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Kill me now. Of course, Troy is all for it. “I’d love to, thank you. Let me go back and tell my friends.”
He scurries off as I sit down, glaring at my parents. “Thanks, Dad.”
“What? I didn’t want to be rude,” he says innocently.
“Do you even like him?” Mom asks, leaning in. “You seem very upset.”
“Because I didn’t want him meeting y’all yet. We’ve only been dating for a month.”
She sets me with a look. “Yet you’re going to do long-distance with him.”
I glare at her because I know what she is implying. I know whom she is speaking of. Even though she’d dismissed my feelings, I did tell her what happened and how I felt, so I know what she’s getting at. Man, she is a bitch. “Because he’s coming in a couple weeks.”
“Hmm,” she says, shaking her head. Then Troy comes over, sitting between my parents and across from me. “Troy, Tennie tells us you guys work well together.”
And just like I knew he would, he charms my parents. He knows what to say, smiles the right way, and is the perfect gentleman. Just as Denis was, and it bores me to tears. I lean on my hand as I pick at the florets of my broccoli, wishing like hell this dinner would end, when my mom’s phone rings. I almost cry out in relief.
“Do we need to leave?” I ask, and she waves me off.
“No, it’s Venessa.” Josie’s momma. I bring in my brows as I watch her answer. She covers her mouth and then squeals happily. “Oh! I can’t even! Congratulations! I am so excited for y’all! Yeah, no. I am actually with her. No, I’m sure she will. Lordy, I’m so happy! Yes, I’ll let you know.”
She hangs up the phone and looks at me, tears in her eyes. “Josie is engaged!”
I perk a brow. “How wonderful.”
“To him?” Dad asks then, and I look from him to my mom, who is grimacing. “That was fast. He knock her up?”
“Thomas!”
“What? I’m just saying.”
“Who?” I ask, just because I’m nosy. “Not that I care, but that is kind of fast. She was single when I left.”
“Who are we talking about?” Troy asks, and I groan inwardly. I haven’t spoken about my life back home.
“Josie, Tennie’s best friend.”
“Ex-best friend,” I correct her, and she gives me a look.
“She wants to speak to you.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk to her.”
“I think you need to,” she urges, and I laugh.
“Hard pass on that, for sure,” I say, giving my dad a look that says What in the hell? But even he looks concerned. “What…?”
“Tennie, darling, she’s marrying Denis,” he tells me.
My smile fades and my jaw drops. “Denis,” I echo. “The Denis I dated for almost ten years?”
“Just the same,” Mom says slowly.
“The same fucking Denis she said I would never find better than?” I ask, and Mom winces at my words.
I look between them, ignoring Troy completely as I snort with laughter. “What in the world!” I laugh so hard, I start to cry. “Man, karma don’t play.”
“He loves her.”
I choke at that, unable to hold in my laughter. “Mom, he told me he loved me the night in Nashville when I told him I’d never love him. Good Lord. That’s funny.”
“Not the reaction I thought she’d have,” Mom says to Dad, but he doesn’t seem surprised.
“I told you she never loved him,” he says, and I point back at my dad.
“I told you the same. I have never felt anything like love until…” I let my words trail off, and I press my lips together, closing my eyes as I turn my head to regain my composure. I clench my jaw. “I’m ready to go.”
I look for the waiter as Troy asks, “When is the wedding?”
I snap my gaze to his. “Why? You going?”
“I was just wondering,” he says slowly. “Which was obviously the wrong thing to ask.”
“Exactly,” I say, shaking my head.
“In a couple months.”
I laugh at that as I wave down our waiter. “Yeah, she’s knocked up.”
“Has to be,” Dad agrees as Mom scolds us with a tsk.
Once we get the check, Dad pays and we leave, thank God. Outside, Troy takes my hand and pulls me to the side. “Are you mad at me?”
I look up at him and shrug. “Now is not the time. I’m frustrated, and I’m ready to go home and load the truck.”
He eyes me, cupping my jaw in his hand. “Let me help you—to make up for my unannounced visit and then assuming we’d go to the wedding together.”
I scrunch up my face as I gawk at him. “I’m not even going to the wedding.”
“Oh,” he says, and then he swallows hard. “The guys will come help too.”
“Fine, but I’m still upset.”
“I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you,” he says, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my neck. “Start you a bath, rub you in all the right spots.”
