Page 47 of The C Agreement

Em gasped, her eyes huge. “Your mom didn’t forget again, did she?”

Beau cursed under his breath. “Mom?Mom!”

Miriam Thompson poked her head around the corner from the dining room.

“Did you forget to tell Rayne about family dinner again?”

Miriam’s face drained of color. “Oh no.” She ran toward the kitchen. “Oh no, oh no.Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.”

“Rayne is going to be so hurt,” Em said, looking like she was in pain herself.

I clenched my jaw. I knew Miriam loved Rayne, and the woman was like a second mother to me, but all I could think about was how, in high school, Rayne had felt invisible. Like a nobody. And now, her own mother had forgotten to invite her. I found myself angry with Miriam.

Beau pushed himself off the couch. “I’ll be right back.”

“What are you going to do?” Em asked to his retreating back.

“I’m going to tell my mom to not tell Rayne she forgot. Again.”

“Maybe I should go,” I said.

Em wrinkled her nose. “Why?”

“Because it’s going to look really bad that Rayne wasn’t invited, but I was.”

She winced. “Oof. Yeah, I see where you’re coming from, but Beau always comes up with something.”

“Jesus, how many times has this happened?”

“Too many.”

“Why was I never told about this?”

Em tilted her head. “Why would anyone have told you?”

Right. Because Rayne wasn’t my girlfriend or anything.

I shrugged. “I guess I thought I knew everything that went on at the Thompson house,” I mumbled.

It wasn’t a great reason, but Em seemed to accept it.

I glanced down at my phone and realized I had missed a text.

Rayne:You still there? LOL. Where are we going tonight?

Fuck. I didn’t know how to respond.

Beau came barreling out of the kitchen. “Okay, so Mom is calling Rayne and asking her to come to dinner. She’s going to tell her that they were going to have friends over, but the friends had to cancel. She has extra food, so she invited all of us to eat.”

I unlocked my phone.

Me:My place. Work for you?

I held my breath while I waited for her to respond.

Rayne:Yes, but it might be later. My mom just called and invited me to dinner at the last minute. Is it okay if I come after?

I sighed with relief.

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