Young Lies (Young Series Book 1) (41 page)

“Matty, all the men are out back at the grill if you want to join them,” Diane says, gesturing vaguely at the backdoor. Matthew huffs a laugh, knowing a dismissal when he hears one, and bends down to press a kiss to my lips.

“You’ll be all right?” he whispers in my ear.

I smile at him reassuringly. “Of course,” I tell him, nudging him away. “Go play with the boys.”

“Take Ty with you,” Claire instructs. “All the kids are back there now. And Sam is safe with me. I’ll take good care of her.”

Matthew stops and gives his sister a doubtful look. “That’s what I’m afraid of,” he mutters, ushering Tyler out to the yard.

I have a brief view of the back deck, feeling my stomach churn at the sight of Matthew’s older sisters sitting at the table with drinks in their hands. Holly’s eyes dart to mine and narrow as Matthew obliviously shuts the door. Turning back to the counter, I find Claire watching me sympathetically. “They’ll be on their best behavior,” she assures me. “And if they’re not, they will be when I’m done with them.”

With a smile of thanks, I help finish up the snack trays just as the doorbell rings, announcing the arrival of more guests. “Come on, let’s get outside before we’re relegated to greeting and schmoozing,” Claire says, shivering at the very thought of such behavior.

Outside, I manage to ignore Elizabeth and Holly, and greet their husbands Mike and Joe, respectively. Unlike their wives, they’ve never had a negative look or word directed towards me, at least not as far as I know. And if they have, I’d rather not know about it.

“Can I get you a beer, Sam?” Mike asks, walking over to the cooler to get one of his own.

“Um, I’ll take water, actually,” I say quickly, flushing for some reason. With those few words, I’m convinced everyone knows my current condition, and I’m getting suspicious looks from Elizabeth and Holly.

“She’s my designated driver tonight,” Matthew tells his brother-in-law smoothly, walking over to pull me into his arms.

Mike shrugs and hands me a water, then Matthew another beer before being drawn into a discussion about sports with the other men. Right now it doesn’t matter that much of his family doesn’t like me; in fact, the only thing that matters is I’m in the arms of the man I love and he apparently has no intention of releasing me anytime soon. He occasionally places a kiss on my temple or gives me a tiny smile as though he’s reminding himself I’m not some figment of his imagination. I know how he feels; most of the time I have to go looking for him to remind myself of the same thing.

As the guests make their way to the deck, Matthew is forced to release me to shake hands, kiss cheeks, give hugs, or whatever else his public demands of him. I slip away after the fourth or fifth person and head down into the yard where Claire is sitting on a bench, watching the kids.

“Bet you haven’t missed this,” she says wryly, taking a sip of her cocktail. “Overcrowded parties all designed for ass kissing of some sort. Being forced to smile at people whose eyes you’d much rather gouge out. Not enough booze to keep up with the stupid conversations about whose kid is more of an overachiever.”

I smile. “Well, not to brag, but Tyler’s a math whiz. Matt tried helping him with homework last night and gave up within half an hour, then spent the rest of the night grumbling about how easy school had seemed when he was Ty’s age.”

Claire snorts a laugh. “Yeah? Abby made her very first mud pie and actually ate all the bugs.”

I cringe, then laugh. “Not something to brag about, Claire,” I tell her.

She only shrugs at me. “How’d the doctor appointment go the other day?” she asks quietly, wincing as Gabe and Tyler, who are apparently chasing each other around the swing set, run in opposite directions to catch one another, then crash into each other hard enough that we can hear the knocking of their skulls.

“Better than I thought,” I tell her, watching to make sure our sons actually stand up again or whether we need to take them to the emergency room. They’re on their feet in seconds, resuming their game. I reach into my purse, glancing up at the deck where Matthew is still greeting people whose names he probably doesn’t even recognize, and slip the ultrasound picture to Claire.

