I left not long after our shower together to get ready for the party that evening. To my great relief, my parents were both out when I got home, so I didn’t have to explain why I was sneaking in at that time of the morning. Last thing I needed was to have to put into words what had happened last night, when even I didn’t have the language to explain it.

I had told Jesse when and where to meet me, and I was already looking forward to my entrance into the country club with the hottest guy in town on my arm. Sure, Julie was going to be a little pissed that I’d brought him along, but at least I could call her out if she tried to pull that shit about him coming on to her or his STDs again.

I giggled, as I got ready for the night, thinking about Julie turning up at his doorstep in her leopard print panties, hoping to seduce him. It was probably too much frippery for Jesse. From everything I’d learned about him the last few days, he just wasn’t the kind of guy who would be taken in by the wrapping if the gift beneath wasn’t something that interested him.

As I applied my mascara, I frowned at myself in the mirror. But what did I actually know about Jesse? Now that I thought about it, nothing I’d learned about him had really come from him directly. I knew he’d slept around a lot in this town. He ran the garage he’d purchased from old Bob, and he’d moved here when he was sixteen. But that was it.

I didn’t know where he’d come from back in high school, why he’d moved, why he’d stayed, who his parents were, what had happened to his brother. None of it. Maybe tonight would be a chance for me to get to know him a little better.

Then I caught myself in midstride. What the hell was I doing? This was just meant to be short fling. Nothing more than that. When I walked away from this place after Julie’s wedding, I walked away from Jesse, as well.

This was a just a rebound affair to get Mark’s betrayal out of my system. Jesse was a well-known womanizer. He wasn’t the kind of guy you got involved with, or invested in. It was that simple. You kept him at arm’s length and enjoyed your fun while it lasted.

My parents stopped by to pick me up and take me down to the party, and they didn’t ask about what had happened the night before. I could see my mother was dying to say something, but either my dad must have told her not to bring it up or maybe she was smart enough to know that the last thing she wanted was the details of what had gone down last night with Jesse.

“Are you looking forward to this evening?” my father asked mildly as he drove.

I nodded and bit my lip. “Yeah, I am, actually. I have a date for the night.”

“Oh, really?” My mother turned and looked at me. “And who’s the lucky man?”

“Jesse,” I replied, hardly able to keep the grin off my face. “The man who took me out last night. I invited him, since I have a spare plus-one spot now that Mark’s gone.”

“Jesse, Jesse…” my mother repeated the name, clearly trying to place him. “Jesse Kristensen?”

“No.” I shook my head.

“Allan?” she asked hopefully.

“Nope,” I answered cheerfully.

“Biskind?” She was really grasping at straws now. Jesse Biskind was our family friend who lived in New York.

“Hardly,” I replied again, glancing out the window as we pulled to a halt. “Jesse Cooper? You must remember him, he came to my high school when I was a senior…”

She wrinkled her nose, clearly still trying to bring him to mind. At that precise moment, I laid eyes on him waiting outside the country club for me. He looked tall, broad and just amazing. I pointed to him. “Look, there…That’s him.”

“Jesse from the garage?” My mother gasped. “You have to be kidding.”

“Nope,” I shot back, prickling. “And if you’ll excuse me I don’t want to keep him—”

“No, wait.” She caught my wrist. “Mia, you can’t go in there with that man.”

“Why not?” I demanded. “Is there a rule against it?”

“No,” she conceded with a frown, where thanks to her Botox injections, only the sides of her forehead creased and the middle remained smooth and shiny like bone porcelain. “But you…he’s not one of us, Mia. He wouldn’t feel comfortable in there. You don’t want to give him a horrible night, do you?”

I could see him looking over at the car, and I could see the look on his face as he registered the exchange going on between me and my mother. I shook her off. “I have to go, Mom,” I said softly. “I don’t want to keep him waiting any longer.” And with that, I stepped out of the car and beamed as I made my way toward Jesse. He was in a blazer and tie, a little rumpled around the edges but he had made the effort, and boy he looked good enough to eat.

“What was that?” He nodded toward the car as he brushed a kiss on my cheek.

“It’s just my parents freaking out over nothing.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do I need to be worried?”

“Nope,” I replied firmly. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Fair enough.” He looked me up and down, his eyes warm and admiring. “You look amazing, by the way.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I shot back with a grin as I looped my arm through his and we made our way into the party. My mom was just being a snob and this was nothing new. This wasn’t nearly as big a deal, as they were making it out to be. I wouldn’t let it get under my skin, or get in the way of another fun evening with Jesse.

I gave the guy at the door my name and tried not to notice the way that he looked Jesse up and down, his face showing subtle disapproval. I just hoped Jesse hadn’t seen. Just like the Freemason’s handshake, our clique had its own codes. Codes that would go over the heads of those who weren’t in the know. We made our way into the party and the night began in earnest. To my disgust, what I had been so sure was a fluke with my parents happened over and over again.

Every time I introduced Jesse to someone, they would practically lift their noses in the air at his very presence. Some of the women outright avoided him, but I assumed those were old lovers. I tried not to let it bother me, but most of the people at the party treated him with outright disdain.

“And what do you do, young man?” one of the old biddies asked as Jesse.

“I run the garage just outside of town,” he replied, managing a polite smile.

The woman’s face dropped as though he’d told her he punched puppies for a living. “Oh…” She frowned, as her eyes slid over to me. “And you’re Sandra’s daughter?”

“Yes.” I nodded, offering her a wide smile in the hopes she would stop acting like such a heinous old bitch.

“She mentioned you had a fiancé, but this isn’t…” She trailed off and stopped herself before she just straight-up announced that Jesse was about as far removed from the man Mom would have described to these fucking people as was imaginable.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured to Jesse as soon as she walked away. “They’re not all like this, I promise.” It was a lie, but what else could I do?

“Yeah, sure,” he replied grimly.

I could tell he was regretting coming.

I was starting to regret bringing him too. I didn’t want him to have to spend the whole evening deflecting this bullshit from the people who were supposed to be my friends. These people were meant to be classy, and didn’t classy mean having some fucking manners to speak? Even Julie had avoided me like I was toxic, but she’d been shooting me the foulest looks the whole night through. She was probably just pissed that I had ignored her advice and dated Jesse anyway.

After yet another encounter with a friend of my dad’s who stalked off when Jesse said that he had never heard of the car dealer he had purchased his classic car from, Jesse unhooked himself from me and jerked his head outside. “I’m going out for a minute.”

“You’re coming back, right?” I asked nervously.

He paused for a moment before responding. “Sure, Princess.”