“I’m just saying. If he’d spent the money like you wished he had, Soleil would be a widow and a single mother.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
We pulled into the long line leading to the high school. Spencer’s funeral would be so highly attended, they couldn’t host it at the town’s funeral home.He was a Foxworth, after all.
We were greeted by her friends, Micah and Rem. It took everything not to smirk at their suits. Despite them too coming from families as old and rich as Spencer’s, their suits were off the rack and fit as so. My vanity was coming out, admiring my tailored clothes in one of the glass trophy cabinets as we walked to the auditorium.
“I just want to sit near the back,” Eisley said, but that idea was squashed the moment we tried to sit and a middle-aged woman caught us.
“Eisley! Oh please, don’t sit there. Sit with us.” She scuttled to us and threw her arms around my wife. “I’m so glad you came.”
“Hi, Mrs. Foxworth.” Eisley patted the woman’s back and eyed me nervously. “How are you holding up?”
“As best as I can dear.” She sniffled and her shoulders seemed to cave in from heavy sorrow. She dabbed a handkerchief to her bloodshot eyes, and glanced my way. “And who is this?”
I pulled my hand from my pocket and offered it to her. “Constantine Blackwood.”
She blinked rapidly and then squinted. She was looking for my father in my face. Unfortunately, she didn’t have to search hard.
“You’re the son.” She gasped.
“I am.”
“Welcome. Thank you for attending my son’s service. How did you know Spencer?”
“I didn’t. I’m here to support Eisley.” I was surprised that she didn’t want me gone. Did she know what I knew about her family? If she did, she wouldn’t want me here.
“Oh? Are you friends?” She smiled nervously at Eisley and took my hand, shaking it firmly.
Eisley blushed and looked down at her stilettos. “Um—”
“She’s my wife.”
“Wife!” Mrs. Foxworth exclaimed and dropped my hand as if it were fire. She paled and pressed her hand to her chest.We were joined by Soleil, the natural redhead. She put her hand on Mrs. Foxworth’s back.
“Is everything okay, Lorraine?”
“Eisley has a husband. Did you know this?” she asked Soleil. Her surprise shifted to anger at her almost daughter-in-law.Her tone almost accusatory.
Soleil blinked. “What? Who? Him?” Her head swiveled from Eisley and me. “When?” Her speech slurred and I could smell the alcohol on her. Her eyes drooped and she was slouching, despite trying to hide it.
I pulled my wife to me and stared the Spencer’s stupid rich bitch girlfriend down. “It was so long ago, I can’t remember. Can you, sweetie?”
“I’d rather not talk about it today. We’re here to honor Spencer. I’d like to pay my respects.”
Lorraine sniffled and then burst into tears, startling all of us. She threw her arms around Eisley and then me. I stiffened but relented and pat her back.
“It means so much to us that despite having someone, you still cared about our son enough to talk to him for as long as you did. He needed you,” Lorraine said this, while Soleil, his actual girlfriend, stood beside us, listening to every word.
“He had me,” she said sharply.
“Yes, dear.” Lorraine offered a tight smile that didn’t match her eyes. “Of course. Which we are all glad. Since he couldn’t have Eisley, he had you to take care of his physical needs.”
Even I knew how catty that was.Spencer’s mother gave a tight smile and strode away as if she hadn’t tossed a fucking grenade.Soleil slowly turned her head back to us.
“You two are married?”
I grinned at Eisley and leaned in for a quick kiss. She wasn’t comfortable with the attention, but she still reciprocated.
