eyes smoldered with a heat that would burn me up if I wasn’t careful.
And she hated me. I could feel every ounce of her loathing.
Goddamn, it excited me.
Lena put a hand on Meg’s arm. “Meggie, please,” she pleaded quietly, shooting a nervous glance to the kitchen where our parents were.
“No, let her talk, Lena. It’s important not to bottle up how you really feel. Even if it’s totally unfounded and wrong.” I clenched my fists, breathing deeply. I wouldn’t get a hard-on at my parents’ house. That was the next level messed up.
“Wrong? Unfounded? Are you kidding me—?” Meg all but screeched.
“Do you need more wine, Meghan? What about a beer, Adam?” My mom came out of the house like a magically timed bomb diffuser.
Meg sat back in her chair, pushing her hair out of her face. I noted that her hand was trembling. “I’m fine, Marion. Thanks,” she said, and like flicking a light switch, she was calm and pleasant.
“I can get it myself, Mom.” I stood up, and without another look at Meg, I retreated to the kitchen.
Dad was sprinkling seasoning on the steaks and had donned his ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron Mom bought for him two Christmases ago. He glanced up at me as I closed the refrigerator. “It’s nice to see you, son. How’s work going?”
“It’s tough, as always. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I got out a platter and handed it to him.
“I saw Chelsea’s mother the other day,” Dad broached, and I inwardly cringed.
Delilah Lemowitz was a carbon copy of her vacuous daughter from her fake tits to her overly sculpted eyebrows. Delilah had married a man thirty years her senior after Chelsea’s father died. It was love for the zeros in his bank account rather than love for the man that led to the wedding. Her new husband, Ed, was confined to a wheelchair and cared for by the very expensive nurse Delilah made sure to hire as soon as possible. He spent his days drooling on himself while his wife spent his money. My soon-to-be-ex definitely got her bitch ways honestly.
“She says you and Chelsea are trying to work things out. That the two of you spent some time together earlier in the week, and it had gone really well.” Of course, Chelsea had gone straight to her mother after leaving my house. She probably gave her a play by play down to the blow job she gave me. It was fucking horrifying.
Dad’s expression was perfectly blank. He wouldn’t offer an opinion about Chelsea, unlike Lena or my mother, neither of whom hid their distaste. Even though he never spoke ill of Chelsea, he had attempted to give me a get out of jail free card ten years ago before my wedding.
I remember having a particularly bad case of the jitters. I had been second-guessing the marriage pretty much since the day I had been cornered into a proposal. I was pacing the room at the back of the massive church Chelsea’s mom had reserved for our over-the-top nuptials. There were over two hundred people filling the pews. I could hear the five-piece string orchestra playing Pachelbel’s Canon in D. I was sweating bullets and thought I might be sick.
Kyle had gone out to find some aspirin for my killer headache. We had gone out the night before and gotten rip-roaring drunk. Being in the grips of the worst hangover of my life did little to ease my growing apprehension.
“You don’t have to do this, Adam,” Dad said. I was trying not to dry heave all over my shoes. I was sweating like a pig and had to open a window for some air.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, practically hanging my head out the window.
“All of this. The wedding. Being with Chelsea. If it’s not what you want, that’s okay. I won’t think any less of you. Neither will your mother or anyone else that matters. Don’t do something you’ll regret.” Dad came over to pat me on the back.
I thought about what he said and looked wistfully out to the parking lot below. It would be so easy to slip down the back staircase and get to my car. I could be gone before anyone realized I had left.
But then I saw Chelsea arrive in the stretch limo. She climbed out with her bridesmaids, the photographer buzzing around her like a fly, taking pictures while she posed.