As Elodie and I approached the restaurant, I eyed the clear glass door, scanning it for a push or pull sign. I refused to be tripped up by something so simple on a first date. Grasping the handle, I pulled it toward me without incident and motioned for Elodie to go ahead. She smiled at me shyly as she passed, and I let my gaze roam over her back as she walked ahead to the hostess stand. The straps of the long dress she wore left her back exposed, the stretch of fair skin drawing my attention down her back to the soft swell of her ass. She looked just as good in clothes as she did out of them. I had to drag my attention away for fear I’d lean in to kiss and lick my way down her spine.

Instead I focused on the interior of the restaurant. It was fancier than most places I chose to eat, with white linen tablecloths and fresh flower centrepieces. I’d come here once before at Bree’s request and had been surprised by how much I liked it. There were no burgers dripping with sauce and cheese fries, but their steak had more than made up for it. The food had been the only good thing about that night though. My memories turned sour as I remembered how we’d run into an old school friend of Bree’s and spent a few minutes chatting with her. At the time, I’d thought everything was fine, but when we’d gotten out into the car, Bree had launched into attack mode, accusing me of flirting with the woman. That had been one of the first nights I’d realised how insecure and jealous she was.

“Table for two?” the hostess asked, jolting me out of my head.

I lifted my chin like they did in the movies, hoping it looked classy, and let my hand rest on the small of Elodie’s back. My palm tingled as my skin came into contact with hers, and a slight shiver coursed through Elodie’s frame.

“Are you cold?” The air-conditioning in the restaurant was pretty intense and I wished I’d brought a jacket I could drape around her.

She shook her head. “No, I’m fine.” The thought that her shiver had been from my touch and not from the chilly air blasting around us gave me a burst of pleasure. If she was even half as affected by me as I was by her, we were off to a good start.

“Here you are. Your waiter will be right over,” the hostess said with a smile after we followed her to a table. I pulled Elodie’s chair out for her, and she slid into it, tucking her long skirt in around her.

“Thank you.” She smoothed a white linen napkin over her lap and lifted her eyes to meet mine as I sat down across from her.

“Thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure you would.”

“I nearly didn’t. But you were right when you said spaghetti is better the second night. It needs time for the flavours to really soak in. So it was either come out with you or starve.”

I chuckled. “Can’t have that.”

“What would you have been doing if I’d stuck to my guns and eaten flavourless spaghetti tonight?”

I pondered her question for a moment. “Probably would have come here anyway. I started thinking about their steak at about ten this morning and haven’t stopped thinking about it since.”

A pink blush rose on Elodie’s cheeks.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No, tell me.”

She studied her nails like they were suddenly the most interesting thing on the planet. “You spent all day thinking about food and I spent all day thinking about—”

The restaurant door opening again caught my eye, as a burst of noise from the street followed two new arrivals in. “Shit.”

“What? Shit? I wasn’t thinking about—” Confusion pulled her brows together.

I reached across the table and grabbed her hand as I slunk into my seat. “You will not believe who just walked in the door.”

Elodie twisted in her seat, but I pulled her hand toward me and hissed. “Don’t look!”

She sank into her seat an inch and leaned across the table, her expression as bewildered as if I’d just grown another head. “Are you going to tell me who it is we’re hiding from?”

“Rick and Bree.”

“What!” There was no stopping her spinning around to check out the couple speaking to the hostess. Her head flicked back to me, her eyes wide. “What are they doing here?! Rick told me he was on his honeymoon until next week! God, he is such a liar.”

I shrugged. “Well unless they’re honeymooning right here in Sydney…” I peeked over Elodie’s shoulder and groaned.

“Busted. They’ve seen us.”

Bree’s eyes met mine and instantly narrowed into slits. I wanted to roll my eyes. I knew that look. I was in for it. I leaned in close to Elodie.

“Listen, I’m really sorry, but Bree is about to make a huge scene. Just ride the wave. She’ll tire herself out quicker if we just agree with her.” Elodie’s eyes widened, her pretty mouth opening as if she wanted to say something. But Bree’s high-pitched shriek broke glasses all over Australia, effectively silencing both Elodie and the entire restaurant.

