Page 45 of Terms + Conditions
“You brought him in…2020, maybe? Yeah, it had to be! But he said he used to live here, so he kept trying to get in the way of our plans. And then”—Lola snickers—“he got sloppy drunk and told you he loved you.”
Selena tries to hide her cringe. “He wasn’t that bad.”
“He was pretty bad.”
“Tried to make a move on the bartender when you were in the bathroom, right after he told you he loved you,” Elizabeth adds.
“And when she rejected him, he started trying to sweet talk me even though Andrew was right there,” Lola says. Andrew was Lola’s ex-boyfriend, the man she had assumed she would settle down with, but in the end, he said he didn’t see a future with her (after three years of dating). “I think he said he loved all of us that night.”
“Me, included,” I say.
“Yep, same.” Noah chuckles.
Selena covers her face, trying to hide her giggle.
“Where did you meet this guy?” Elijah asks.
“We reconnected from school.”
“Oh! So, anarteest.” He gives the word extra emphasis.
“She was always a sucker for a painter,” Elizabeth says.
“It’s romantic,” the girls say in unison. Elizabeth and Lola imitate Selena at the same moment she defends herself.
“It is!” Selena demands.
“Are we talking about Selena’s infatuation with painters again?” Georgie asks when she returns to the pool house.
Elizabeth smirks behind her wine glass. “Lola was just recounting that one guy Sel brought who got sloppy drunk and started hitting on everyone.”
“Derek! From school, I remember him. Didn’t he used to call his mom ‘mommy?’”
Yes, yes, he did, and you want to know something? I could have gone the rest of my life without being reminded about that. We had been sitting around the fire out back at the Thompson house, just like this, when Derek’s phone rang. He was about to ignore the call until he saw who it was. “Hi, Mommy!” he answered enthusiastically and tromped off to find a quiet place to talk to her.
“He sounds like a real winner.” Jeremy snickers when Selena covers her face in embarrassment.
“That’s one way to put it,” I whisper, earning a playful glare from Elizabeth before we share a laugh.
“What an odd place to tell someone you love them,” Noah says. He crosses his arms and leans back onto the couch. “There were a lot of red flags, but that should’ve been the biggest.”
“Didn’t you date him for like two more months after that?” Lola asks, finishing the wine in her glass.
“Unfortunately.” It comes out mumbled, and Lola begs Selena to repeat it, much to Selena’s dismay. “Unfortunately, I didn’t see the red flags until it was too late.”
Part of me is curious; the other part doesn’t think I want to know what that means. When I glance at Elizabeth, she shakes her head, and that’s all the answer I need.
“Didn’t he break up with you before—”
“No!” Selena yells, interrupting Georgie. She points a tawny finger at her friend for extra emphasis. “No. I broke up with him.”
“Oh, right. That was Kyle, the one after.”
“And then we got together,” Elijah says. It’s simple and soft, but it’s sweet, especially the way he leans over, gripping her chin to kiss her.
“You didn’t tell her you loved her in a bar, right, Elijah?” Noah asks, earning a laugh from his wife.
“And then turn around and tell the bartender the same thing?” Jeremy adds, this time earning a laugh from all the guys, and Elijah’s face turns into a beet.
