Spotting her cousins gathered on the edge of the room, she veered towards them, knowing he would follow. Yeah, some of them were just as snobbish and obnoxious as their parents, but not all of them. Joining them, she introduced Jake around and finally started to relax again, especially when Melinda and Mark joined them.

It didn’t surprise her that Jake managed to hit it off with all of her cousins, charming them effortlessly. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he really was hot, muscular, and looked damn good in a suit. Rina, Melinda’s older sister, who could give Aunt Lorraine a run for her money when it came to being the biggest snob in the family, practically fawned on him. Jake was polite to her, which only seemed to encourage her - and considering how chilly he and Sharon were being to each other at the moment, she didn’t take it very well.

Which was why she pulled Rina to the side to inform her that he was currently working in construction and remodeling.

“And you brought him as your date?” Rina asked, her voice dripping disapproval.

“Well if you had brought the man you were actually fucking, you’d be here with your gardener and not your husband,” Sharon pointed out icily. Rina’s jaw dropped open, her face going bright red and then paling to almost pure white, quite the feat since she had the same olive complexion that Sharon did. “Yeah, I heard about that. Now fuck off.”

“You’re so... so.... crass,” Rina hissed at her. “Why can’t you just be normal?”

She stalked off before Sharon could respond, which was probably for the best. Whatever. If cheating on her husband with every handsome male member of her staff was normal, Sharon would much rather be crass. Turning back to the conversation, she saw the severe disapproval on Jake’s face again before he turned away.

There was no way to know how much he’d overheard of what she and Rina were saying to each other, but whatever he’d caught, he was being a Judgy Mcjudgerson about it.

Sharon glared at the back of his head as she finished off her cocktail. Dammit. She should have brought Brian instead of him. Yeah, there would have been no chance for hot sex and stress relief over the weekend, but at least there wouldn’t have been this sinking unhappiness burrowing a pit in the center of her stomach either.

Pressing her lips together as she blinked back several tears, a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Oh geez, it looked like she and Jake weren’t the only couple having trouble. Courtney, the youngest of Lorraine’s daughters, was having a very quiet but very obvious fight with her boyfriend. What was his name again? Joseph or something like that?