She takes it from me and examines it, smiling. “Aw,” she gushes quietly. “Adorable! Almost makes me want another one...” Simultaneously, we look up just in time to see Olly jump from the slide with a Tarzan yell onto Elizabeth and Mike’s fourteen-year-old son Dylan. I raise an eyebrow at Claire in question; she sighs, handing me the photo back with one last glance. “Or not...”

-------------o-------------

An hour into the party and I’m more than ready to grab Samantha and Tyler and go home. I don’t know how much more I can take of being told how it’s a miracle I’m here and how pleased people are to see me. Most of these people are from my father’s company, names I’ve only ever heard in passing. Other than kissing my dad’s ass, I have no idea why they care about my well-being. Every time I try to excuse myself to find Samantha, knowing how miserable these parties make her since she usually spends most of her time with Claire and a few other people who don’t look down on her, another person appears in front of me wanting to make meaningless small talk.

Finally, as lunch is starting to be served, I have a clear shot to getting to her again. I grab a couple plates of food for us and Tyler and start to step off the deck. And I almost scream when I hear my name behind me.

Turning, I force a polite expression onto my face until I see who is speaking.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me...

“Matthew,” she says, smiling in a way that used to make me weak in the knees. “It’s good to see you.”

I sigh, setting down the plates I’m carrying before I throw them at somebody. “Lucy,” I acknowledge curtly, knowing exactly why she’s been invited to this party. My father and sisters probably conspired this scenario to increase Samantha’s uneasiness of being here. It doesn’t really matter to me that technically she works for my father and has for the last six years or so. Our paths have crossed only a couple times since graduating college and every time, there’s been some attempt to reestablish our relationship. I’ve never been interested, and now I’m even less so with Samantha back in the picture, but that doesn’t seem to stop her. I have a feeling my dad spends a lot of time at work talking to her about me, encouraging such behavior, despite how often I’ve told him her advances are unwelcome.

“I was very relieved to hear you weren’t hurt after that accident,” she says, smiling and closing a bit of the distance between us. “I was at your memorial, you know. I heard the news and I was devastated.”

Yeah, I bet you were
, I think darkly.
Probably ran straight into the bed of the first guy who offered you a tissue...
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I tell her. “But as you can see, I’m perfectly fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, my family is waiting for me.” I turn away with the intention of getting as far from Lucy as possible, but she blocks me, her eyes darting over my shoulder down at the yard.

“Is that your son?” she asks. I automatically glance over to find Tyler running around the yard like a madman, grinning at the sight of him. “He looks just like you. He’ll be a heartbreaker by the time he’s in middle school.”

“He’ll have gotten that from his mother,” I say pointedly.

“Oh, right. Samantha...” Lucy’s eyes scan the backyard and I know she’s looking for Sam. This is the point at which I get overprotective of my family. “Is that her? Sitting with Claire
?”

“Yes,” I say shortly.

Lucy’s eyes rise and lower quickly. “Isn’t she... lovely.” I don’t miss how her lip curls, belying her words. “Shame her staying power doesn’t seem very reliable.”

In order to keep from embarrassing my parents in front of their guests, I’m taking several deep breaths rather than shouting and making a scene. This
is bullshit coming from a woman who’d been screwing my college roommate under my nose for months. Then she tried to tell me it meant nothing to her. The night I left her I got word from a mutual friend that she and aforementioned roommate were out at a dance club grinding all over each other. “I’m only going to say this once,” I say quietly. “Stay away from my family. I don’t give a shit what my dad or my sisters tell you. There hasn’t been an
us
since we were in college and you fucked Rory. There will never be another us. And I get that you work for my dad and that you’ll be around, but that doesn’t make us friends and sure as fuck doesn’t mean we’ll be anything more.”

Feeling smug, I turn away again, this time successfully getting the food and jogging down the stairs, glancing over my shoulder just long enough to confirm Lucy’s mouth is dropped open in shock at my words and probably a little hurt. Huh. She might actually have real, human feelings. Who knew...

“Hungry?” I ask, dropping a plate in front of Samantha and smiling as I sit beside her.

“Starving,” she confirms, her eyes wide as she eyes the burger and potato salad. “Who was that?”

