Pretenders (Firsts and Forever 3)

Wes asked, “Where’s Millie?” He’d mentioned Camille’s eight-year-old daughter over dinner the night before, and I knew she was one of the few family members he was actually looking forward to seeing.

Camille sighed and told him, “She’s being antisocial. Maybe she’ll come out if you let her know you’re here. You’ve always spoken her language.”

“I’ll go find her,” he promised, “right after Ash meets everyone.”

He led me around the patio and introduced an assortment of aunts, uncles, and cousins whose names I immediately forgot. Once that was over with, he asked his mother, “Where are Jack and Warren?”

She seemed to be frowning, except that nothing moved from her eyebrows up. Botox much? “They had an opportunity to have their portrait done by internationally renowned photographer Melvin Fournier this morning. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. He happened to be on the island, and his parents are old friends of ours, so he’s shooting them as a personal favor. They should be returning shortly.” Eloise leaned forward and added, in a loud whisper, “Try not to embarrass us or yourself when they arrive.”

Wes held back a sigh, but just barely. “Why would I make a scene?”

“We know how emotional you can be, and we all remember how you behaved when Jack broke up with you.” She came close to literally clutching her pearls when she said that, stopping just short and resting her hand against them instead. “The last thing we need is any more unpleasantness.”

Wes looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he took my hand and said, “You have nothing to worry about, Mother. We’re going to go say hello to Millie, and we’ll be right back.” He managed not to speed-walk as we headed inside, but just barely.

The home’s interior was light and airy, all blond wood, white couches, and vaulted ceilings, with the only real color provided by huge, tropical floral arrangements. All of that blurred past as Wes hurried us along. We ducked into the first bathroom we came to, and he locked the door behind us. Then he sat on the edge of the tub and dropped his head into his hands. “I should have stayed home,” he muttered.

“You’re right about that. No offense, but your mother is pretty awful.”

“The funny thing is, she’s totally holding back because her sisters are here and she doesn’t like airing our dirty laundry in front of them. Normally, she’s much worse than that.”

“That sucks. But hey, on the bright side, no one commented on my hair color or questioned whether you and I are actually a couple.”

“I guarantee they’re all talking about us behind our back, right this very minute. They were shocked by you, no doubt about it, but they’re too duplicitous to say anything to us directly.”

“I don’t know what duplicitous means,” I said, as I sat down in front of him on the thick cotton bath mat, “but I bet that’s a fancy way of calling them a bunch of two-faced phonies.”

“Basically, yes.”

“Well, fuck them. I don’t care what they think about me. Also, I don’t believe you caused a scene when Jack broke up with you, but you really should have.”

He sat up and sighed. “I did get upset, but to hear my mother tell it, you’d think I punched him in the face and set the building on fire.”

I grinned and said, “I’m not usually pro-arson, but that would have been pretty justifiable.”

He grinned, too. “My real crime was that this happened during a dinner party, and some of our family members witnessed me losing my temper. The most important thing to my mother is keeping up appearances, so that outburst was mortifying for her.”

“Hold up. Jack waited until you and he were at a party, and that’s when he chose to break up with you?”

He nodded. “It was the Sunday before our wedding. Some of our relatives had just flown in from the UK, so my parents were hosting a dinner in their honor.”

“What a shitty thing for Jack to do! I mean, the whole thing was shitty, including dumping you in the first place, but doing it at a family gathering is just ridiculous. I bet he timed it that way because he knew it’d prevent you from really giving him a piece of your mind. What a coward.”

“He definitely did. He had it all planned out, too. He had this big speech he’d clearly prepared ahead of time about how sorry he was, but how this was the right thing for me—like he was doing me a favor by dumping me.” Wes sighed, and after a pause he said, “Actually, he really did do me a favor. I’m glad I didn’t marry someone who thought so little of me that he’d end our relationship on a public blindside. At the time though, it was devastating.”