Page 95 of The One I Love
“You think what you want. But last I checked, you’re the one who fucked every woman in this town when you had the best one right in front of you.”
The two are toe-to-toe right now, and if I don’t stop this, there’s going to be a freaking fight in Mona’s parking lot.
“Just wait,” Paul says. “After a while she’ll stop giving it to you, too. You’ll understand where I was coming from.”
I see Shane pull back his arm, but I’m quick enough to grab it.
“Don’t.”
I don’t know how I stop him. His arm is bigger than my thigh. But somehow I do. Shane slowly backs away, lowering his arm as I step in front of him. Paul’s smile is downright bone chilling. It’s a smile that used to haunt me in my dreams. The one where he thought he was getting away with things. Back then I just ignored it.
I’m not anymore. I’m not that woman anymore. I’m stronger. Tougher. Smarter. I’m the Amelia I was always meant to be.
“You wanted to talk. Let’s talk. But Shane stays. He’s my partner and my fiancé. Get used to it.”
Paul looks at Shane, who I think is actually shaking from rage right now, before looking back to me. “Fine. I guess congratulations are in order then?”
“Thank you,” I say, even though I know he’s not being sincere. “But I doubt you wanted to talk to me about my engagement.”
“No. I wanted to talk to you about the kids.”
“What about them?”
“Mariah and Luke were very rude to Staci during the trip.And me. So much so that she left early and isn’t returning my calls.”
Okay, if he just said that about Mariah, I could see it. But Luke? My child, who still scoops up spiders so he can release them into the wild? If he did do this, my boy was pushed to the limit.
“What happened?”
“Mariah was making rude comments all trip. About what Staci was wearing. Or asking her how old she was. She even asked her if they were going to be in the same class next year.”
How I push down my laugh I don’t know. Also, my girl is about to get the spending spree of a lifetime at Ulta. “Did something happen to instigate it? I’m sure Mariah didn’t just start saying something without reason. And you said Luke was in on this?”
“Are you accusing Staci of starting this?”
I shake my head. “I’m not accusing anyone. I’m just trying to get your side of the story before I talk to the kids.”
“Oh, I talked to the kids,” he says. “I told Mariah she needed to apologize.”
“Did she?”
“I told her not to.”
The words are from Luke, and I barely recognize his tone. It’s deep. Firm. His stance is protective.
It reminds me of Shane.
“You wouldn’t stop asking us about Mom and Shane,” Luke begins. “It was all he would talk about for the first few days. Grilling us to see if you two were together, or if this was fake. Or if you were doing it just to make him mad. That’s all we heard.”
“That’s not true,” Paul says, though judging by how his voice pitches upward, I’m going to guess that’s a lie.
“Staci was pissed. I mean, she seemed bored anyway. Idoubt her dream vacation with her new boyfriend was him and his two kids at Myrtle Beach. We heard her on the phone one night complaining about you, about us, and then started talking crap about Mom. She was saying horrible things, Dad. Mariah and I both heard them.”
“Quit lying, Luke,” Paul says.
“I’m not lying. We weren’t trying to eavesdrop, but when we heard what she was talking about, we stayed and listened. She caught us but didn’t acknowledge us. Just got up and walked away. Next day comes, and she’s horrible to us. Told Mariah she needed to cover up because she didn’t look good in her bathing suit. Made me basically be her cabana boy. I sucked it up and kept my mouth shut, and I tried to tell Mariah to do the same thing, but we all know how that was going to go. You’re lucky I reined her in as much as I did.”
Paul looks at Luke, then to me. “Well, he admitted it. Aren’t you going to say something to him? Punish him? They should, at the bare minimum, apologize to Staci.”
