Cupcakes and Christmas - R.J. Scott Page 0,41
sighed. “It was going to happen one day. I really loved him, and I thought he loved me. I mean we were together all through college, but in hindsight, we were done before the show. After winning the show, the money helped, and I started getting contracts. He was then happy to be in my life, and I was happy most of the time until I ran out of money for him to spend, and found out he was cheating on me, then we found out he’d taken money from my dad as well.”
Fuck. This was like the worst kind of story all rolled up into one long run-on sentence. It all sounded rehearsed as if he’d told this to people all the time and had learned to leave out details and cut to the chase.
“I didn’t know.”
He shot a glance at me. “How would you know? The media just said we were divorcing amicably because I didn’t fight, and I don’t share my entire life on social media.”
Ouch. Was that a dig? He didn’t seem as if he was making a point, but if I tugged my coat closer around me it would stop the worst of the jibes from getting through. I’d just ignore them.
“Sorry, that sounded like I was shaming what you do, and I wasn’t.” Brody straightened Jeremy’s nose and patted the eyes so they were firmly in place then bent to pick up a handful of snow to patch up a hole. “I don’t mean your kind of social media. I know for sure I should embrace that kind of thing for business. I mean I don’t share my life outside of my family because… ” He paused, and I know he was searching for the right words that wouldn’t sound judgmental. He was that kind of guy. Thoughtful. “… I don’t know how you do it. All the other bits, the selfies, the constant bombardment of comments and criticism, how do you even start to deal with it?”
“I don’t look at all of that. I have a team that deals with comments and any hate I get.”
“I thought you were personally… oh, a team. Right.”
I knew what he thought. That I was the one that went through hundreds of thousands of comments and waded through hate all by myself, but this wasn’t Justin Mallory’s Instagram, this was Brand Justin and his Mallys.
“Pass me the end of the scarf,” he asked, and it took me a few moments to go with the switch in conversation. I handed him the end of the scarf that was closest to me, and he paused as he took it. “Look.” He held up the scarf to the nearest lamp. “Abigail,” he read. “So it must have been an Abigail who built Jeremy.” He tucked the scarf in and pressed snow on the end. “We’ll look after you for her, Jeremy.”
“Dude, are you really talking to a snowman?”
Brody made a show of covering where ears would be on a half-assed snowman. “Shhh, we named him, and that means he has magic in him now.” He smiled at me, and I missed that smile. I need to tell him how stupid I felt, and how ridiculous this entire situation was and commiserate that Marc had treated him like shit. I wouldn’t treat him like that. If he let me into his life I would never let him go. Emotion balled in my chest, making it tight, and I closed my eyes briefly. He needed me to explain how I was feeling and what kind of sorry-ass shit I had to do to and why I did it. But first, I had to get him to understand that what I’d really like right now is a friend.
“Brody, I really am sorry that—”
“He’s really happy!” Shauna exclaimed and slipped to a halt next to me, steadying herself by gripping my jacket. “He’s so excited, and he says if we have to, then we’ll move and make a new life somewhere else. He has family a few towns over, and they have a grocery store, and I could bake there. There are rooms we could rent if we wanted, and he loves me, and now I just want to go home.” She hugged Brody and then me, and we ending up walking back to the Fairmont and out of the cold. She hugged us again and left for her room. I turned to talk to Brody, but he was halfway to the door and