Call me selfish or overprotective, but until I get to know this woman, that’s not happening. Which means I’ll have to get to know this woman.
“Poo! Poo! Poo!” I mutter to myself. Caylen’s oblivious to all this, thank God. I’ve cleaned the smeared chocolate and cookie crumbs from her face and dressed her in a cute little yellow romper. She looks adorable again. I’ve been done getting her ready for at least five minutes, but I’m glued to the bed. How am I going to go out there and not let this woman see that I’m in love with this man? She’s going to see it. Chris is the only one oblivious to it. Either that or he just doesn’t care. I pick up Caylen and remind myself of the reason I’m here. I’m not here for me. I’m really not here for Chris or even Cal. I’m here so that my daughter can have as normal of a relationship as possible with her dad, and if he wants this woman—the woman he plans on spending the rest of his life with—to meet her…
The more I try to talk myself into this, the more I’m being pushed deeper into a black hole. I smile down at Caylen and kiss her on the cheek before opening the door. I can hear them in the dining room. She’s talking about school. She says something about her law professor. I swallow the lump in my throat and practice my fake smile that seems to morph into a feeble grin as I enter the room.
Chris looks relieved, like someone just lifted the weight of the world from his shoulders. Maybe he thought I wasn’t really coming out. Mrs. Scott gives me a reassuring smile and then I see Jenna. There’s no smile on her face but her eyes narrow in on mine and she sits up straighter in her chair. She is watching me. She hasn’t even given Caylen a glance. She’s studying me and she’s not even trying to hide it. The practiced smile I was wearing has fallen completely. I’m really straining for it to not fall into a full-blown frown.
We’re complete opposites. She has platinum blonde hair falling neatly to her shoulders and piercing blue eyes. Her eye lashes are long and her eyebrows are the same color as her hair so she’s definitely a real blonde. She is wearing a taupe cashmere sweater with an elaborate gold pin. When my eyes land on her hand, there it is, the engagement ring. I don’t know if she notices where my eyes land but I could swear her lips curve into a smile and her coolness disappears as she stands up.
“Can I hold her?” she says, sweetness dripping from her voice. My eyes dart to Chris who seems a little surprised. My immediate response is “hell no” but thank God my filter is working. Unfortunately, I’m frozen. My mouth won’t open and my limbs won’t move.
“Is that okay, Lauren?” Chris asks, clearing his throat. I finally manage to walk over to Chris and hand Caylen to him. He sits her on his lap and she immediately starts reaching for the cookies in the middle of the table. Chris looks at Caylen adoringly.
“She’s definitely yours,” Jenna says with a chuckle and I let out a very dry laugh.
Is that supposed to be a joke?
“Hi, there. I’m Jenna” she says, leaning forward as she watches Caylen eat her cookie. I want to throw up.
“She’s beautiful, Chris,” she says, touching one of her pigtails. I wonder how long I should stand here before she acknowledges I’m in the room.
“Lauren, you always dress her so adorably,” Mrs. Scott says, and I try to force a smile but fail miserably. “Don’t you think, Jenna?” she says, obviously attempting to give Jenna a hint.
“It’s very pretty,” she says flatly, keeping her eyes on Chris and Caylen. I feel my cheeks start to burn. She’s doing this on purpose, not acknowledging me. The same way Mr. Scott did. To her, Caylen’s a package deal with Chris but I’m not included.
“You know Katie was saying our wedding colors should be yellow and white but I thought it was too simple. I’m thinking of something more chic like taupe.” She glances up at me. Chris’s face flushes and I feel my throat starting to burn.
“I think yellow is a beautiful color,” Mrs. Scott says as I try to ignore the mounting pressure in my head.
“We took Caylen to the zoo last time they were here. She loves animals just like I do,” Chris interrupts, trying to ease the tension in the room.
“Would a one year-old even know what’s going on at the zoo?” she asks in a playful tone, but it comes off as condescending. Is she really trying to offend me?
