“So I’m hearing you’re moving here, then?” she laughed.
“There’s no way I’d move back here. Mackey, do you know Mom and Dad told the magazines I was coming in?” Donovan interjected, agitation in his voice.
“I mean, I figured when I sent you the article,” she responded.
My head snapped to Donovan, “What article?” I turned toMcKenna, and her eyes were wide. Turning back to Donovan, he was in the middle of one of those silent sibling communication moments askingwhy did you have to say anythingface to her. “What article, Van?” So that was why he was so worked up about the photographers. He left out the fact that I was in an article.
“It was just a run-of-the-mill crazy person article. The short of it being ‘Who was the hot woman who got the recluse out of his shell.’”
Again, What?! I didn’t know what a run-of-the-mill-crazy person article was, because the only thing that was ever written about me was a minor story in the Savannah Springs paper about my survival and my mother’s death.
“It wasn’t bad or anything,” McKenna interjected. “It was just … Van is ... was rarely photographed with a woman after…”
Donovan cut her off. “Oooooookay. I’ll let you read the article later, Chaos. It’s nothing bad or exciting, just the normal bullshit.”
I didn’t want to drop it.Since who? Who was he last photographed with?
Before I could dig my heels in, the maître d’ came over to inform us that our presence was requested at the table. Again, what the hell was going on? They didn’t just come over and say hello? How weird was that? And his parents clearly saw us if they knew to request our presence. I saw Donovan take in a huge breath, trying to ground himself. McKenna was out of her seat and put her hand on Donovan’s shoulder as I heard her whisper, “You got this, Van.”
Up until that point, I felt pretty okay rolling with the punches, but seeing the emotion on Donovan’s face had me second-guessing what I was about to walk into. He took myhand and followed McKenna, as she weaved through the tables. The place had to be one of the prettiest restaurants in the city, and I was sure the food was spectacular too. Everything was ornate and extravagant, from the sparkling crystal chandeliers to fresh flowers everywhere. These tables were decorated like they were being staged for the wedding of the century. Doing quick napkin math, I calculated how much the centerpieces alone would cost. My guess was that my weekly salary was what it would cost to put out these centerpieces for two nights. But that was someone’s actual job—one that I would love to have. I wondered how much a dinner bill at a place like this would be?
They stopped, and I peeked around Donovan’s huge body. His parents were glaring at me, but so was this other beautiful woman sitting with them. She was tall, probably close to six feet, and a hundred pounds soaking wet. I mean, I watched enough America’s Next Top Model with Cora to know she fit the bill to make it on that show. Not a hair was out of place, and she probably got her clothes custom-made, too. I plastered a smile on my face as McKenna went around to greet and kiss everyone. Donovan just stood there in place, and I noticed his nostrils flaring. Whatever was happening there was not something he was okay with, though I supposed seeing his parents at all could have explained that. But the tall woman gave me pause. Something didn’t feel right about her.
“Mom, Dad.” he nodded at them. “Evelyn.”
Now I know my family isn’t the most physically affectionate bunch, but there would be, at minimum, hugs and smiles. Especially if they hadn’t seen me in years.
“Donovan,” his mother nodded back at him. And his father said nothing, just … nodded. Okay, so nodding was a thing in the Wright family.
“This is Audra King,” he introduced me, as he pulled outmy chair at the round table for me. I waved and said hello to everyone. McKenna sat next to her dad, I sat next to her, and Donovan sat on the other side of me, though I didn’t love that put him next to the mystery woman, Evelyn. I couldn’t figure out what was going on there yet.
His dad nodded in my direction without looking me in the eye, though I would have preferred that to the greeting that his mom and the tall bitch gave me, which was a sneer. Like an actual sneer. I should have been offended, but it caught me so off guard that I smiled bigger. “Nice to meet you,” I said. “It’s my first time in New York, and it’s lovely.”
“Oh, I know who you are,” his mother snapped at me. “You made sure to be photographed with Donovan all day yesterday and today. Everyone knows who you are now. Of course it’s lovely, you’ve been gallivanting about with one of the wealthiest men in the city.”
I choked on my water. One of the wealthiest men in NEW YORK? Holy shit. We needed to learn some more intimate details about each other, stat.
That wild tidbit aside, I couldn’t say I’d ever walked into a situation and been immediately disliked before, but the venom was obvious there.
Donovan held his hand up and snipped back at them, “Let’s not pretend that we don’t know how they all knew I was home, eh? Or that I would be at my favorite restaurant yesterday, or that I’m here right now.”
His mom held her hand up to her chest. I thought for sure she was being sarcastic, but no, she was turning on the dramatics.
“Everyone has missed you, Donovan. Your father and I, McKenna, Evelyn, and everyone we associate with.”
Donovan’s words from earlier hit me—just prepare yourself. I better buckle up, this was going to be very interesting.
42
DONOVAN
Iwas already angry, and I hadn’t even freaking sat down yet. The tantrum behaviors from my parents, especially my mom, were par for the course, but they also knew how to charm people. I would expect them to charm Audra, or at least show some fucking respect. Yet the three of them, well, two of them, Mom and Evelyn, were just glaring at her. My father didn’t even look up to acknowledge her.Why the fuck did I agree to the dinner?
Since my parents frequented the restaurant, they had already ordered appetizers for the table, so as we sat, the server was putting them down and taking drink orders. Pretty sure nothing was strong enough to get me through that evening. I glanced at Audra, who still looked amused at what was going down around her.
McKenna tried to diffuse some of the tension with light-hearted conversation. “Since it’s Audra’s first time here, she and Van did some touristy things over the last two days. It sounds like it was a blast. When’s the last time you had a bona fide tourist experience here?” she asked the table
Evelyn took the opportunity to jump in, “The last time I was up on the Empire State Building, Donovan and I spent the afternoon there and had champagne on the 86th floor. I thought he was going to propose,” Evelyn said as she reached over to loop her arm around my elbow. “Remember that, Van? It was so romantic.” And she put her head on my shoulder. I caught Audra blanch as I pulled away and scooted my chair closer to Audra.
