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“What?” I asked, but I already knew.
“Tell your family about me. Expose us. Blackmail anybody and everybody she can.”
“She won’t do that,” I said. “I won’t let her get that far.”
“You can’t give her any more money,” she said. “She won’t ever stop. I’ll pay her—I already promised I would—but she has to understand that you’re a one-and-done. Otherwise, she’ll keep coming back.” She looked at me, anxiety and stubbornness playing out on her face. “Promise me.”
“Not yet—I can help you. We’ll figure it out.” I looked back at the restaurant and sighed. “We have to go in there. Dinner’s going to start, and I don’t want to call attention to us.”
“Don’t you want me to just go?” she asked. “If I leave now, she won’t be able to do anything else. Cause any more trouble. I’m worried, James. She’ll stoop as low as she can. I don’t want your family finding out about me, and I don’t want her near any of you… because she could do anything, and it would be horrible.”
“Of course I don’t want you to go. Don’t be ridiculous.” I kissed her on the forehead, careful not to mess up her makeup. She looked beautiful. She’d dressed so carefully for the occasion. I’d watched her pick out her jewelry, selecting the perfect earrings, scowling at her reflection in the mirror until she felt confident with her choices. When we’d walked through those church doors together, and I turned to look at her, my heart had just about stopped.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” She exhaled shakily. “Can you imagine what your mother would say?”
“I don’t care.” I grabbed her hand, and we headed in to dinner. We’d been gone long enough. I didn’t want my mother getting fidgety, or worse, curious. I didn’t like the way she’d been talking to Audrey at the church—I shouldn’t have flaunted our togetherness last night at the Gardner like I had. I needed to protect Audrey from my mother, to shield her.
Both my mother and her mother needed to back off and leave her alone.
Leave us alone.
Audrey hung back, stopping before we went in. “I don’t want you to get hurt, James. I don’t want to drag you and your family down. I think I should just go.” She pulled away from me, like she was going to run.
“No. Stop,” I said, holding her firmly. Panic rose inside me. “I’m the one who hired you. You can’t drag me down—we’re in this together.” I pulled her to me. “We’re going to handle your mother, and then we’re going to handle mine. And once we stop panicking, we might even be able to enjoy it. I don’t want to do this without you. Please don’t go. Don’t even say it again.”
Her eyes searched my face. “Don’t you want me to, though? Think about it.” I could tell she meant it. She thought she would be sparing me.
“Are you hearing anything I’m saying?” I felt myself getting angry, and I struggled to control it. I didn’t want to hurt her any more right now. Her mother had been bad enough. I would have Kai just take her back to the apartment to free her from the rest of the evening, but I was worried she’d be gone by the time I got back.
“No, I don’t want you to go. I want you with me. And I want this to be the end of the discussion. Can you do that for me? Can you put on your game face?”
We just looked at each other for a beat.
“Of course,” she said finally, relenting. She fake-smiled at me.
“Fake-smile more. Put your back into it,” I ordered. Her smile widened, and the actress was back. “You’re good. You’re really, really good.”
She gave out one last shaky sigh. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she said, making herself grin at me.
* * *
For better or for worse, Cole and Jenny were at the rehearsal dinner.
“Dre!” Jenny whooped, coming up and giving Audrey a jiggly hug. “This place is frickin’ amazing!”
Audrey smiled at her, but the smile was laced with worry. “It’s gorgeous. Just like you—you’re looking really good, Jenny.”
Jenny tossed her curls and modeled her gold-lamé dress. “Coley bought it for me.”
“Coley?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at my friend. “For real?”
He slapped me on the shoulder hard. “For real, bro. So shut up.” He dragged me to the long table where my entire family was seated, along with Evie’s family, all sorts of cousins, and friends. My father sat at the head of the table, resplendent in a suit, my ice pick of a mother at his si
de. I deposited Audrey with Cole and Jenny at one end of the table and went up to where Todd and Evie sat looking happy and excited. I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, and I raised it.
“I’d like to make a toast,” I said. All eyes turned to me except for my mother, who was watching Audrey and Jenny with a thinly veiled look of distaste on her face. But Audrey was watching me, a smile on her face now that looked real. She nodded at me in encouragement.
For once, I wanted to do something nice. I was tired of all the ugly. There’d been too much underbelly today. I had to be positive… for once.
