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She stifled her laugh as she took a gulp through her straw, careful not to let it explode out of her nostrils. “He was never my professor. Well, I guess he is now. But he wasn’t before. Besides, he teaches at Harvard. I wouldn’t have ever crossed paths with him at Northeastern.”
“What does he teach?” I asked, narrowing my gaze at her. I took a hefty sip from my glass of wine.
“I…” Lisa looked down at her drink, wracking her mind for the answer, but came up short. She snorted. “I have no idea.”
“Oh my god.”
“What?”
“This has been going on for months and you don’t even know what he teaches?”
She contained her giggles as she looked across the table at me, her perfectly manicured nails tapping against the vinyl coating. “Nope.”
“And why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I wanted to wait until I knew it was… serious. I really like him.” She smiled as she fished out her phone, flicking across the screen until she found what she was looking for, sliding it across the table toward me. A very handsome man looked back at me, taking up the majority of the screen, with Lisa’s blonde hair poking up from the side. She’d never been good at taking selfies. “Look how cute he is.”
I laughed as I flicked to the next picture, immediately regretting it as the horrible selfie was replaced with what was practically a nude, Lisa’s toned body covered in red lingerie as she laid back on plush sheets. I turned off the screen and slid it back across the table.
“How are things with your fertility doctor?” She asked, not even mentioning the nude she’d seen me flick to.
“Uh, yeah, good, I think.”
“Have you fucked him again or are you keeping those walls up?” She smirked at me as she sipped from her straw.
“I haven’t slept with him again, no,” I laughed, my cheeks heating at the thought of it. “We came close, though. Thankfully, Jamey woke up and we had to stop.”
“Sophie!” She exclaimed, her eyes wide and her mouth split in a massive grin.
“Dinner with my parents on Friday will be interesting.”
“Oh my god, you’re going to blow it. I can already tell,” she giggled, keeping her straw between her teeth. “Or maybe you’ll actually be able to sell it, based on how easily you fall into him.”
“Oh shut up. If you were constantly around him, you’d want him too,” I joked, sending her a wink. “He’s bringing Jamey, though, so we need to keep our distance. I don’t want to confuse him. And I haven’t even told my parents about Jamey yet, so that’s going to be hellish. Fingers crossed they don’t condemn him as a Satanist or something.”
Lisa chuckled, but the idea wasn’t all that insane. They could very well react badly to all of it, telling me I was setting myself up for failure for ‘marrying’ someone with a child already. They would see through all of it when they asked him what his profession was. It made me nauseous to imagine. What if it was real? Would they react the same way?
It’s not real, so it doesn’t matter.
“At least the ring is supposed to be delivered tomorrow,” I said, giving her a half smile, but I was too full of worry to mean it. What if Hudson stood me up? He didn’t seem happy to see me earlier. Sure, he could have had a particularly horrible day at work, but he’d never acted like that before. It hurt, and it shouldn’t have, but it pierced me just the same. I desperately wanted it not to bother me.
I knew though, deep down, that it wouldn’t stop until he was normal with me again. That was all I wanted. Just, normalcy.
Right?
Chapter 15
Hudson
Friday
“Impressive ring.”
Sophie looked over at me from the passenger seat of my Mercedes. I’d picked the least flashy of my cars, hoping that no one would ask questions, but I knew from experience it was inevitable. She was wearing a yellow summer dress, a little less fancy than I’d gone, but we complemented one another nonetheless. “Thanks,” she said, spinning it around on her finger. “It was only fifty bucks. My friend Lisa picked it out.”
Jamey’s tablet played the sounds of that damn pig show from the backseat, his mind entirely wrapped up in it. I didn’t need to worry whether or not he’d be confused when I spoke about the ring. “It’s definitely an authentic-looking engagement ring. I don’t think they’ll ask questions.”
Sophie grinned as she held out her hand in front of her, watching the way the setting sun glinted off the cubic zirconia. “You don’t think it’s too, I don’t know, gaudy?”
