CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Jelly
I was ready to go about five minutes after we’d arrived at Paolo’s mom’s house.
She was a tall, elegant woman who oozed class. And bitchiness. I had mistakenly thought she was nice at the benefit. I was wrong. “Oh, you must be Jammy. So nice to meet you, dear.”
“I met you at the benefit, Mrs. Lanetti.” I was confused. She couldn’t have forgotten that quickly. I didn’t even try to correct the name, though it felt purposeful. Maybe I was being paranoid, though.
“Oh, we meet so many of Paolo’s… women… it’s hard to keep them all straight. Come on inside and meet everyone else.”
Okay. Probably not paranoid.
“Everyone else?” Paolo asked in a strained voice.
“Of course. Don’t you remember that sweet Gia Santoro is in town? Her parents flew in for this dinner, so make sure you’re very nice to everyone, son.”
“They flew in from Italy?” Paolo’s face drained of color.
Um… what the fuck? Did they invite me to a dinner where they were trying to hook their son up with another woman?
It soon became abundantly clear that’s exactly what they’d done. I didn’t even get to sit next to Paolo. Instead, Gia Santoro, who couldn’t shut up about how she had known Paolo since they were in diapers back in Italy, sat beside him. Anytime I tried to speak to him, she interrupted me.
It didn’t help that she was an absolute bombshell. She had the perfect hourglass figure that I knew Paolo liked best. I had some nice curves, but hers were unreal. And she had long brown hair and big brown eyes, golden skin, and was quite elegant. She looked polished; like she came from money.
I felt… less than. And it didn’t help that no one was talking to me. At all.
“Have you two had a chance to go out on the town lately?” Gia’s mom asked Paolo.
Gia giggled. “Not lately. But the times we have seen each other have been… eventful. Wouldn’t you say, Paolo?”
He pulled on the collar of his shirt and looked uncomfortable. “I guess you could say so. I really didn’t know you were in town until the benefit, Gia.”
“Maybe that’s why you haven’t returned my calls, then.” She looked across the table at me. “Jammy, what was it you said you do? You’re work colleagues with my Paolo, no?” She put her hand over his on the table.
He moved his immediately
This bitch. “We’re dating.”
Gasps went up from the women around the table. Gia pouted prettily and gave Paolo a hurt look. “After all we’ve shared recently, I’m surprised you didn’t tell me.”
“It hasn’t been recent…”
“Well, it’s not exactly ancient history,” she snapped.
Startled to hear they had any kind of history, I tried to catch Paolo’s eyes. He was carefully avoiding looking at me. Wouldn’t he have told me if they’d dated?
“It’s true, though, that you know Paolo from work, correct?” Paolo’s mom asked.
“Yes. I’m finishing up my requirements to earn my Physician’s Assistant degree.”
“Impressive,” Paolo’s dad said, and I could’ve kissed him. “Gia doesn’t have to work, though, do you, sweetheart?”
Feeling less kissy.
“Nope,” she sighed happily. “But I do have a degree in public management from Yale.” She shot me a look that I ignored. Of course, she had a degree from Yale that she didn’t even have to use.
“Jelly is going to be an amazing physician’s assistant,” Paolo said, giving me a kind smile.
“What is that? A doctor or a nurse?” his mother asked.
“It’s sort of a hybrid,” Paolo explained. “They’re not doctors and have a nursing background, but they diagnose and treat diseases much like doctors. They collaborate with the doctor…”
“My God, Paolo. Your mother didn’t ask for a college education. She asked a simple question.” Paolo’s dad was looking at him like he was a moron.
I decided it was time to move on. “If you don’t work, what do you do with your time?” I asked Gia.
“Oh, I chair committees and host charity events. That sort of thing. It’s the kind of thing the wife of a prominent surgeon would need to know how to do.” She smiled at me with fake sweetness. “Have you done those kinds of things, Jammy?”
“No.” I saw the satisfied looks that flashed between Gia, her mother, and Paolo’s mother.
They’d just declared me non-threatening and made me feel about two inches tall.
I also really wished I’d corrected them the first time they’d called me Jammy.
Now, they’d said it so much it felt kind of weird to correct them at this point.
“Goodness,” Paolo’s mother looked at me with fake concern, “surely Paolo told you that he’s expected to be with a certain… class of woman. It has to be someone of equal social standing who could help his career. Not bring it down.”
Gia, her mother, and Paolo’s mother all exchanged glances as if I was stupid to think I could ever have any kind of real relationship with Paolo.