“Jamison!” Bree stamped over, wearing fluro pink high heels that had to be at least six inches tall, and judging from the look of pure, seething anger on her face, she was likely to pull one off and stab it through my eye. Rick trailed behind her, his eyes pinned on Elodie. Unease churned in my gut. Bree was all hot air and noise, but I didn’t know this guy. And I didn’t like the way Elodie shrank at my side. I forced a bright smile as Bree reached our table.

“Mr. and Mrs. Christoperson! How lovely to see you both. Is married life treating you well?” I knew I wasn’t helping the situation by being a smart-ass but this was Bree through and through. Always finding a way to make every situation all about her.

“Don’t give me that rubbish, you asshole. You ruined my wedding!”

I sobered up a bit, knowing antagonizing her further would only escalate the situation. And we probably did owe them an apology. “Look, Bree. I honestly am sorry. Elodie and I were just having a good time. We didn’t mean to ruin anything.”

“You didn’t mean to ruin anything? Bullshit! You stole a microphone, sang some godawful karaoke, and made out with Rick’s ex on a stage in front of three hundred people! Don’t pretend you didn’t know exactly what you were doing! You and this…” She trailed off as she looked over at Elodie, her venomous gaze sweeping over her from head to toe. Bree’s lip curled and before I could move, she flung out one of her perfectly manicured hands and shoved Elodie hard in the shoulder. “This bitch!”

Elodie yelped as her chair rocked back, and I leapt up to put myself between the two women. Every eye in the room was on us, but I ignored them as I faced off with Bree. When I spoke, even I was surprised when my words came out as a low growl. “You don’t touch her. Ever.”

Bree laughed, the sound dark and cruel. “Or what?”

I glared down at her red face, recalling every jealous and destructive word she’d ever uttered when we’d been together. That night at the restaurant, when her jealousy had simmered its way to the surface, had only been the very beginning of our downhill slide. Maybe it was because there was never a true connection between us, and Bree knew it. Neither of us had ever said the L word, and her possessiveness and jealousy had only increased the longer we’d been together without either of us making a real commitment. She couldn’t bear me speaking to other women, needing my complete and absolute attention and devotion at all times. I realised in that second that I’d inadvertently put Elodie in Bree’s firing line, though I had a sneaking suspicion that, as Rick’s ex, she’d been in it long before I’d come along. But I’d definitely made things worse. Bree might not have given a fuck about me anymore, but we’d stolen her thunder. And Bree wasn’t one to just sit back and take that lightly. She’d bring heaven and earth down if she felt threatened. I couldn’t let that happen.

She peered around me at Elodie even though her words were directed at me. “I’ve got her man. Her money. And it won’t be long before that little boy is calling me Mummy.” I heard Elodie gasp behind me.

“How do you like that, Princess?” Bree laughed nastily.

“Bree,” Rick said weakly as he put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off.

My blood boiled. “You’re a piece of work, you know that? Go home.”

Bree flicked her bottle-blond hair over her shoulder. “I couldn’t stand to eat in the same restaurant as the two of you anyway.” She turned on her heel and flounced toward the door. Rick’s gaze lingered on Elodie for a long moment after Bree left, and I couldn’t hold my tongue.

“Seriously, mate. That was fucked up. You have no problem with her speaking to the mother of your child like that?” I shook my head, unable to hide my disgust.

“Rick!” Bree screeched from the doorway, which seemed to startle Rick out of his thoughts and sent him chasing after her. I watched as they disappeared through the doors into the darkness of the night beyond, before I knelt down at Elodie’s side.

“Shit, El. Are you okay?” I searched her face.

“I…I don’t even know what just happened.”

I grimaced as I took her hand.

“Nobody has ever shoved me like that before,” she said slowly, rotating her shoulder. She looked up at me in confusion. “Did I deserve that? We did make a scene at their wedding.”

I grasped the side of her face and waited until her gaze met mine. “You didn’t deserve it. She’s insane. We sang a bit of karaoke and we had a kiss. That’s what people do at weddings.”

Elodie shook her head and doubled over, leaning her elbows on her thighs. “What she said about Rick…and Nathan…” she clutched her stomach, and when she looked up at me, tears glistened in her eyes. “I have to leave my baby with that woman in a week’s time.”