I blink at the casual question, knowing immediately she’s on guard. “Who was who?” I respond, hoping she’s talking about someone aside from Lucy.

“The woman you were just arguing with.”

Damn. Sighing, I turn to face Samantha fully. “Nobody you need to worry about,” I tell her honestly. “Having said that, it was Lucy.”

Her entire body tenses and I know damn well why she’s reacting in this way. The entire time we were married, my father and older sisters were constantly dropping her name, comparing her to Samantha, trying to slyly hint to me I would have been better off with her than my wife. More times than I can count, Samantha put on a smile throughout our visit at my parents’ house, but the moment we were alone in the car on the way home, the tears were flowing and my evenings were spent consoling her and telling her it didn’t matter what my family thought of her. I loved her and that’s what was important. I know those times took a toll on her, destroying in one fell swoop all the self-confidence she’d built up since leaving Iowa. And having Lucy here now the first time Samantha’s immersing herself with my family again after everything that we’ve been through... I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about what might come out of her mouth next.

“Bitch,” she grumbled, shooting a glare at the deck before tucking into her lunch.

I stare at her in shock for a moment, hardly believing what I just heard. The woman who, eight years ago, never would have said a negative word against anyone, let alone someone she’s never actually met, calling my ex-girlfriend a bitch, probably because of the way she treated me, amazes me. And I’m incredibly turned-on right now. “
God, I love you,” I tell her, staring at her in awe.

She smirks. “Damn right you do.”

Laughing, I start my own meal and within minutes, Tyler is pushing his way in to sit between us, pulling his hot dog and chips towards him and telling us all about the games he’s been playing with his cousins. Listening to him, I bask in the thought that this is what life should be, this is what life is
about
, and for the first time in months, I don’t even lament in the fact that I lost five years with my family. It doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is the future and knowing after all this, nothing is going to tear me from them again. We’re going to get to know one another and grow, and damn the naysayers.

What the hell do they know anyway?

-------------o-------------

By the end of the evening I realize I’ve actually enjoyed myself. Matthew hasn’t left my side since he brought us lunch and whether that’s because he just wants to be with me or because he doesn’t want to be accosted by his ex again, I don’t know. I like it believe it’s the former, but either way, I win. I haven’t even had an uncomfortable encounter with Paul or Matthew’s older sisters, though there was a brief moment I found myself alone in the kitchen with Holly when I went in to use the bathroom. She barely had time to curl a Botox plumped lip at me before Diane came breezing in, smiling and asking if we were enjoying ourselves. Smirking at the disappointment on my former sister-in-law’s face because she didn’t get a chance to get in a dig on me, I went about my business and returned to the party.

As for Lucy... I had hoped to run into her at some point, but I think Matthew was aware of this, and because of it, made sure I wasn’t anywhere near her. Shame...

Before we return home, Danny and Matthew are holed up somewhere in the house. Claire and I assume they’re talking about our vacation, which I’m looking forward to more every time I think about it.

“So when’s the wedding?” Claire and I are alone on the back deck after helping with clean up.

I raise an eyebrow. “Who said anything about a wedding?” I respond, trying to keep my voice even. I’ve wondered the same thing often, but haven’t wanted to ruin the happy bubble Matthew and I seem to be living in at the moment.

Snorting a laugh, Claire turns to me. “He’s going to have to top fireworks this time,” she muses, apparently ignoring my words. “I mean, that was just genius. Even for Matty. I never knew he could pull off romance like that...” She shakes her head, sighing wistfully. “You know how Danny proposed? We were out for pizza one night after spending the whole day moving my stuff into my apartment after I graduated college, so we were exhausted and sweaty. My hair was a mess. He’s in a t-shirt and jeans. I took a bite of my second slice of pizza and next thing I know, he’s on the floor next to me asking me to marry him.” She rolls her eyes, though she’s smiling fondly at the memory. “At the time I thought he was insane. He hadn’t even gotten the ring yet; he just said it was time and he didn’t want to wait any longer.”