Chapter 17 #2
His eyes narrowed; then he shook his head and glanced away.
“Yeah, okay, so obviously we have different standards on when we’re supposed to be real. Listen, Jordan, I might not love caviar, but I’m being polite. Eric has gone to a lot of trouble to make things nice today—”
“Get real. He paid people to do this. It’s not like he would’ve organised anything himself.”
“That’s not true!” she snapped, even though part of her said it was probably true. Okay, from what Gwen said earlier, it definitely was true. Not that she would give Jordan the satisfaction of saying that. “He’s a very busy man, but he’s gone to some trouble, which is more than some people do.”
His gaze slitted. “I hope that’s not supposed to be a shot at me.”
“No, that’s right. You sent me a happy birthday message. Whoopy do.”
He blinked and paced back. “Wow.”
She took a step forward. “Do you remember what I did for your birthday last year? I got you tickets to see the Sydney Swans play, and you had an awesome time.”
“It was nice,” he mumbled.
“Nice?” she screeched. “Do you know how much those tickets cost? You told me it was one of the best birthday presents ever. And this year you just sent me a happy birthday message?”
His lips pressed together. He glanced away, his mouth a mutinous line.
“I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I sure wish I had my friend back.”
He shook his head. “I’m not the one who’s been drawing away. That’s you.”
“I haven’t.”
“You have. You’ve cancelled our Saturdays, you’ve gotten caught up with all this, and you’re acting like a different person than the girl I always knew.”
“Well, I’m not that girl anymore,” she snapped, conscious that Gwen and Eric had drawn near.
“That’s for sure.” He folded his arms. “Your family is worried about you, EJ. They missed you last weekend.”
She heaved out a breath. “I told you—and them—I was busy.”
“But they’re your family. You should’ve heard your mum going on about it last week at the bonfire.”
“The bonfire, the bonfire.” She sighed. “Maybe I’m tired of stupid bonfires and don’t want to do things like that anymore. Why is that so hard for everyone to understand?”
His lips whitened a little. “Your family loves you, EJ. They miss you.”
“And I miss them. But maybe, just maybe, I don’t want a stupid bonfire for my birthday and don’t want to live in Hick Vegas anymore with people who don’t understand me and don’t have a single iota of ambition in their life.
Maybe, just maybe, I don’t want to be eating scones and homemade cake and having to make small talk with gossipy old ladies like Miss Bates.
Maybe I would rather go and eat fancy food at Bennelong and watch the ballet and feel like a princess for once in my life. Why is that so bad?”
“Hey, you two aren’t exactly giving off party vibes over here,” Gwen soothed.
“We had a great time at Bennelong, didn’t we, babe?” Eric kissed her cheek.
Jordan stared at her. “You … you went to Bennelong?”
“And not at the bar. We had a reservation for the best table in the house.” She pressed her lips to Eric’s cheek, heard his swift intake of breath. Or maybe that was Jordan’s. She hoped it was, given how mad he’d made her. She smiled tightly at him. “See? Some people pay attention to what I like.”
“I’d be happy to pay attention to you for the rest of my days,” Eric said, smooth as ever.
EJ’s heart hitched, and she glanced at Jordan. He’d gone pale. He glanced at Eric, then at EJ. “Can I talk to you a minute?”
“You are talking.”
“Alone?”
She tossed her head, that same stupid impulse to make him mad still propelling words from her mouth. “You can say whatever it is you want to say in front of my friends here.”
He snorted. “Fine, you asked for it.” He heaved out a breath. “You can fool yourself all you like, EJ, but it’s better to be without sense than to misapply it as you do.”
Her mouth dropped.
“These people are not your friends, EJ.”
“Hey—” Eric objected.
“I don’t know what it is they want,” Jordan powered ruthlessly on, “but they’re not going to be honest with you like I am.
And I can’t see you behaving like this without speaking my mind.
How can you be so unfeeling to your family?
To mine? Even those old ladies you despise.
You know those gossipy older ladies like Miss Bates only want your best. They are interested in you, they pray for you, they care about you.
All this, when they certainly don’t have your advantages.