My stomach rolled at the thought of any child being left in Bree’s care. But I wasn’t about to say that to Elodie. Instead I helped her to her feet. “She’s too self-centred for kids. I doubt Nathan will even see her when he visits his dad. I promise, she only said that to hurt you.”

We walked slowly to the front door, the eyes of the other people in the restaurant still boring holes in my back.

“Yeah, well, it worked.”

Elodie

I climbed gratefully into the passenger seat of Jamison’s car and slammed the door. My heart still beat irregularly, but the interior of his car offered some sort of safety, at least from the stares and comments that had followed us out of the restaurant. Had that really just happened?

Regret swirled through me. I’d been angry at Rick for guilt-tripping me into going to the wedding. And Bree seemed to have some sort of lingering fascination with Jamison, even though I didn’t feel it was reciprocated on his side. Jamison might have been right about us just doing what people did at weddings, but if I looked deep within me, hooking up with Jamison last night had at least partially been a fuck you to Rick and Bree.

Bree’s words, I’ve got her man. Her money. And it won’t be long before that little boy is calling me Mummy echoed through my head. I didn’t give a shit about the money. I didn’t make huge money at my job, but enough for Nathan and me to be comfortable. But she’d spoken about Rick like she owned him and that terrified me. He hadn’t said a word. Would she be calling all the shots when it came to Nathan and Rick spending time together? And what about Rick and me? We had to have some sort of relationship in order to co-parent, but it didn’t sound like Bree was planning to make that easy for me. If Rick allowed himself to be wrapped around her little finger, that was one thing. But Nathan…

Nathan had been my surprise baby. As had the extreme morning sickness I’d suffered when I was pregnant with him. For nine long months, I’d been in and out of the hospital, completely unable to work or study.

The hyperemesis gravidarum was why we’d never had any more kids.

Making that decision had been one of the hardest of my life, but I couldn’t do another pregnancy like his. So I’d thrown myself into the role of wife and mother of a baby, then toddler, knowing I wouldn’t get another chance. I wouldn’t give him up to anyone without a fight.

Bile rose in my throat. I could only pray that Jamison’s assessment of her threats had been accurate. I wanted Rick to have a relationship with his son, but God. Was she serious? Would she really try to take my son from me over one kiss with her ex?

Well, one kiss and some pretty decent sex. But she didn’t know about that.

“Elodie?” I startled as Jamison’s quiet voice brought me back to the present. “You’re really quiet. Say something. Please.”

“I just… How did you ever date her?” I leant my head back on the headrest and looked up at the ceiling of the car. God, I was tired. So, so tired.

“She isn’t all bad.”

I raised an eyebrow in his direction. “Could have fooled me.”

He sighed and started up the car, manoeuvring it out of the car park and onto the road before he answered.

“I’d been ready to call it off after one particularly big argument, but then she’d told me about her sister.”

I shifted on my seat so I could face him, headlights from other cars flashing by us as he drove. “She has a sister? I thought you said she didn’t have any family?”

“No family that she speaks to. But she has got a sister. Story is that she ran off and married Bree’s high-school sweetheart, so they don’t speak.”

“Wow. That’s cold.” Sympathy rolled through me, despite the way Bree had attacked me earlier and the way she’d run off with my husband. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t have any siblings, but I couldn’t imagine not having any family. My mum had always been my rock, and I knew she’d be there, loving me, no matter what. How horrible it must feel to have no one watching your back.

“That was the only time she ever talked about her family. She’d been the ugly duckling as a kid, always lost in her sister’s shadow. And then she’d thought the boyfriend was the real deal, but they’d run off together and left her with nothing. I felt bad for her.”

“So, you stayed because you felt sorry for her?”

“No,” he said quickly, surprising me with the depth of feeling behind the words. “I wouldn’t just pity date someone. But I kind of understood her a little better after that, you know? She lost more than just her sister. She lost all of the self-confidence she’d managed to scrape up over the years. And she lost trust in men. Probably in women too, I guess. It’d be enough to make even the most confident person feel inferior.”

