Page 59 of Tied to You

I don’t reply, simply grabbing a champagne flute off the silver tray he’s holding and throwing it back. Okay, sothisis the last thing I can drink tonight. Feeling the immediate buzz in my veins, I smile. It’s warming. A comfort, even. Too bad I can’t have anymore.

Dinner is dinner. Lots of small talk and pointless conversation. I’ve got third degree embarrassment listening to all the single girl problems thesewomen seem to have. Nothing has changed, but it’s so bleedingly obvious that the women sat at my table are in fact, hoes. And not just any old hoes, no. Rich ones. The worst kind. Proving my point, Felicity rambles on over dessert about how she gave some guy called Joey a blow job, all so that she could get into a party he was having then never heard from him again.

“Maybe she gives shit blowjobs?” the old man next to me whispers under his breath, making me choke on my drink.

A few eyes turn my way as I place my glass down and grab my napkin, dabbing it to my mouth. I smile my apology. “Sorry.” Then I look at him with humour in my eyes. “Poor Joey.”

He laughs, and Felicity gives me the evil’s before quickly returning to telling everyone about her next problem.

Luckily, the gentleman who has saved me this afternoon is old enough to be my grandad. I’m grateful he and his wife are seated next to me. He happily talks to me the entire time we’re sat down, his wife to his left listening intently to everything he says. She smiles with pleasure at him as he recalls old stories of times gone by. It’s endearing. And actually, I find myself so engrossed in what he’s got to say, I completely forget Henry and Sarah.

I mean, hearing her God-awful laugh whenever Henry tells one of his jokes is pretty hard to ignore, but he’s happy. So I am, too.

It’s only when Sarah excuses herself, do I feel Henry come and sit in her seat beside me. What is he doing? “You look…” I turn to face him as he speaks. “Well I think you know.”

“You look good too, Hen.” I give him a small smile, but I’m unsure what else I should say.

He smiles, scratching his lip with his thumb as he looks back down at the table. “Have you seen your father yet?”

I lift both hands to my neck. “Can’t you tell?”

He laughs. “Happy birthday to you.”

“Yeah. His attempt to have me running back to him.”

“Did it work?” His words linger, and when I look at him, his eyes reflect nothing but hope.

I tuck the strand of my hair behind my ear, my body sagging. “Hen. You told me to text you if I was coming back. I haven’t done that.”

He smiles to himself. “That’s right.”

The server on the table next to us accidently drops a bottle of champagne, causing it to smash and the guests to gasp.

Both our heads swing to see before I look back at Henry. “Anyway, you have Sarah now.”

He looks to the direction she left in. “Yeah, she’s great.” His lips part as if he hasn’t finished, but he stops himself.

I deflate, knowing what he wants to say, as another one of the servers turns on the many, giant heat lamps dotted around where everyone is seated. I’m grateful. The cold is just starting to nip at my skin.

“Tell me about the farm.”

Hearing my phone vibrate on the table, I take it out of my bag as I answer Henry. “It’s great, thank you. I love the people I work for.”And their nephew.“They’ve become like my family.” I look down reading the screen. Speak of the devil.

Biker boy: What did you wear to the party?

I frown. What? With Henry talking to me, I quickly type out my reply.

Me: A green dress

Why does he care?

“Makes sense. You’re together all the time.”

“What?” I place my phone back on the table.

“It makes sense,” he repeats. “You’re with them all the time.”

I smile with a light shake of my head before taking a sip of my drink. “Sorry. Yes, that’s true.”