Chapter 44
Elli
Igo to follow Wes out into the garage because he’s going to have to look through all three freezers to find the ice cream, and I don’t want him to be gone that long. My mom’s being extra bitchy today because of the stress of the luncheon, and I just want to get out of her.
“Elli, I need you to go get the extra plastic spoons from the storage closet.” Mom instructs and I sigh and turn the opposite way to go to the storage closet down the hall by the bathroom.
Why she keeps them here instead of in the garage like a normal person, I’ll never know.
I can hear footsteps following behind me, and I assume it’s just someone wanting to use the restroom, so I step out of the way quickly, but the body follows me. I turn around and see Packer looking smugly at me, and I resist the urge to punch him in his face.
“What are you even doing here, Packer?” I ask, rummaging through the boxes of plastic utensils. Where are the damn spoons?!
“Your mom invited me. Said she wanted my opinion on your new boyfriend. She’s concerned about you, Elli. And so am I.” He almost sounds sincere.
I finally find the box of spoons and rip it from the closet, turning to face my ex. “Your opinion of Wes means about as much to me as a bug on the bottom of a shoe. You lost the right to be concerned when you broke up with me.”
“Come on, Elli. You know as well as I do we never would have worked out in the long run. You would have hated to be a stay at home mom, and that’s what I wanted.
Besides, when she turned eighteen and messaged me that she was moving here for school, I knew she was who I was meant to be with. When you know you know.”
“So you wasted both of our time knowing I wasn’t what you wanted? Was I just a place holder or something?” I want to scream.
Packer shrugs, “Well, yeah. I guess. Tiff wants to stay home and raise our kids. She’s more… open to criticism too. Plus, she’s not too bad on the eyes, am I right? She’ll bounce back fast from having the baby.” He nudges my shoulder, like I’m in on the joke.
I swear to god I’m going to puke. “That… is disgusting. I’m so glad your child bride makes you happy. Thank goodness I’m not stuck with a pig like you.”
“She’s nineteen! Not a child.” He defends.
“She still has teen in her age, Packer. That’s weird.”
He scoffs, “Well at least she’s pleasing to look at. Not some freak covered in tattoos and piercings like your boyfriend.” He uses a mocking tone when he says “boyfriend,” and any patience I may have had evaporates.
“I’m not doing this with you. Best of luck with your teen wife. Goodbye, Packer.” I say as I walk away. I can’t deal with him right now, or ever. I can’t believe I ever thought about marrying him.
What a dodged bullet.
I take the spoons back to my mom, and look around for Wes, who’s currently talking to one of my little cousins, Kamber.
She’s five, and looks like she’s asking him about his tattoos.
I see her parents are watching him like at any minute he’s going to pull out a tattoo gun and put an “I heart mom” tattoo on her arm.
But Wes looks like a big cuddly dog with her, smiling and nodding, answering all of her questions enthusiastically.
Kamber pets his hair and then pets hers, showing off her braid.
She asks him something and he nods enthusiastically and sits directly on the floor.
Kamber goes to stand behind him and starts to braid his hair, though not very well.
I walk over and squat down to her level. “Whatcha doin’ Kamber?”
“Bwaiding Wes’s hair.” She says seriously, her tongue poking out in concentration.
“It looks really good, have you been practicing?” I ask.
“Yes. Mommy lets me pwactice on her hair sometimes. I’m still wowking on it.” She turns her big brown eyes on me and asks, “Can you bwaid?”
“I sure can. I braid my hair all the time. Would you like some help?”
“Yes!”
“Okay. Why don’t you go ask Izzy for a hair tie and I’ll get started on this.”
She nods and jumps up, running over to Izzy and asking for a hair tie.
When she comes back, I’m already halfway done. I’ve played with Wes’s hair before, but I’m always amazed at how soft and thick it is. Kamber asks if she can put the hair tie in at the end, and I say yes.
“Wow Elli. You’re weally good at bwaiding!”
“Do you think I look as pretty as you do, Kamber?” Wes asks.
Kamber giggles, “Boys can’t look pwetty. They look handsome.”
“I think anyone can look pretty. Besides, I have such looong hair, I think the only way to describe it is pretty!” Wes says, flipping the braid over his shoulder.
“Then yes. You look pwetty.”
“Thank you, Kamber.”
“Okay, Kamber. It’s time to go potty so we can go home.” Her mom, Katelynn, says with a forced smile to me and Wes.
“Bye Elli! Bye Wes! Thanks fow letting me play with your hair!” Kamber waves at us as she says goodbye. We hear her tell her mom that she wants tattoos like Wes when she’s older, but she wants pink ones.
Oops. Sorry, not sorry, Katelynn.
“You okay?” I whisper to Wes after I help him stand from the floor.
“Yeah, are you?”
“I had a run in with Packer, but I’ll tell you about that in a minute. Let’s go say goodbye then we can go back to the hotel.”
“Okay, my love.” The term of endearment soothes my frayed nerves and makes me feel all warm and gooey inside.
We make our rounds of awkward goodbyes, leaving only my mom and brother.
Mom pulls me in for a fake hug, but whispers “I expect you and Wes over for dinner tomorrow so we can get to know him properly.”
I nod, “Okay. We’ll see you at four.”
She nods, then goes back to chatting with someone else.
I walk over to Spence and give him an awkward smile, “I’m headed out. But we’ll be here for dinner tomorrow so we’ll see you then.”
“Sounds good. Bye.” He says coldly, not bothering to even hug me.
Ouch.
I grab Wes’s hand, we put on our shoes, and then we head to my car. As soon as we pull away from the curb, Wes’s hand is on my thigh, squeezing gently. I know he’s waiting for me to tell him what happened with Packer.
“Packer cornered me in the hallway at my mom’s while you were getting ice cream.” I sigh, still disgusted by what he told me.
“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Wes asks.
“No, not at all. He just said he was ‘concerned’ about me. I guess my mom invited him to ‘scope’ you out, which is fucking weird. But then he told me that we wouldn’t have worked out because I wasn’t a ‘trainable’ wife.”
“Ew. What the fuck? Is he serious?”
“Unfortunately. He also implied that I was too fat to bounce back from having a baby. It was all just very gross and misogynistic. I feel bad for Tiffany, to be quite honest. But I’m so glad I didn’t marry him.”
“Poor Tiffany. Poor you for dealing with him for six months. And fuck him for implying anything about your body. Your body is so fucking beautiful, if I were a sculptor I’d never stop sculpting you. Your body would live in museums forever.”
“That was very poetic, and very sweet, Wes. Thank you. You make me feel good in my body.”
Wes grabs my hand and brings the back to his lips and gives it a tender kiss, making butterflies erupt in my stomach.
God, will this man ever stop having that effect on me? Probably not.
“My mom also expects us to go over for dinner tomorrow. I’m sorry, I can tell her ‘no’ if you want, but she literally demanded it from me.”
“Nah, it’s okay. Free food is free food, right? I’ll be fine. How bad can it be?”
Yeah, how bad can it be?