“I think we all had a nice time,” I say. I don’t realize the edge in my voice until their heads jerk in my direction. Chris looks nervous, Mrs. Scott smiles at me warmly, while Jenna gives me a mirthless grin.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” she says innocently, but her tone is far from apologetic.
“Jenna’s not really a kid person.” Chris chuckles nervously, and she gives him an offended look.
“What does that mean?” she asks sharply.
“I just meant you’re not really around kids much.” He throws up his hands in defense.
“Just because I don’t want to have a thousand of them doesn’t mean kids don’t like me,” she says, rolling her eyes at him, and at that moment it’s solidified; I don’t like Jenna. Her attitude makes me feel a whole lot better about the fact that I want my husband, her fiancé, back.
“I’m sure Caylen and I will get along just fine,” she says, reaching for Caylen who, I hate to admit, goes to her pretty easily.
“See,” she retorts to Chris, and her eyes dart to mine as if she knew about the secret bet I placed on Caylen not going to her.
“So, Lauren, you’re from Chicago?” she asks, finally acknowledging my presence in the room.
“Yeah.” I decide not to correct her that I’m really from Michigan.
“She grew up in Saginaw,” Chris adds, and she doesn’t look pleased that he added the information.
“It’s such a small world, isn’t it?” Mrs. Scott adds.
“I imagine it must have been inconvenient to drop everything and come here, and I hear you’re staying for three weeks?” she asks as Caylen starts to wiggle in her arms. She’s going for the cookies.
“No, not really. I’m a free-lance editor so I can work from pretty much anywhere.” I answer as I see Caylen successfully grabbing a cookie.
“She’s an artist too,” Chris adds, and the glare she gives him makes him look down.
“I’m sure she can speak for herself, Christopher,” she says tightly. I make my way to the table and take a seat since it seems like I’m being interviewed even though she’s the one who’s going to be around my daughter.
“What type of work do you do?” she asks as Caylen starts to suck on her cookie.
“I haven’t done any in a while,” I say shortly. “What is it that you do?” I ask and see Chris starting to run his hands nervously through his hair.
“I’m in law school. My last semester,” she says proudly. That explains it.
“Congratulations,” I say, trying my best to seem friendly.
“Jenna comes from a family of lawyers,” Chris interrupts, and I smile pretending to be interested as I wonder how long it’s going to take before Caylen’s cookie crumbs and chocolate are going to be all over that beautiful sweater Jenna’s wearing. The evil part of me wants to see how she reacts but seeing how nervous Chris is, I decide to give him a break.
“You want me to take her?” I offer.
“She’s fine,” Jenna says adamantly.
Okay.
“One of my mother’s firms is based in Chicago. Klaron and Franklin?” she asks as if I’ve heard of it.
“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever need a lawyer,” I reply. She opens her mouth to say something else but Chris takes her hand and squeezes it. And I feel my heart sink.
Don’t look affected. Don’t look affected.
It
helps that Jenna seems more irritated than pleased by the gesture. She then glances down at her cashmere sweater that now has a big chocolate stain accompanied by drool and she looks absolutely disgusted.
“Oh, Caylen. Look what you did,” I say in a faux-scolding tone.
“Oh, I have a towel.” Mrs. Scott comes over with a wet cloth.
“It’s just chocolate,” Chris says, and she cuts her eyes at him. I reach for Caylen and this time she doesn’t hesitate to hand her off.
“Here, let me help,” Mrs. Scott says.
“No, no. It’ll just smudge. It’s dry clean only,” she snaps. “She probably shouldn’t have been eating that anyway. Isn’t that bad for her teeth?” she asks with derision.
“I think Lauren made an exception since I made them.” Mrs. Scott smiles at me.
“Her first batch of Grandma’s homemade cookies is a special occasion,” I say simply and return Mrs. Scott’s smile. Is she really giving me nutritional advice about my daughter?
“I’ll give you one of my shirts to wear for dinner,” Chris says.
“Actually, I’m not staying,” she replies, and I thank God. Chris looks surprised; I, on the other hand, am thrilled.
“We had my dad’s fundraising dinner,” she says quietly.
