78. Chapter 78
Chapter 78
A few weeks later, Paige and David met Jules for dinner at Macaroni’s, and to Paige’s dismay—and Jules’s amusement—they ended up in Anthony’s section.
“Welcome back,” the waiter greeted the two women, before telling David politely, “Good evening.”
After taking their drink orders and promising to be right back, Anthony gave both Paige and Jules a smile loaded with knowing amusement, then left.
“You two must come here a lot, to be recognized by the waitstaff,” David mused, picking up his menu.
“Something like that,” Paige said.
Jules smirked. “Yeah, something like that.”
David glanced from one to the other, picking up on the fact there was some subtext he wasn’t aware of. “All right, what am I missing?”
“Nothing,” Paige was quick to say.
Not believing her, David addressed Jules. “What am I missing?”
Ignoring Paige’s Don’t you dare glare, Jules said, “Well, let’s just say that the last time we were here was … memorable.”
David watched Paige grab a menu and become totally engrossed in it. “How memorable?” he prompted.
Jules quickly told him how Anthony had overheard some fairly interesting nuggets of conversation between her and Paige, starting with the ‘stellar’ blow job Paige had bragged about giving David and the fact she’d pulled his hair ‘pretty damn hard’. Jules also told him about the wall sex reference (which she magnanimously took the blame for), at which point he gave Paige a long, satisfied look.
“Oh my God,” Jules exclaimed, reaching over to knock Paige’s menu down. “He totally pushed you up against a wall and fucked you—”
“Here are your drinks,” Anthony said evenly, appearing at the table.
Paige immediately lifted the menu to her face once again, avoiding looking anywhere near the waiter as he set everyone’s drinks down.
They quickly ordered their dinners, and when Anthony had vanished again, Paige turned to Jules. “You. Are. The worst.”
“I’m sorry,” Jules apologized, not sounding the least bit sincere.
Picking up her glass of red wine, Paige took a drink. “Bullshit apology not accepted.”
“What can I say? In my defense, I didn’t see him. Or hear him, either,” Jules said, picking up her own drink. “He should have to wear a bell around his neck, like cats do, to warn their prey when they’re about to strike. Speaking of which, how are your two new cats?” she asked, switching her attention to David.
For a while, the conversation was easy as they all got caught up with one another and enjoyed their meals, and it wasn’t until their plates had been cleared that Jules turned serious.
“So, today, for shits and grins, I media-stalked Ashley during lunch,” she said, picking up her phone to swipe and scroll until she found what she was looking for. “This may or may not surprise you, but she and Liam are still together.”
Jules handed her phone to Paige, who leaned toward David so he could see the screen, which showed a posting on Ashley’s Instagram account. It was a picture of her and Liam—last name Hollis—in what appeared to be a high-end bar, with Ashley holding a martini glass and Liam a can of Bud Light.
If anything, David’s opinion of the prick actually fell at seeing him drinking that horse piss ... from a can.
“Holy shit,” Paige murmured, looking at the picture with interest and eye-rolling at the tagline, #goingstrong. Her gaze hovered briefly over Ashley, who looked beautiful as always and didn’t appear to be suffering any ill effects of having signed away the rights to her child, before landing on Liam. Paige wasn’t surprised to see he was an attractive man with brown hair and eyes, nor was she surprised that he didn’t look like he was an asshole to children in his spare time; most assholes and abusers hid in plain sight, as she well knew. “Unbelievable.”
“What a bitch. It really didn’t matter to her what Liam did to Jacob,” David said, his voice hard. Then, with one last look, he handed the phone back to Jules. “I’ve seen enough. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I debated not saying anything, but figured you’d want to know.”
He nodded; it was definitely something he wanted to know.
Shortly after that, Anthony came by with the check, and while David was getting his credit card from his wallet, Paige excused herself to go to the bathroom.
“I’ve never seen her this happy,” Jules mused, when Paige was far enough away from the table to be talked about without being heard.
“Thank you,” David said.
Jules gave him a droll look.
He returned the look. “What? Can’t I take credit for making her happy?”
Instead of answering, she asked a question of her own. “What are your intentions with my girl? Because you seem to be just treading water.”
“I intend to marry her. Again,” he told her, surprised to find himself being completely—and unexpectedly—honest.
Jules tilted her head, her expression completely neutral. “You do?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Hmm. You and your plans.”
“They happen to work, thank you.”
“Okay, well, I have no objection to your plan,” she said graciously, as if she was the Queen of England and David was one of her subjects.
He cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t? Oh, well thank you.”
“You’re welcome. So, do you have a ring, yet?”
“Yes, I have a ring. This isn’t my first rodeo, Jules.”
“That’s the truth, funnily enough. Can I see it?”
“No. I don’t have it on me.”
“Why not?”
Glancing in the direction of the bathrooms to make sure Paige hadn’t come out yet, he said, “Because I have a plan for the proposal, and it doesn’t take place tonight in this restaurant with you in attendance. That’s why.”
Jules pondered that, before asking, “So what is the plan for the proposal? Because I want to make sure it’s not as lame as your first one.”
“My first one was spontaneous and heart-felt, not lame,” he objected, even though he’d basically told Evan it had been ‘pretty bad’. “And I’m not telling you how I’m doing it this time, because … no.”
“Because … no? That’s your reason?”
“How about it’s none of your business? Is that a better reason?”
“For a five-year-old, maybe.” Then, perhaps thinking she’d pushed enough buttons, she backed off. “Well, can you at least tell me when it might be happening?”
“Pretty soon.”
“Pretty soon? Jesus, talking to you is like talking to a tree.”
“Look, I don’t know exactly when, but it will be soon. And in the meantime, could you please not say anything to her about this? I don’t want her running for the hills before I’m ready.”
“You think she’d run for the hills?”
David sighed. “I honestly don’t know. I mean, she won’t just be saying ‘yes’ to me—”
“That’s true, but I don’t think Jacob is an issue. If anything, he’s a real selling point for accepting your proposal.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“You know what I mean. Jacob won’t be the reason she says ‘no’.” Jules glanced toward the bathrooms again before leaning forward. “The reason she might say ‘no’ is because she’ll think it would be wrong to marry her ex-husband, but that won’t mean she doesn’t want to. So, when you do ask her—you know, pretty soon—if she starts spewing out some crap about marrying an ex-husband is wrong, just tell her you won’t let her come until she says ‘yes’.”
He blinked at her. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“You really want me to say that?”
“Yes. Trust me, it’ll work. In fact, say it to combat whatever excuse she might come up with, because it should work for anything.”
“That seems sort of … underhanded.”
“Yes, which means you should have absolutely no problem doing it.”