Page 62 of In Love and War
I was expecting a pang of jealousy to hit me in response to the display of affection, which I had grown to expect by now, but it didn’t happen. Instead, my insides melted like butter, as if they agreed he deserved the pat on the shoulder.
“Milly, darling, I would like to do a round of introductions with you before we sit down to eat, if you don’t mind. Excuse us, gentlemen,” my father said after Zac and Kai had exchanged a handshake and courteous introductions, offering me his arm. I took it and sent an apologetic glance toward Kai before we walked away from the group.
We spent the next hour or so making rounds, and I was introduced to more people than I could possibly keep track of as new guests continued to arrive, until my father was finally pulled away by some of the event organizers.
I was still chatting with Vikram’s family when Kai appeared in my line of vision, signaling for me to go over. I excused myself and congratulated his daughter again on her acceptance into Juilliard before walking over to him.
“Sorry, I know I was gone for a long time. I think I’ve met pretty much everyone though, so we can leave as soon as the brunch part is over if you want,” I said, before noticing he wasn’t really looking at me.
“Two o’clock, be stealth,” he responded, taking a bite of the macaron in his hand.
I casually looked over in the general direction but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
“No, sorry,mytwo o’clock,” he said, nudging me the other way.
I turned my head and spotted what he was talking about right away this time. Except I had to blink a few times to make sure what I was seeing was real. Because it seemed as though a very personalized nightmare of mine, one that I didn’t even know I had, was being realized right in front of me.
Standing by one of the small fountains was Monica in her red sundress, engrossed in what seemed like a very delightful conversation with Zac. She was giggling away at something he had just said, her hand landing on his arm as she moved closer to him.
My heart dropped.
I’d seen it a thousand times with her. The laughing, the touching, the playing with her gorgeous blonde curls. She was about to get exactly what, and in this casewho, she wanted.
“She saw him about two minutes after you left with your dad, asked to be introduced, and has been fluttering around him like she’s a moth and he’s her flame ever since,” Kai said. “They deserve each other, don’t you think?”
“Isn’t she dating that hedge fund manager? She wouldn’t shut up about him the last time I saw her. Shane or Shawn or Shay or whatever?” I asked, praying with every fiber of my being that the answer would be yes.
“Shawn. They broke up a while ago, while you were still in New York.”
“Fantastic,” I mumbled, just in time for Zac to turn his head and catch my eye.
Shit.
I looked away and back to Kai too quickly, making it more obvious that he’d caught me staring.
“I told you to be stealth,” Kai chuckled, knowing purely based on my reaction what had just happened. “You think she’ll still be into him once you have him fired? I can’t see her with someone who’s unemployed.”
“I don’t know. And Iwasbeing stealth,” I defended. It wasn’t my fault he chose that exact moment to look my way. “I’m going to run to the washroom. I’ll be back.”
I didn’t actually need to use the washroom, I just wanted to be alone for five minutes. There were too many people out there, and it was too hot.
Also, I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to be as far away as possible from whatever the hell was currently developing between Zac and Monica.
I knew I had made the right choice as soon as I walked into the air-conditioned foyer. All of the noises traveling in from the event outside became muffled when the door clicked shut.
There also didn’t seem to be anyone else inside, which was an absolute rarity at my father’s house and most likely due to the fact that all of the staff were currently tending to the guests in the garden.
I found myself walking up the stairs and all the way down the hall on the second floor, toward the bedroom I grew up in. I couldn’t help but smile at the familiar small squeak the door made when I opened it, welcoming me home.
It must have been well over a year since I’d been in here, not that you’d be able to tell. Everything was exactly where I’d left it.
A sense of warm familiarity and nostalgia washed over me as I looked around the room.
I wonder if it’s still here…
I went over and opened up my bedside drawer and fished out my high school diary. It was locked, the key to it hidden inside an empty tube of lipstick.
This is going to be so good.
