Page 80 of A Little Bit Uncertain

“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 out my 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.