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“No. I’m sorry, Emily. She was fond of Bethany.”

“Wait, she wasn’t that fond of her, trust me,” Paul said, disgusted. “She made it a point to test her intellect whenever we were together.”

“I forgot about that,” Roberta said, fluffing up her hair. “Yeah, like us beautiful girls can’t be smart.”

“She’s not going to hurt me,” Emily insisted. “You see how I am. I wore a bikini in front of everyone at the beach last summer. Paul loves my body, and that’s all I care about.”

“Too much information,” Big Mike moaned, squirming.

“You’re getting us all excited,” Roberta replied, hugging Mike, laughing. “Well, good, I’m glad you are strong enough to stand up to her because, trust me, Clare is indefatigable. She might actually give up if you keep strong.”

“I’ll be strong.”

“And, Candy—”

“I know, don’t repeat.”

“She will,” Joey said, laughing.

“We’d better get going,” Paul said, standing. “I’m glad my dad isn’t alone. I hope he brings Lila around to dinner and that Clare and Harry stay away. Aunt Roberta, why did you invite them, anyway?”

“She asked to come, actually. She wanted to be able to see you after the divorce. I think she was afraid that because she is living at Harry’s now, she’d never see you. Do you mind them being here?”

“No, I guess not if Emily is okay with it. It’s not our decision, anyway. She could have asked us to get together. But fair warning, I’ll have to tell her off if she keeps insulting Emily. I’d hate to estrange my own mother, but I won’t have that at our wedding.”

“No, that wouldn’t be good. Okay, you kids let us know when the wedding will be, and we’ll do whatever you need.”

“We still need to tell my mother,” Emily said, the dread on her face clear.

“Oh my. Don’t wait too long. You’ll hurt her feelings and then have two upset mothers.”

“We’re headed there now to tell her. Wish us luck!”

Once in the truck, they looked at each other and burst into laughter. “Why do we put ourselves through that?” Paul asked.

“I’m telling you, if my mother acts up, we’re going to elope.”

“You might regret that.”

“Right now what I regret is having Kathy to my house last night and sharing our news.”

“Text her and tell her to fuck off, from me.”

She’d never heard Paul curse before. “I guess you’re angry.”

“Furious. Who does that? She sees my mother at the grocery store, a woman she doesn’t know, and tells her our personal business?”

He continued to rant. It was more than just about Kathy, though, and Emily knew it. It was ranting against his aunt Roberta for unloading his parents’ personal business, and for Clare and Charlie getting married just because she was pregnant, and for everything else that had happened for the past twenty-some years.

A huge concern was that he would be unable to forgive Kathy and she would no longer be welcome in their house.

“Thank God I’m the one who holds a grudge,” she said.

She could see him decompressing, his shoulders relaxed, and he exhaled, laughing out loud.

“I’ll have to say something to her, you know that, right?”

“Let me find out what her motivation was first. I’m hoping she has a rationale.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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