Bitch.
She continues breathlessly, trying to hold his hands. “What with beingsingleagain these days, I’m back at work, writing for an art magazine.”
Nobody asked you.
Rhys shoves his hands into his pockets—finally!—and makes a sympathetic noise. “I heard about your divorce. How are you holding up?”
“Well, you know… Same old, same old. How long has it been?” she asks with a silly-me-I-can’t-recall grin, which I guess could look charming if the other party were a brainless man. I glance at Rhys. His face is even more closed off now.
“Fourteen years,” he says.
Has he beencounting?
She sighs softly. “So long. We were soyoung.”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve still got a dashing sense of style, I see.” She runs a hand down his tie, then straightens his already-straight lapels.
He brushes away her touch, his movements too gentle for my liking. Does he care about saving her face and not upsetting me at the same time? What if he has to choose one or the other?
He doesn’t seem to realize my turmoil as he shifts toward me. “By the way, this is Max, my—”
“Girlfriend,” I interject in a frosty voice, then extend a hand.
“Oh.” The eyebrows shoot up as she turns her head to the side, but I don’t buy that act. Nothing about this woman sits right with me. “I’m Selena Chesterfield.” She announces her name like I should know, and further respect, it.
My unblinking eyes on hers, I grip her hand with more force than necessary and pump twice—hard. “A pleasure, I’m sure.”
Something like surprise and aggravation flash in her eyes before she quickly lowers them. She turns to Rhys again with a smile. “Didn’t you just have your heart broken by Gabriella Ricci? Seems a bit soon for a replacement.”
Rhys gives me a puzzled look, and I shrug. “Gabriella claims she dumped you, and you’d better not argue about it.”
He exhales, eyes rolling heavenward. “As if.”
Selena’s expression flickers with uncertainty tinged with anxiety. “Don’t tell meyoudumped Gabriella forher?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Max is worth a thousand Gabriellas,” he says in the same matter-of-fact tone he uses with his business partners.
“But…” She bites her lip, her eyes shifting.
“But…?” I prompt her with a smile more fake than my relationship with Rhys. “I’mdyingto know what you think.”
Selena shoots Rhys a quick, pleading look. He merely stands beside me without offering a single word to smooth over the awkward tension. Finally, she forces an awkward smile. “Well. I’m just a bit surprised. Wondering if you had a chance to meet his family yet, and all that.”
Rhys’s jaw hardens, and he flicks his eyes at me, searching for my reaction. I merely purse my lips.
She continues smoothly, “Don’t mean anything by it.”
“Sure you don’t,” I mutter.
Rhys starts to turn toward me, but Selena begins to speak, stopping him.
“Anyway, it was nice catching up with you, Rhys,” she says, treating me as though I’m beneath notice. “I’ll see you around. I’m writing a profile on your grandmother, and might need to interview the family as well.” She shoots me a look tinged with smugness. “He’s a good man. Take care of him.”
She then says hello to Danica, who’s been standing patiently a discreet distance away, and disappears inside. I glare at Selena’s back. I hate everything about her, from the pompous, obnoxious accent to her awful condescension. She’s lucky I have enough class not to start dragging her around by her hair.
Rhys starts to put his hand on my back, and I step away.
