The silence stretched on, and I fidgeted nervously with the necklace Court had loaned me. Finally, thankfully, Jessie breezed into the room like a burst of fresh air. She completely transformed the energy in the space as she greeted each of her family members with a warm hug. She didn’t acknowledge me at all, but I tried not to let the rebuff sting too much.

“Is Miss Kit Kat with her dad today?” Sam asked Jessie about his precocious niece, Katie.

Jessie nodded. “And his new girlfriend.” She rolled her eyes to indicate what she thought of that. “I guess they are one, big happy family now.” I felt bad for Jessie and wanted to reach out to her, even though I knew that she wouldn’t welcome my concern. It had to be hard to watch your child and ex forging a relationship with someone new.

“You.” Jessie bored her beautiful eyes right into me. I took an involuntary step back. “Let’s go someplace where we can talk. Alone.” She emphasized the last word, letting her brothers know in no uncertain terms that they were not welcome to join us.

“Okay,” I said a little uncertainly. I was pretty sure that Jessie was going to ream me for the mess I had created with her brothers. Anything was better than staying in this room with their parents, though. So, when she whirled around on her kitten heel and coasted out of the room, I was right behind her.

26

When we were alone, Jessie turned on me. “Well, you’ve royally screwed this one up, haven’t you?”

I gulped and nodded. She was right. Blunt, but right. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I just stayed quiet. Jessie obviously had something she wanted to say to me, so I decided to let her have at it, uninterrupted.

“I can’t believe you slept with both of my brothers.” She made a disgusted face before continuing. “That’s disgusting and seems like something one of the airhead tramps that Sam normally brings around would do, not you.” I flinched at her brutal honesty, but I completely agreed with her, so I just nodded again. I was filled with shame over my indiscretions with her siblings.

“I really liked you.” Jessie said sadly. “I thought we were friends.” It didn’t go unnoticed that she used the past tense. I remained quiet. Finally, Jessie asked quietly, “How could you do this?”