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Stuart’s eyes shot from me to Wes and back again. He rolled his eyes and shook his head before he retreated to a different couch.
“A real piece of work, eh?” Wes said under his breath. All I did was shrug. Again, there was nothing I could say.
Beau started talking about our travel schedule for the new year. That kept the conversation flowing—between everyone except the douche canoe—until the backdoors opened and three very excited dogs came running in.
Beau and Gigi’s French bulldogs zoomed into the living room for pets and attention. Trey and Lexi’s golden retriever took a detour into the kitchen before joining her friends in the living room.
Jillian, Gigi, and Lexi walked in with huge smiles on their faces. They were giggling together about something. Jillian’s eyes swept over to me, and her grin grew. I smiled back and gave her a small wave.
She gazed toward the kitchen, and I saw her expression fall.
I turned back to the TV and then looked at Beau. He had one French bulldog standing in his lap. The dog was licking Beau’s face excitedly.
“Where are the boys?” I asked as I took another look around for the kids. Those boys weren’t exactly the silent types. If they were in a room, you’d know.
“The neighbor kids asked if they could come over and build snow forts.” He kept talking, but my mind was busy. I couldn’t help myself. I swung my head around and watched Jillian walk into the kitchen. She started talking to Marissa.
And—my guts twisted.
Jillian smiled and shook Marissa’s hand.
Then I looked away.
Fuck.
This was going to be a longest two days of my goddamn life.
17
Cash
Definitely the longest evening I’d ever spent anywhere in my fucking life.
Marianne and Wes were wonderful hosts. But good God, I wanted to slug Stuart. It seemed like each, and every time Jillian was having fun of some kind—laughing, playing a game, or chasing the twins around—he had to come in and ruin everything.
It was some weird shit.
At first, I thought maybe I was just biased. Until Wes mumbled to me, “Why can’t that fucker let her have fun? Jesus, he’s such a fuckin’ douche canoe.”
And then I knew for sure I was right. Stuart was definitely a douche canoe.
Even still, I sat at the supper table—which was long enough to fit the entire block—and tried my best to pretend Stuart didn’t exist.
One more day.
And then I’d be out of here.
Luckily, Beau’s twin boys provided a lot of banter and hilarity to the mix. The only awkward time was when Stuart turned to Jillian and nudged her. “Hon, let’s make sure we just have one baby at a time. No twins, okay?”
The look of disgust on Jillian’s face as she glared at her fiancé nearly made me duck under the table.
“That’s a really shitty thing to say, Stuart,” she said loud enough for everyone—including the boys—to hear. She looked down at her plate and then over at Beau and Gigi. “I’m sorry,” she apologized to them unnecessarily.
Beau, being the bigger man in every sense of the word, immediately changed the subject and everyone helped him out with that. All the while, anyone with eyes and ears could see and hear Jillian and Stuart bickering quietly.
Yeah.
Fuckin’ awkward.
