Page 77 of Let It Be Me
“I want what Kamryn wants.”
She snorts and turns to him. “You know you have a say in where we go.”
“I know.”
Riley looks at me with a bemused look on his face. “Are they always like this?” he whispers.
“Sometimes,” I tell him. “And what about after the honeymoon?”
“We won’t prevent anything from happening if that’s what you’re asking. And my brand is at the point where, when it comes time for kids, I could always pull back to part-time.”
I watch Mason and Kamryn’s interaction with an unbiased view. I know they both want kids. The question is how many and when. Because Kamryn is a planner. She has a five-year and ten-year plan for her brand. But with kids you can’t plan. And I’m not entirely sure she left space in her work plans to involve kids.
“Enough about us,” Kamryn says, done with the conversation revolving around kids and their wedding. “What about you two?”
“Did Sarah tell you we had uninvited guests?” Riley asks.
I snake my hand under Riley’s sweatshirt and pinch his side. The only sign he gives away is the clench in his jaw.
“No. She didn’t. Care to tell me something?”
“No. Because there's nothing to tell,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Your boyfriend seems to differ,” Mason interjects.
I drop my head back and huff out a groan before facing my two friends. “My parents and Paul unexpectedly showed up this afternoon.”
“Fuckers,” Kamryn spits. “What did they want?” she asks.
Kamryn has always liked my parents. But she doesn’t like that they swayed me away from my first choice of fashion design and she really only tolerated them because of me. And if that’s not a true, ride or die bestie, then I don’t know what is.
“The baby wasn’t Paul’s,” I say and the gasp she lets out is subtle. “And he’s been living with them for almost a year.”
“What?!”
“I’m sure they thought strength in numbers and all of that. So he was befuddled when I all but refused his offer to reconcile and pick our relationship back up where we left it.”
Riley tenses under me and I weave my fingers through his hand that’s resting on my legs.
“Is your mom still of the opinion that you don’t need to work?” Mason asks.
“Yeah, she’ll never let that go.”
“So where does your relationship with your parents stand now?”
“Irreparable,” I whisper and distract myself by tracing the lines on Riley’s palm. I can feel their eyes on me. Butadmitting that I want something that I don’t think I can have makes me feel hopeless.
“Well, Emily fixed her relationship with her parents,” Kamryn tentatively says.
“That’s different,” I tell Kamryn and the look she gives me sees everything I’m not saying.
While Emily’s parents ignored her to further their careers, mine sided with an ex who cheated on me. And even though the baby wasn’t his, he still cheated. That’s not something a person can redeem themselves so easily from.
Throughout the night, we try our best to move on from my doomed relationship with my parents to lighter topics like if we think Adam will propose to Emily soon or if Jax will finally break up with her loser boyfriend. Even though I still have a rain cloud hanging over my head, this is good. Eating with the boy I love and two of the most important people sitting across from me. If they’re all I have, I’ll forever be the luckiest girl in the world.
28
SARAH