“Oh, I forgot about that,” Chris says guiltily.
She sighs. “Of course you did.”
“Lauren, do you mind if we talk outside for a bit?” she asks and both Chris and Mrs. Scott look as shocked as I feel.
“Sure,” I say.
“I’ll take her,” Mrs. Scott offers, and I hand Caylen over to her. Chris eyes Jenna, and she smirks.
“We won’t be long,” she says before giving him a quick peck on the lips. She turns to me.
“Ready?” she asks, and I restrain the disgusted sigh that is begging to be released. I don’t know Jenna, but in the brief time I’ve been around her, I gather that she likes to be in control. I think about Chris and wonder if he’s easy to control. He and Cal are almost exact opposites. Since Cal was completely uncontrollable, Chris must be completely controllable. How she treats Chris would never fucking fly with Cal.
“I’m just going to get to the point,” she says, looking me directly in the eye. I can already tell this is going to be a fun conversation.
Not.
“Chris is a simple man. That’s one of the things I love about him. He wants to do what’s best for everyone. If he’s doing that, he’s happy and that makes me happy,” she says wryly. Then she walks closer to me.
”Things can be easy between us or they can be hard. Chris wants things to be easy, so I’d like things to be easy as well,” she says. I can hear the authority in her voice, which is laughable, because Chris is a grown man and she definitely doesn’t have any authority over me.
“Well, whether they’re easy for you or not isn’t my concern, Jenna. I’m here for Caylen. She’s my main priority,” I say bluntly, and her eyes widen. I don’t think she’s used to someone being as blunt with her as she is with everyone else.
“It’s funny that you say that because I have a sneaking suspicion that isn’t the
only
reason you’re here,” she says, sliding down from her perch on the railing.
“I think you want my fiancé,” she says bluntly, and I let out a laugh. The grown up thing is to tell Jenna that this conversation’s over but I’m not feeling very mature today.
“You mean
my
husband,” I shoot back and her grin disappears.
“Look. I don’t know what your relationship with ‘Cal’ was like and I don’t really care. I’m going to be Chris’s wife very soon and I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t try to use your daughter as a pawn,” she says. My cheeks grow warm and I bite my lip. She has to be baiting me, wanting me to flip out and be the crazy woman like last time. Then she can show Chris that I’m an overemotional lunatic. I’m not going to do that, though.
“I’m not going anywhere, Lauren. Chris is too nice to say this to you, but we were in love before we knew you existed. It’s not fair, but I’m here to stay. The sooner you come to terms with that, the better it will be for everyone.
Including
Caylen.”
“Well, until you are his wife, I think the parenting conversations will stay between Chris and me. Thank you, though,” I say, wearing my practiced smile like a champ. At that moment, Mr. Scott walks up. He looks at each of us, the tension obviously thick.
“Ladies,” he says, giving me a nod. I can’t help but notice that Jenna gets an actual smile.
“Mr. Scott, will you send Chris out? Lauren, I think we’re done.” She says the last part dismissively.
“I’ll do that,” he says. I follow Mr. Scott into the house, glancing back at her before closing the door.
“Is everything okay?” He sort of grunts, glancing up at me momentarily as he sorts through his mail.
“Peachy,” I say tightly.
He smirks at me before heading off to relay Jenna’s message and leaves me standing in the living room. He’s such a prick. I quickly head to the bathroom, avoiding Mrs. Scott and Chris, who are in the kitchen, talking. I try to stop myself from pacing the small space but I’m trying to bring my anger down ten notches. I cannot believe that Chris could care about somebody like that. She’s such an arrogant bitch! And she had the audacity to speak to me like that after not having said a word to me when I walked in the room. And then she gloats about being
Chris’s fiancée
before we’re even divorced. To think that I have to deal with a woman like that for the rest of my life makes me want to scream. Even if Chris doesn’t want to be with me, he could find someone with a better attitude than hers. I sit on the edge of the tub and adjust my ponytail. I chuckle to myself. Who the hell am I to tell Chris he can’t have feelings for a bitch? Cal could be a complete asshole most of the time.