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None of the women watching said a word, and then Delta deliberately set down her own drink, a nearly empty glass of white wine, and followed after Amanda.
* * *
Goddamnit, Delta thought. Goddamnit. Amanda was the ultimate bitch. Flagrant. Mocking. Careless . . . that was it. Careless. Amanda just didn’t care. She’d never cared, and it was . . . infuriating! Amanda just cruised through bitchdom like a conqueror. She knew Delta would flip out, and yes, she was flipping out. She wanted to strangle both Amanda and Tanner.
Keep cool . . . keep cool.
But how could she do that, with Amanda slipping her arm through Tanner’s and laughingly dragging him away from the other guys, who were watching this happen in slow, dawning surprise and then suddenly looking around for Delta to see her reaction? She tried hard to keep a smile on her face, but it was cemented in place—and, she hoped to God, not in a Joker-esque grimace.
Is Amanda right about Tanner screwing around with Zora and Ellie and . . . everyone?
Now was not the time to think about that. She’d always known Tanner was unfaithful, but with her other high school friends? When? Long ago, or now?
Don’t make yourself crazy.
Amanda had always wanted Tanner, and she’d always felt like Delta didn’t deserve him. That was a fact. But she’d never loved him, not the way Delta had. She’d just wanted him, wanted to win him. Amanda had always craved beating everyone at everything. That was truly who she was. Except Delta had beat her in this one way. This. One. Way. She’d won his heart, and Amanda hadn’t.
He did sleep with her, though. Believed he got her pregnant, whatever the case. Don’t forget that. And maybe he slept with some of your other so-called friends . . .
Delta ached inside. She didn’t want to. She wanted to be tough and unaffected, but it really, really hurt.
Do you still love him? Or is this just ego? Do you want this marriage to work, or is it on its last legs?
“I want it to work,” she whispered.
“What?” Justin Penske heard her as she approached the group. He was a bit apart from the crowd of them.
Delta curved her smile into one of irony. “Think I’d better rescue my husband?” she asked lightly. There was no escaping the fact that Amanda had whisked Tanner away from the others. When there’s a glaring problem, don’t ignore it, point an arrow at it.
“You mean from Forsythe?”
“Brennan now, but yes.”
“Keeping a leash on him’s a full-time job, isn’t it?” He grinned.
She’d never liked Penske much. She hadn’t liked Brad Sumpter, the workout fanatic, his shadow, either. She hadn’t liked a lot of the guys in the class, come to that, but maybe that was because they’d always tried to shut her out. They’d wanted to keep Tanner in their inner circle of “bros.” Bros before hos, and all of that shit. She’d been so proud of the fact that she’d managed to win him away from them and everyone else.
“I hear you have a kid now,” Penske said.
“Owen. He’s fourteen months.”
“Still counting in months, huh. When does that stop?”
“Probably at two.”
“Glad I don’t have any kids. They’d be assholes, like I am.”
“I’m surprised you know it. And can admit it.”
“That I’m an asshole?” He chortled. “Aren’t we all?” He swept an arm to encompass the guys’ group.
“Yeah, maybe,” she said. Talking to Penske wasn’t half as bad as she’d thought it would be. Unlike Tanner, he seemed to possess some sort of self-deprecation. She tried to move past him and confront Amanda and Tanner.
“You still love that shithead?” Penske asked.
Amanda was smiling up into Tanner’s face, and he was eating it up.
“Yes,” Delta said automatically.
