“Look at you,” I whispered. “Nobody is going to believe you’re with someone like me. My ex-husband will laugh in my face. He’ll know.”
“What do you do for a living?” Clark asked.
The question caught me off-guard.
“I raised four children while he built his career. I ran the household. I kept everything together while he cheated on me for a year.”
“Nobody is going to believe you’re with someone like me.”
Clark nodded slowly.
Then he leaned forward.
“So you kept an entire family standing while a grown man lied to you every day. That’s not weakness. That’s the kind of person anyone would want to stand beside.”
Heat rushed to my face.
I looked down at my shredded napkin.
“That’s not weakness.”
“You’re being paid to say things like that.”
“I’m being paid to play your boyfriend for one afternoon,” he replied. “I’m saying that now, on my own time.”
I let out a small, disbelieving laugh, the first one in weeks.
“He’s going to bring his mistress, Clark. Percy. She’s ten years younger than me and looks like she stepped off a runway. And he sent me a text saying she’s part of his family now.”
“And what did that feel like
I opened my mouth to ask what was inside.
But Ethan was already gone.
Before I could follow, I heard the gate swing open.
Jordan strolled in like he still owned the place, one hand on the small of Percy’s back.
I opened my mouth to ask what was inside.
She wore a dress that probably cost more than my monthly grocery bill.
Her smile was practiced, cool.
Every conversation around us seemed to lower a notch.
“There she is,” Jordan called out, waving like we were old college friends. “The birthday boy’s mother.”
I pulled in a slow breath and felt Clark’s hand find the small of my back.
Every conversation around us seemed to lower a notch.
The touch steadied me more than I wanted to admit.
“Jordan,” I said evenly. “Percy.”
Percy tilted her head in a small nod.
She was already scanning the yard like she was measuring the furniture.
Then Jordan’s eyes landed on Clark.
He looked him up and down.
Once. Twice.
And then he laughed.
