Jake glares at the phone as if Anna cursed him out. “What about that asshole?”
“I know you’re going to hate it, Jake, but Kate needs to talk to him. Shehasto be the one to tell him about the two of you.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not,” Jake snaps. His jaw clenched in frustration. “Kate never has to do anything she doesn’t want to do.”
“Hear me?—”
“No,” he responds.
“Jake, let’s listen to what Anna has to say. She’s the expert,” I say, rubbing my thumb over the top of his hand.
“Fine.”
“In my professional opinion, it won’t take long for people to find out that Kate was previously engaged and question the timeline of your relationship. We don’t need a pissed-off ex-fiancé causing drama. Ideally, Brian will confirm when their engagement ended and only say pleasant things about Kate. Worst case, he’ll go with no comment and let the vultures make assumptions. You can guess how badly that will go.”
I swallow hard. Talking to Brian about dating Jake never crossed my mind. I can’t imagine this is the type of news anyone wants to hear from their ex, but what choice do I have?
“Okay. I’ll talk to him,” I reply, wishing my life didn’t have to be so complicated. “It’s probably best with Chelsi there. In person. The three of us started as friends, so there’s no reason why we can’t be cordial for an evening.”
“I hate everything about this.” Jake hangs his head and stares at the bed covers.
“It’ll be fine,” I whisper.
“Okay. Now that’s settled, I’ll play defense and try to hold off any major publications from picking up the gossip. Kate will talk to Brian. We’ll go live on Thursday. Sounds like a great plan,” Anna summarizes cheerfully.
Seriously, how is this woman so optimistic? At this hour. Her job is cleaning up the messes of other people. How does she enjoy it?
Jake lets out a deep sigh. “Thanks for handling this, Anna. Sorry if I was grumpy. Anything involving Kate’s safety and privacy makes me slightly crazy. I want to protect her as much as possible, and it feels like we’re about to be yanked out of our protective bubble.”
“Yes, you are. You both need to hold on tight because the next few months are going to be a bumpy ride.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
kate
“God,this is going to be so awkward,” Chelsi groans from the living room of our condo in Chicago. “I can’t believe Anna is making you invite your ex-fiancé over for dinner. Did you somehow wrong her in a past life?”
I chuckle. “I don’t think so. It’ll be fine,” I reply, putting the finishing touches on the salad. “It wasn’t horrible when we ran into each other at the alumni event a couple of months ago.”
Chelsi snorts. “You’re joking, right? I could have cut the tension between the two of you with a knife. You might be over him, but I don’t know if he’s gotten over you. Or at least the idea of you. Who knows with that jerk?”
Chelsi walks into the kitchen, decked out in a black leather mini-skirt and white sheer button-down blouse with a black tank underneath, the epitome of a hot girl trawling the bar to pick up a guy, not having a casual dinner party at home with your best friend and her ex-fiancé.
“Can we at least refrain from calling him a jerk to his face? I need him to be on board with being honest about when our engagement ended.”
“I make no promises.” Chelsi pours herself a glass of white wine. “Fair warning—I’ll also likely talk shit about his clothes, assuming he’s still wearing his uniform of khakis and polos.”
I shake my head, unsure how to respond to that comment without making her dig her heels in deeper. One of the many things I learned after ending my engagement with Brian was how much Chelsi disliked him. She pretended to tolerate him for my sake, convincing herself my happiness was what mattered.
Brian knocks on the door, and Chelsi immediately shoots daggers in that direction. Great. This is going to go so well. Can’t wait to spend the next hour or so playing referee.
I take a deep breath, forcing myself to put on my hostess face and endure the next few hours. Everything will be fine. If not, I’ll have Anna clean it up.
I open the door to find the man I left more than a year ago. The man I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with until I realized how poorly he treated me. How much he didn’t respect my opinion. The numerous ways he prioritized everything else in his life over me. “Hey, Brian. Thanks for coming over.”
“It’s good to see you, Kate,” he replies before following me inside.
“Brian,” Chelsi adds bitterly when we walk into the kitchen, not making any effort to get up from her seat to greet him.
