was a good chance she’d give me the runaround. So I thought it would make more sense to ask her best friend, who’s only here until the end of the week, because—for whatever reason—he seems intent on getting us to hang out.”
“Whatever, I just hope you’re right.”
“Why do you care so much if she comes? Won’t your own friends be here?”
She finished arranging another tray of fancy finger food before setting her stare on me. “Aside from the fact that I would like to know who I have living next door to me, I am interested to see if she’s anything like the press makes her out to be. You said it yourself that she’s nothing like what you’ve seen online, so I’d like to see if it’s an act, or if she puts on a show in front of the cameras.”
“Okay, but please be normal. We don’t need her to get so comfortable with you that she invites herself over while filming. We both agree that having the cameras around is a horrible idea.”
Jessa held her hands up in a defensive stance. “Trust me, little brother…the last thing I want is to be in the headlines.” The again was silently implied.
“Good, glad we can agree on that.”
She passed me another tray to put away. “When you’re done, do you think you can help Marcus with the tables out back?”
I nodded, put the rest of the food away, and then kissed my sister on the cheek before heading to the back yard to help my brother-in-law finish the set up for the party.
I was grateful that my sister liked to keep her personal events small and lowkey, but every time someone came through the side gate, I held my breath wondering if it was Tiffany. After so long, it made it feel like this small get-together was a massive party.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Tiffany came strolling into the back yard on Dave’s arm. Something seemed different about her today, more so than her attire. The couple of times we’d hung out, she was very relaxed—glasses, leggings, baggy tees, and usually flip-flops. Today, though, she had on a loose-fitting dress that, admittedly, looked amazing on her, and heels. I blamed the grass for her unsteady steps, which was probably why she clung to Dave like her life depended on it.
I politely excused myself from the small group I was with and made my way to Tiffany and Dave. The closer I got, the more I noticed that it wasn’t just her outfit that had changed, but her entire appearance. I didn’t want to say that her makeup was bad, she just had a lot of it on, and I personally didn’t think she needed any of it. Not to mention, her hair had been professionally styled.
This was the Tiffany I’d seen in the press. It made me apprehensive about approaching her.
“Hey, glad you guys could make it,” I said as I made my way to them.
“Of course, this sounded like a lot of fun.” Dave’s voice matched the excitement in his eyes.
Tiffany, on the other hand, didn’t appear to be bothered one way or another. She took the oversized pair of sunglasses off the top of her head, slid them down to cover her eyes, pursed her lips while glancing around the yard, and said, “This’ll do.”
Oddly, Dave seemed to nudge her with his elbow, to which she briefly stared at him before correcting herself. “I mean, thank you for the generous invite.”
I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, so I went with the typical, “Oh-kay… Well, let me introduce you to some people.”
As I led the two over to the small gathering around my sister, I could hear them whisper-fighting behind me. Part of me found it comical, while the other part grew even more confused than before.
“Tiffany, Dave…I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Jessa Estrada. Her husband, Marcus, is around somewhere, probably hiding.”
Jessa held out her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.
For a long second, Tiffany just stared at my sister’s offered hand, and from what I could see beyond the glasses, she appeared to be disgusted at the thought of touching someone else. Finally, she grabbed the tips of Jessa’s fingers, twisted her wrist so that it was more of a royal-like shake—the whole kiss-the-top-of-my-hand gesture—and smiled. “Same here.”
Dave cleared his throat and immediately took over. “Thank you so much for the invitation. That was very kind of you.”