He braked at a set of lights and reached out to take my hand. He squeezed it gently. “I thought there was a good person behind all her walls and self-destructive behaviour, and I wanted to find it. That’s why I stayed.”

Then he shrugged and gave me a wry grin. “But instead I’d found her in bed with Rick, and there was no coming back from that.”

I laced our fingers together and when the light turned green, he drove with one hand instead of untangling himself. “I still don’t get her fascination with you, though. She’s moved on, married someone else, but she’s still acting like a jealous girlfriend.”

He chuckled. “It’s not about me. It’s you. You’re the perfect wife and mother, El. She’s trying to fill some pretty big shoes. She’s young and insecure, and she hides it with aggression.”

I gazed out the window at the dark night beyond without a single clue how to deal with that statement. I blew out a long breath. “I think I preferred when she was just the jealous ex.” My brain hurt from trying to keep everything straight. I needed time to process everything. And sleep. Maybe everything would seem less dramatic in the morning. “Maybe we should just call it a night.”

“You got it.” Without hesitation, he flicked on a blinker and manoeuvred the car onto the main road that led to my house.

“But I’m hungry,” I said, looking longingly at a KFC that flashed by all too quickly. It was late, and neither of us had eaten. I wanted to cry when I thought of the expensive steak that I could have been digesting right now if we hadn’t had the unfortunate pleasure of running into our exes.

He chuckled. “Me too.” There was silence between us for a moment before he said, “You know what? I can fix this.”

Ten minutes later he pulled the car up in my driveway and turned off the ignition. We both got out and met in front of the car. Jamison handed me a brown paper bag that already had grease soaking the side. “It wasn’t the fancy dinner I’d planned, but here. McDonald’s chicken nuggets and chips aren’t the worst alternative, right?”

I took them from him with a smile. “I told you in the drive-through, I love chicken nuggets. Sweet and sour sauce rules.”

He screwed up his face. “Barbecue is better.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree then.” Silence fell over us and I looked down at my feet, not sure what to say. The date had been a disaster, and mummy guilt tugged at my heart. After Bree’s horrible words, I needed to go see my little boy. But I didn’t want to leave Jamison either. None of this had been his fault. He took my hand and led me to the front door. We stopped on the top step, and I squeezed his fingers. “I’d invite you in, but my mum is in there and she makes things awkward.”

Jamison shook his head. “I wasn’t going to ask. I just wanted to walk you to your door.”

God, he was sweet. This wasn’t how I wanted the date to end, but I knew it had to.

“Can I see you again? Try to make up for the disaster that was tonight? I promise to take you somewhere that none of my crazy exes will be.”

Hope rose in my chest like fireworks. “I’d love that.”

“Work is having a family fun day next weekend. Do you want to come? There’ll be jumping castles and face painting and stuff?”

My heart thumped. “You want me to bring Nathan?”

He laced his fingers between mine and tugged me an inch closer. “Of course. They tend to frown on adults hogging the jumping castles.” His grin faltered. “Unless you don’t want me hanging out with him yet? I totally understand if—”

“No!” The words exploded from my lips before I could even think about them, but when I stopped to think about it, I found I didn’t want to take them back. “I mean, no. I think it’s really nice you want to bring him along. He loves that sort of thing.”

Jamison’s shoulders relaxed. “Good. I normally work at these functions, but Low, one of the guys on the bar staff, has had a lot of time off lately. I covered for him and he’s still trying to make it up to me.”

“So, I guess I’ll see you next weekend then?” Disappointment flooded me when I realised it would be that long before we saw each other again.

Jamison frowned. “That’s a really long time to wait to kiss you again.”

“So kiss me now.” The words sounded foreign on my lips, more bold and straightforward than I normally was, but I didn’t want to wait a whole week to be in his arms again either.

He raised an eyebrow. “You do realise your mum is peeking out the window, right?”

I glanced over his shoulder just as one of the horizontal blinds fell back into place. I rolled my eyes and tilted my chin to look up at him. “I don’t care if you don’t.”

He stepped closer, cupping my cheek with his hand and dipping his head so it hovered just above mine. “Cover your eyes, Barbara, you don’t want to see this!” he called to my mother and dropped his lips to mine.