her hair behind her. “Personally, I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”
Huh? That didn’t make a lot of sense.
“You need to remember that his accusations show he’s jealous, that’s all. Remember, it’s very difficult for the prosperous to be humble.”
But that wasn’t what Jordan had meant. She felt a tug to chase after him, to make him listen, to properly explain. But Eric and Gwen kept hold of her, and she couldn’t embarrass herself any more than what she’d already done.
How could what was meant to be a celebration turn so bad so fast? Why couldn’t Jordan have been kind and read the room and been willing to go with the flow instead of making such nasty accusations?
