Loving a Man Who Forgot Me Novel Chapter 55
My mother gave her a warm smile. “We’re happy to finally meet you, and of course you’re welcome here.”
There was nothing fake or insincere about it when my Mom pulled Kat in for a hug. Kat appeared momentarily caught off guard, and if anything, became more demure and unsure of herself once Mom released her.
Mom and my aunts were as sweet as ever, pulling her into conversation, and asking her all about herself, which was her favorite subject, so she’d have no problem talking for a while.
It was enough that I felt safe slipping away after a few minutes and leaving her with them without having to worry about what she might say or do.
I escaped one uncomfortable situation, only to be sucker punched in the gut with a different kind of hell.
On the other side of the room, Abbi was nestled intimately into Jason’s side, Amelia still cradled against her chest. Jason’s arm was slung over her shoulder, and his love-struck gaze was glued to her face as she laughed at something Jesse was saying.
Awesome. My mom was making nice with my wife and my best friend was all buddy-buddy with the enemy.
Only calling him the enemy felt juvenile and petty. As much as I wanted to hate the guy, he was . . . nice, and he adored Abbi, so he obviously wasn’t stupid. In fact, I couldn’t find one damn thing wrong with him. Not a single thing to indicate he wasn’t good enough for her.
The truth of it was he was probably better for her than I was. I wanted to hit him. I laughed to myself. You couldn’t make this crap up. What would some Hollywood writer pay for the rights to all this?
Not able to stomach it, I left the room altogether and took refuge in the game room. Aiden, Nash, and Darcy were fixated on the huge flat screen. “Somebody toss me a controller,” I said, flopping down onto one of the sofas.
“I need to shoot something or blow something up.” “Here, you can take over for me.” Darcy stood. “I have another party to get to anyway.” “I see how I rate.”
“Oh, shut up.” She smacked my arm. “A friend is celebrating the one-year mark of his company. It’s free dinner and drinks at Gian Carlo’s. Can’t pass that up.” “A friend? You mean Harrison?” I laughed. “And I’m sure it’s just the free drinks and dinner you’re going for.”
“She’s been all Harrison this and Harrison that all day. As usual,” Nash said. “Did you know Abel, that Harrison was featured in the Globe and Forbes magazine?” he said in his best imitation of Darcy’s voice.
I laughed again. “Whatever, I’m just proud of him,” Darcy grumbled. “More like in love with him,” my little brother teased. Not that it was any great big secret. “I am not.”
“Come on Darce, you’ve been in love with the guy for years,” Nash said. “Just tell him already and put us all out of our misery.” “Even if I were, if, it wouldn’t matter because he doesn’t feel the same way.” “Girls are sooooo dumb,” Nash groaned.
“You don’t get to give me love advice. None of you are qualified,” she said pointedly. Nash shrugged. “She has a point there.”
She turned to me, a satisfied smirk on her face. “Happy birthday, loser.” She bent to hug me. “It was good to see you, and I guess congratulations on the baby.” She said it like it was a question, like she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be happy for me or not.
“Thanks,” I muttered and took the offered PlayStation controller from her. Aiden resumed the paused game and I joined in. Before I even managed to get my first kill, Jesse walked in the door Darcy had just walked out of.
“Figured you were hiding out in here.” He dropped down right beside me. “I’m not hiding.” “Riiiight, so come on, spill. What’s the plan? I returned fire at an opponent the same time I asked, “What plan?”
“Come on man. The plan to unhitch yourself from the she-devil and steal your girl back from Coachey. Let’s hear it.” I kept my eyes on the game. “No plan. Besides, aren’t you guys tight now?”
“He’s alright, but come, on. Obviously, you married Katya because you knocked her up, which is stupid by the way, and I don’t get why you kept it some big secret from everyone, but it’s obvious you don’t want to be married to her, so it’s only a matter of time before that blows up in your face.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, asshole.” “Dude, it’s never going to work, and you can’t seriously think it will,” Nash chimed in. “It only has to work for a few more months,” I muttered. “What’s that supposed to mean?” It was Aiden who spoke up.
“Means exactly what I said. I only have to make my marriage to Katya work for a little while longer.” “So there is a plan,” Jesse said smugly.