Right. I was starting to get a better sense for why he’d been interested in an elite auction to begin with. He’d been trying to keep this very thing from happening.
I glanced at Paolo, waiting for him to defend me. Or at least say something on my behalf. I knew he’d tried, but I needed him to keep standing up for me. I felt attacked, as if the reason for this dinner was to show me how ill-equipped I was to be with Paolo.
He stayed silent. His eyes were on me, and they seemed to be begging me for understanding. But my understanding was all used up. I put my napkin beside my plate. “Could you direct me to the ladies’ room?”
Paolo’s mom instructed one of the staff members to show me where it was.
I thanked her, followed her down the hall, and then stood in the bathroom. I tried to breathe deeply and get a grip on myself. I texted Nia and Nadine telling them what was going on.
They both texted back to get my act together, get back out there, and wipe the floor with Gia Santoro.
The problem was? I didn’t feel up to it. I felt defeated. Embarrassed. Paolo was never going to end up with someone like me. He was always destined for the Gia Santoros of the world. Not the Jelly Pinkoes. Who was I kidding?
There were just a couple of weeks left in my contract with Paolo. I’d originally been excited to continue dating him after the contract was up. Now? I wasn’t. More to the point, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I wondered if he’d figured it out yet. There was just too much stacked against us.
I took my time in the restroom. I fixed my hair, sat on a cushy settee, and basically just wasted time.
Finally, when I felt like it would be rude to wait any longer, I walked slowly back to the dining room. I could hear their voices long before I arrived at the room.
And what I heard made my stomach drop.
“Dear, you can’t possibly think someone like her is good enough to be your wife,” Paolo’s mother was saying.
“Who ever said anything about getting married, Mama?” Paolo asked. “Jelly and I are not about to tie the knot.”
Gia and her mother laughed. “Certainly not,” Mrs. Santoro declared.
“Could you even imagine?” Gia said snidely.
“Son, seriously. There’s one thing that girl’s good for. And it’s not being the future mother of my grandchildren.”
“There’s no need to be crass, darling,” Paolo’s mother said, but she chuckled as she said it.
My face burned with embarrassment and fury. What assholes! But why wasn’t Paolo saying anything?
“You can’t have really thought you’d be together long term with this woman?” his mother asked.
Now I would get to hear him defend me.
“No. No, of course not. I thought I already answered that. She’s just beautiful and someone fun to pass the time with.”
My mouth dropped open. He’d said I was so much more than that. He’d said I really mattered to him. He’d… lied.
“She does look nice in formal wear, I’ll give you that,” Paolo’s dad said. “But Gia does, too, and she fits in your world. There’s really no comparison.”
“No, I suppose there’s not,” Paolo said. I had to cover my mouth to keep the gasp in.
“And I know I make you happy in the bedroom,” Gia whispered loudly.
The bedroom? When had he had time to sleep with her? How long had she been in town? Did he fuck her while he was supposed to be with me?
I looked up and realized she’d seen me standing there. She’d said that on purpose to let me know I wasn’t the only woman he was fucking, no matter what he’d told me.
“Of course you do,” Paolo said, not even trying to hide that he’d been with her.
And my heart shattered.
I stepped back and leaned against the wall, trying to decide what to do. Should I go back in there and act as if I’d heard nothing? Or should I call a rideshare service to come take me to my condo?
I turned to the poor woman who’d been waiting to take me back to the dining room. She looked at me with compassion in her eyes. “Could you, um, please let Paolo know that I wasn’t feeling well and that I took an Uber home?”
“Of course, miss.” She laid her hand on my arm. “You’re better off,” she said. “Mr. Paolo is a nice man, but the rest?” She shook her head and made a face.
I smiled at her. “Thanks.”
I decided to wait and hear what Paolo would do when he knew I’d left. This, if nothing else, would tell me what he really thought of me.
“Excuse me,” the servant said as she walked back into the room. “The young lady asked me to let you know she took a car home. She wasn’t feeling well.”
“Oh. Let me go and see if she’s okay,” Paolo said.
“Sit down, Paolo,” his father said. “Enjoy the rest of your dinner with your family and the Santoros. You can check on your date later.”
“This is even better,” Gia trilled. “Now I don’t have to share you with your ‘date.’ Really, Paolo. How could you even be seen in public with her? She’s pretty, I suppose, but not a very good conversationalist. And would she even know the right things to say?”
“Highly doubtful,” Paolo’s mother said.
And Paolo? Well, he didn’t say a thing.