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

“Wonderful. I’ll be going back to work next week … thank God,” Char said with a little laugh. “I’ll talk to Giles about the schedule and see if we can get a show on the books for you, if you want.”

“You know what?” Damon said, his leg bouncing under the table like it did when he was nervous. “I think I am finally ready to do a show of my own.”

“You’ll have to send us an invite,” my dad said, and my whole family murmured in agreement.

“Thank you. It would mean a lot to me to have you all there.”

Damon often said he was closer to my family than his own.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” my ma said, with her first genuine smile since the whole Charlotte debacle. “It’ll give us the perfect excuse to get all gussied up and spend a night on the town.”

“You always look amazing,” Damon quipped, and Ma preened under his compliment.

“You say the sweetest things.”

This was a common back and forth between the two of them and the normalcy of it had my mood lightening a bit.

“Hey, remember when Damon asked Ma to junior prom,” I said with a laugh, which was mimicked by Vanni.

“Oh my God,” he said, slapping his hand on the table. “He would have done it too, and I swear, she would have gone, if Char hadn’t had a conniption fit.”

“Come on, it’s not like they would have actually done it. Dad wouldn’t have agreed,” Char said, her cheeks reddening.

“Sure I would have. Hell, I would have volunteered as chaperone and taken pictures,” Dad replied.

“Char was just jealous because she wanted to be Damon’s date,” I teased, then yelped when she kicked me under the table.

“Instead, I had to go stag with this guy,” Damon said with a sigh.

I slapped his shoulder and said, “Hey, we had a blast that night. And if you’d taken my ma, you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take Simone Childress behind the bleachers.”

“That is true,” Damon replied, staring off into the distance as if caught up in the memory. “And she was a phenomenal kisser.”

I winked at Charlotte and she stuck her tongue out at me.

“I don’t know what is more far-fetched … the thought of Ma at a high school formal or Dad chaperoning one,” Vanni said, and we all started laughing.

Well, everyone except Whitney, who’d plastered a polite smile on her face and was watching us all like we were strangers.

Once the meal was over, we all cleared our plates and went about helping put the leftovers in containers and clean up as best we could. Once it was mostly done, Ma kicked us out of the kitchen, and rather than meet the others in the den, I pulled Whitney into the guest room.

“Is everything okay?” I asked her once we were alone.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I guess I just got in my head there a little bit. Your family brought up some emotions and questions I wasn’t ready for.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“I don’t think now’s really the time to talk about it.”

“Well, you kind of shut down there after talking with Charlotte and I’d like to know why. Why now, of all times, during dinner with my family, did you decide to lock yourself away and put this distance between us? You barely even spoke during the meal.”

“I know and I said I was sorry. It wasn’t something I did on purpose, it was simply a reaction to the things Charlotte said and the expectations your family seem to have about our relationship.”

“What expectations? They only talked about normal stuff people talk about when discussing a couple and the possible future of that couple,” I said, a little defensively.

“Like I said, this isn’t the time to talk about it.”

“Okay, do you want to leave? We can swing by your place, sit down and have a conversation,” I suggested, even though I knew my ma would be upset if we left before dessert.

Whitney shook her head.

“You know what? I think things have gotten a little too real for me and I need to take a step back to think things through. Reevaluate a little.”

“Take a step back? You mean break up?” I asked, shocked.

I mean, how did we get from her coming to meet my family to this?

“Not break up, just a pause. Let’s put a pause on the relationship so I can figure out what I want moving forward. It’ll be good for both of us.”

“I don’t see how it’ll be good for me when it’s not what I want,” I argued.

“Luca, please, give me this. I promise I’ll work my stuff out and we’ll be better for it in the end. Just give me a little time.”

“Fine. Okay. Are you going to stay for dessert or are you leaving now?” I asked, biting back my anger and disappointment.

I didn’t want to say something I wouldn’t be able to take back, even though I was baffled and hurt by this turn of events.

“I think it’s best if I slip out now,” Whitney said sadly. “I’ll call you, okay?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded.

“Okay. I’ll go say my goodbyes to your family and see myself out.”

I knew I was acting like a petulant child, but I stayed there, quiet, with my arms folded, and watched her walk out.

This woman … the first of whom I’d brought to my family as an adult, who I was falling in love with, had just shown me a side of her I didn’t know existed and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Although it looked like I didn’t have much of a say … our relationship was on pause.

Thirty-Three

Whitney

I drove like I was in a fog.

It was kind of like having an out-of-body experience. I wasn’t sure what the exact trigger was, or why I’d suddenly shut down like that.

Right after my divorce that had happened a lot.

I’d be driving down the highway and not