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‘Of course I remember. You spent weeks in this bed, refusing to do anything. How could I forget?’
‘If you remember it so well why on earth would you invite her over here for dinner?’
‘I’m a firm believer in closure. When your dad and I got serious I called all my old flings and let them know I was no longer taking booty calls. It’s what made everything between us more serious.’
The last thing I want to hear is stories about her booty call days. ‘Pretending she didn’t exist was my closure.’
‘You can’t ignore your past, Riv or it’ll continue to haunt you. You need to look this girl in the eye and tell her how she made you feel.’
I clutch my chest, pain searing through it. ‘My God, I’m having a heart attack at twenty-nine. Are you happy now? You’ve killed me.’ Dead would be easier right now.
‘You’re not having a heart attack,’ Dad says, sitting on the chest at the end of my bed and taking my pulse. ‘You can’t die before your wedding anyway, son. That’s too tragic of a story, especially considering the first one.’
I smirk. ‘If you think you’re funny, you’re wrong.’
Dad laughs.
‘Am I too old to be adopted into a family that doesn’t get involved in my business?’ I ask. I’ve never felt the way I do right now. I literally want to jump out my bedroom window and take off running if my legs aren’t both broken from the fall. ‘Jesus, and here I thought Dax breaking my “bro code” was bad. Seems like what I really needed was a “mom code”.’ After this nightmare night, I might need a new best friend, sister, mother, all of it.
Mom rolls her eyes. ‘Had you told the truth, you wouldn’t be in this mess.’
‘I never lied to you. You assumed things, and then you meddled. I’m nearly thirty. I don’t need help with my love life or lack thereof. If I ever get engaged, you would be the first to know, and the news won’t be brought to you by my ex-fiancée.’
She nods, finally looking like she’s sorry. ‘I did think it was a little weird, but then I walked into your apartment to see Jade there, so I thought it was true. And you two didn’t help by playing along.’
‘River?’ Caitlin’s voice stops all of us where we are. I don’t even want to look that way, so instead, I drop my head with a moan. Jesus, let’s invite up every girlfriend of my past and do this, shall we?
‘What?’ I say furiously.
‘Can we talk?’ Caitlin asks, sweetly, as if she’s got absolutely nothing to do with this but in all reality, she’s the reason this is happening.
‘I guess if we have to. I wouldn’t want you to have ruined my life a second time for nothing.’
‘We’ll just leave you two be,’ Mom says, dragging Dad out of my room and closing the door like I want to be alone with this woman.
Caite walks around, looking at old photos with nostalgia on her face. This isn’t the first time she’s been in here. We’ve had sex in this room. Great, and now I’m picturing it.
‘I can’t believe they kept your room the way it was. When I moved out, my mom turned my room into a home gym within days.’
‘You’re quite the star of your own show, aren’t you?’ I ask, my tone bitter, just like Mom suggested. ‘Do you have any idea what you’ve done?’
She turns to me, a questioning look on her face. ‘I wasn’t thinking, and after I ran into you, I thought it might be nice to visit with your mom again. I had no clue that nothing you two told me at the restaurant that night was true.’
I run my hand over my head, unsure what to say here.
‘I didn’t expect you’d feel the need to lie about a fiancée the first time we ran into one another.’
‘Pfft, bullshit. You didn’t realize it because you’ve never been the type of girl to see anything beyond how things affect you. For instance, I was in my tuxedo, and guests were seated. Our honeymoon was paid for, and my bags were packed when I learned you weren’t coming. To our wedding. My dad had to announce that everything had been canceled because I couldn’t even speak; I was so torn up. Any idea what that does to a guy who legit thought you were the one?’
Guilt crosses her face. ‘I didn’t know. I’m sorry.’
‘Excellent, all better. Caitlin’s sorry,’ I say, tossing my arms out in frustration. ‘How about we acknowledge the fact that you named your baby Phoenix?’
‘So?’
‘So… the whole reason we decided to get married then was because you were pregnant. With my baby. The one we agreed to name Phoenix.’
Her face drops with the mention of the baby we never had. When I found out she was pregnant, I rushed around and proposed because I loved her and thought it was the right thing to do. Then she miscarried a couple of weeks before our wedding at thirteen weeks. I thought we were doing everything right. I spent all my time with her, and behind my back, she spent all her time with her high school ex, Derek.
