Friday
I downed another glass of wine. This party was a complete disaster. James was missing. His parents were always talking to someone, so I couldn’t catch them alone. And Isabella was walking around like she owned the place. All of James’ family members seemed to adore her. I should have just left with James. I knew he needed me right now. But I wasn’t calm enough to console him. All I wanted to do was set the house on fire.
“You okay?” Melissa asked as she walked up to me. “You look pissed.”
“I’m fine.” It was so nice to finally see someone I recognized. I took a deep breath and set my glass down on the bar. I was trying to calm my nerves before I potentially made a scene. I just wished I had the courage to do it without alcohol.
“This place is almost as big as Tyler’s apartment building,” she said.
I laughed. “Yeah, it’s crazy.” Maybe a distraction was what I needed. And I could really use someone on my side right now. “Actually, Melissa, I was hoping I could talk to you about Tyler. I just want you to know that if you two are dating, I’m totally okay with it.”
“I don’t need your permission to date someone, Penny.”
“I know, that’s not what I meant. I just thought that maybe because of our history, you thought…”
Melissa laughed and placed her glass of wine down on the bar beside mine. “Thought that it would be awkward because you’ve slept with him? Yeah, well you have nothing to worry about. I would never date Tyler Stevens. I’m sorry, I need to use the bathroom.”
“Melissa?”
She was already quickly walking away.
What the hell was that? I glanced over at Tyler. He was staring at us, but he quickly looked away when he caught my gaze and started walking after Melissa.
Not only was I in a room full of people that preferred James’ ex wife to me, but now two of my closest friends seemed to be mad at me. Fuck this.
I walked over to Rob who was playing some drinking game with Matt and Mason. Hopefully they weren’t taking shots whenever Isabella gave me a death stare, because they’d be totally wasted. And I needed Rob’s help.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to talk to your parents. Could you go find James so we can leave when I’m done? He said he was going to get some air, but he’s not answering his phone. And I…”
“Say no more, gorgeous. I’ll find him.” Rob downed his shot and stood up. “Don’t play without me,” he said and disappeared into the crowd of people in the room.
“Are you okay, Penny?” Mason asked. He looked truly concerned and it made me feel a little better. I just needed to remember that James’ friends were the true family I was gaining. If his parents weren’t going to accept me, then I wasn’t going to keep pretending everything was alright.
“Besides for the fact that James’ parents want him to get back with Isabella? Yeah, I’m great.” I looked over toward his parents. They were talking to a group of people about their age. It didn’t really matter if I was rude and interrupted them. They deserved it.
Matt laughed. “You don’t have anything to worry about. James is completely addicted to you. You’re like the only sustenance he needs. Ow, fuck! What is wrong with you?”
I turned back to them.
Matt was grabbing his shin under the table and giving Mason a dirty look. Had Mason just kicked him?
Mason cleared his throat. “Do you need help getting James’ parents alone to tell them off? I think we’re both up to the challenge.”
“No. I’ll do it myself. I’m kind of looking forward to embarrassing them. Have fun with your game.” I walked away from their table toward Mr. and Mrs. Hunter. They were still talking to the same group of people. “Excuse me,” I said when I reached them. “I was hoping to have a word alone with Mr. and Mrs. Hunter.”
“Of course, dear,” said a woman who I recognized as one of James’ aunts who I had met earlier.
James’ mother turned toward me reluctantly. “I didn’t realize you were still here.”
Yeah, fuck you too. “Can the three of us go talk somewhere in private?”
“We’re hosting a party. We can’t just…”
Mrs. Hunter was cut off by her husband. “Of course, Miss Taylor. We thought you might request a word. Let’s discuss this in my office.”
I instantly liked Mr. Hunter a little more than Mrs. Hunter. He didn’t seem nearly as cold. They started walking away and I quickly caught up to the them. It felt like I was about to be scolded as I followed them out of the room and into the main hallway, though. I wondered what they thought I was about to talk to them about as Mr. Hunter stopped in front of a door. He pulled out a key from his pocket and put it into the door. He pushed it open, letting Mrs. Hunter walk in first. He continued to hold the door open and gestured for me to go in as well. Maybe he wasn’t so bad.
I stepped in and turned around in a circle. The room looked more like a small library than an office. I suddenly felt weird for not knowing what his parents did. James never talked about them. So I really knew nothing about them at all. Except that they were hurting James. That was all that I needed to know.
His father cleared his throat and I turned toward him. “Miss Taylor, let me apologize for inviting Isabella to this event.”
James’ mother crossed her arms in front of her chest and didn’t say a word.
“Thank you for saying that.” I sighed with relief. I had every intention of yelling at them as soon as we were alone, but I bit my tongue. This whole thing was just a huge misunderstanding. I could still fix this.
“We realize that option should have been presented to James at a different time.”
“A different time?” You mean not at all?
“Yes. Once we settle this,” he said.
“Settle what?” I asked.
James’ mother shook her head. “There’s no reason to be formal, Jonathan. We all know why we’re here.” She stared at me for a second like I was completely dense and walked over to the desk. She opened up a drawer and pulled out a checkbook.
You’ve got to be kidding me. “I don’t want your money. That’s not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about the way you’ve been treating your son.”
She tore a check out of the booklet and stuck her hand out to me.