They should attract your compassion, not your contempt. ”
Her heart stung at his words.
“You might think your small town is beneath you, but the people there love you, EJ. Although whether you with all your fakeness deserve their love remains to be seen,” he added in a lower voice.
Her bottom lip trembled as moisture sliced her eyes. How could Jordan say this?
“That’s enough,” Eric said. “You can leave if you’re going to make EJ cry.”
She blinked hard. “I’m not crying.”
“You should be, Emma-Jane Bennett,” Jordan said. “Then maybe you’d wake up to yourself and realise what is real and what is a lie and who your real friends are.”
He said this with a look of contempt at Eric and Gwen, making her cringe inside. “Whatever happened to you preaching about loving your enemies? I can’t believe you’re being so cruel.”
“I’m not the one who’s being cruel. You are with your entitled, selfish ways and your bubble of self-importance that seems to make you feel like you’re better than everybody else.”
“I don’t—”
“Come on. We both know that you secretly do.” He grimaced.
“I can’t believe I supported you all this time.
I hate to think that I’ve probably contributed to it as well.
Well, sorry, babe“—he said that word like a swear word—“you’re not more important than the rest of us. You’ve been blinded by the big-city lights, and you’ve gotten arrogant and fake.
You seem to have forgotten that as a Christian you’re supposed be humble.
Now you seem to think you’re deserving of princess treatment, and that proves just how immature you are.
It might’ve been cute when you were eight, but it’s way past time to grow up, Emma, when you’re twenty-eight. ”
Body blows couldn’t hurt more than his words right now.
Beside her, Eric and Gwen were protesting, but she couldn’t make out their words; they felt blurry, like they’d been smothered by clouds. Her gaze was focused on Jordan and the avenging angel role he’d appointed himself to play.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Oh, you meant it. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of, after all.”
“Obviously your heart is mean and nasty,” Gwen snarked.
“My heart has only ever spoken the truth to EJ, and she knows it.”
Ouch. Yes, she did. But it didn’t mean she’d let him see that. She flicked back her hair, tilted her chin, eyed him like she used to do to Lionel.
Jordan drew out a small package—wait, he had got her a present after all?—and grabbed her hand and shoved it in. “I don’t need this anymore.”
“And I don’t want it, whatever it is,” she sniped, more to save face than because it was true.
“Then do what you want with it. I don’t care.”
She gripped the box until she felt it start to crumple, and was hugely tempted to hurl it into the sea.
But before she could move a muscle, he met her gaze one last, harsh time and shook his head. “Have fun with your new friends, EJ.”
Then he turned and walked away.
Her heart felt shaky, like he was walking away with part of it. They’d never argued. Never. And this, in front of everyone, was excruciating on so many levels.
“Wow.” Various swear words were dropped by various people. She didn’t know who. She didn’t care. She felt like she’d been stripped naked and everyone could see her. She wanted to run away and hide and never be seen again. How could Jordan treat her like that?
“He’s obviously jealous,” Eric said, giving her cheek a kiss, tugging her near. “Don’t listen to a word he said, babe. He’s obviously upset that you’re living the life he’s always wanted.”
Except Jordan had never wanted the bright lights of the city. He’d done this—Dream Match, Donwell, moving to the city—for her. She wanted to crumple.
“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other,” Gwen said, giving her a sideways hug. “Who cares what he thinks, anyway? You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”
But seeking what she’d thought had made her happy had only led to this.
Gwen swung her hair behind her. “Personally, I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”
Huh? That didn’t make a lot of sense.
“You need to remember that his accusations show he’s jealous, that’s all. Remember, it’s very difficult for the prosperous to be humble.”
But that wasn’t what Jordan had meant. She felt a tug to chase after him, to make him listen, to properly explain. But Eric and Gwen kept hold of her, and she couldn’t embarrass herself any more than what she’d already done.
How could what was meant to be a celebration turn so bad so fast? Why couldn’t Jordan have been kind and read the room and been willing to go with the flow instead of making such nasty accusations?
But the worst thing about it was that she knew his accusations were justified.
And his words, harsh as they were, possessed the thing he’d always stood for. What she’d stood for at one time too.
The truth.