Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,58

he asked, but didn't give her time to answer. "This isn't the place for this, Chloe. We have nothing to talk about."

"You have some nerve coming here after what you did to Jace—" Tessa said, but he interrupted her.

"Tessa, please. Go back to the table. I'll be right there," Jace said and held Tessa's gaze, an unspoken conversation once again taking place between them.

Tessa gave Chloe a hateful stare as she turned to leave, but then her eyes landed on Aislynn. No one had noticed she had been standing nearby, witnessing the confrontation.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt," Aislynn said with hesitation, feeling incredibly uncomfortable as all eyes fell on her.

She took a second to glance at Chloe, who was examining her intently, her stare quickly turning cold and challenging. Again, on instinct, Aislynn straightened her stance and walked over to Jace with confidence.

This is not the time to back down. I'm not going to be intimidated by a woman I have zero respect for.

"Jace, are you okay?" Aislynn asked without an ounce of apprehension.

"Yes," he responded, tension evident in his voice. "Everything's fine. I'll be out there in a second."

"And who is this?" Chloe asked, as she squared her shoulders, raised an eyebrow, and took a step forward.

Are you kidding me with this? I thought this stuff only happened in bad movies and scripted reality TV.

Before Aislynn could give an answer, Jace took her hand and pulled her to him. "This is Aislynn, my girlfriend."

Aislynn wasn't really into fake pleasantries, having had to live through enough of them with her mom, and she certainly wasn't about to engage in them with this woman. Thankfully, Chloe didn't seem to take the bait, either.

"Listen, Jace, I'm really sorry for showing up here unannounced, but I've been trying to reach you for a while. I can't get you on the phone, I can't get you at work, and—"

"None of that is coincidence. You haven't been able to reach me because I don't want you to," he said, with a stern tone.

"I'm here because I thought this would be my one chance to talk to you," she said and eyed Aislynn. "This is a private matter between us that I don't care to discuss in front of anyone else."

"There's nothing to discuss. I'm going to ask you to leave. Now," he said, and walked away, taking Aislynn with him.

He guided her through the dining room and out the back door. His face was flushed, his nostrils were flaring, and his right fist came inches away from slamming into the brick wall. He stopped himself and walked toward Aislynn, putting his hands on her face.

"I'm sorry about that," he said, his face carved with worry.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault," Aislynn said.

She tried really hard not to read too much into his reaction, but it was impossible to turn off her impulse to analyze him and the situation. He had been clearly taken by surprise by Chloe's presence, but based on what she said, he should have known it was a possibility. "So she's been calling you?"

"Yeah…for a few weeks. I've managed to avoid her calls. I have nothing to say to her, and I don't give a shit about what she feels she needs to say to me at this point."

Aislynn raised her fingers to his face and smoothed out the crease that formed in his forehead. She felt him take a deep breath and relax his shoulder as he blew the air out.

"I hate to get all shrink-y on you but…are you sure about that?" Aislynn said.

"Don't! Please, don't try to read too much into this. I'm this angry because her showing up here doesn't just affect me. It affects my whole family. Chloe knows how important this thing is to us, how hard it is for me to see my Mom lose it every time she has to stand on that stage to tell my story. But just like she didn't care about me when I was sick, she doesn't care about what this might do to my parents, and Tessa…and you. Please, Aislynn, don't misunderstand this for something it's not," he said with an unfaltering voice and overwhelming sincerity in his eyes.

"Okay," she said with a nod and he embraced her.

"It’s getting chilly out here. Let's get back inside."

When they got back to their table, Aislynn was not surprised to see how much the scene had changed. It was obvious that word had spread about