Starter Wife (The Jilted Wives Club Book 1) by Bethany Lopez (a court of thorns and roses ebook free TXT) 📕

cannot be serious. You’re bringing a woman home for the first time in your adult life, and you tell me to make the spaghetti and meatballs I was planning for this Sunday? Do you want her to think I don’t care about my son’s happiness?”

“Jeez, Ma, she’s not going to think that,” I assured her. “Her name is Whitney and she’s a mother herself. She’s got two kids.”

“Divorced?” my mother asked.

“Yes, she’s divorced.”

“Hmmm. She’s a nice girl? How did you meet her?”

“Yes, she’s very nice. You’re going to love her,” I told her, unable to keep the grin off of my face at the thought of my two favorite women finally meeting. “We actually met initially at Campanella’s, but then she started working at the office.”

“So your father already knows? And he didn’t tell me?”

“No, Ma, don’t worry, Dad doesn’t know we’re dating. He knows her, of course, but not well. I wouldn’t ask him to keep something like that from you, you know that,” I said hurriedly, trying to save my father from my mother’s wrath.

“She should bring the children, so we can meet them.”

“Whitney doesn’t want to rush things with the kids, I’ve only recently met them myself. I wanted to give her a chance to meet all of you on her own first and then eventually we’ll bring Stella and Silas with us.”

“Okay, if you’re sure, but you know we can make room. They’d be welcome.”

“I know, Ma, but let’s take it one step at a time, okay. I don’t want to scare her off,” I said honestly. “Her divorce was pretty bad, and she was a bit skittish about even dating me, so the fact that she’s willing to come to family dinner at all is a big step. We can be pretty overwhelming.”

“Don’t worry about a thing, son. I will talk to your siblings and everyone will be on their best behavior for you and your Whitney.” She sighed and then gushed, “Oh, I’m just so happy.”

“Baby steps, Ma. Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I said lightly, even though I knew she’d be cleaning from now until Sunday dinner and planning a feast as if it were Christmas.

“Of course…”

“Okay, Ma, well, I have another meeting coming up, so I have to let you go, but I’ll call you later.”

“Goodbye, sweetheart. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I replied. Then as she hung up I realized that she was the one who called me and said, “Wait, Ma, what did you call for?”

But she was already off … Probably on her way to the market.

Twenty-Nine

Whitney

“I can’t believe you’re going to meet Luca’s family. You must be so excited,” Summer said happily, doing a little jig in her seat.

“I’d rather swallow a jar of nails than meet some guy’s family,” Margo said dryly.

I laughed so suddenly I choked on my wine and it went down the wrong pipe.

I was coughing, my eyes watering from the pain as I tried to catch my breath. Summer reached over and pounded on my back, which did nothing to help, but I appreciated the gesture.

“Jeez, Margo, tell me how you really feel,” I replied once I could speak again.

“I just did,” was her retort.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Summer said, completely undeterred by Margo’s grouchiness.

“I’m a little nervous,” I said truthfully. “It’s been a lifetime since I met someone’s family and I don’t know if I’m who they have in mind for Luca, ya know. I mean, a divorcee with two teenage kids who just went back to work … at their company, no less.”

“They’d be crazy not to love you,” Margo said, signaling to the bartender to bring another round.

We were doing drinks and appetizers tonight and so far the drinks had been flowing pretty generously.

“I think I need to order more food,” I said to the bartender as he placed another lemontini in front of me.

“What would you like?”

“I think the sliders and the spinach artichoke dip,” I said, thinking the carbs would soak up some of the vodka. “You guys want anything?”

“Mmmm, can I get some coconut shrimp?” Summer asked.

“And another order of those Rueben bites,” Margo added.

“Coming right up, ladies,” he said, then went off to place our orders.

“And, thanks, Margo,” I said, referring back to what she’d said before the bartender came over. “That’s sweet of you to say. Still, I can’t help but worry about what kind of impression I’ll make. His family is obviously very important to him. They are a huge part of his life and their opinion of me is going to matter.”

“Hey,” Summer said, resting her hand on my shoulder. “We’ve seen you and Luca together and anyone with eyes can see he thinks you’re amazing.”

“Seriously, he’s completely smitten,” Margo agreed.

“You know him, he’s a great guy, and a guy that sweet, sexy, and funny wouldn’t have been raised by assholes.”

I almost spit out the water I’d just sipped over Summer’s rationalization.

“Where’s this coming from?” Margo asked as the bartender started to bring out our appetizers. “Did something happen to make you think his family will have an issue with you? You’ve met his dad, he’s been cool, right?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing like that,” I said with a wave of my hand. “You’re both right … Mr. Russo is such a nice person and I’m sure Mrs. Russo will be as well. They did raise a fantastic son. This is more my thing.”

They both watched me without saying anything, silently supporting me and waiting for me to finish my thought when I was ready.

Seriously, are there any two more tremendous women in the world?

“I was completely confident in who I was in my marriage, and I got completely blindsided when Marcus left me, and I found out about Crystal. I know Luca is the best guy, but, you know what, I thought Marcus was a great guy too, and it turned out I was living a lie. He wasn’t great, he was a liar and a cheater, and he threw me