Almost Broken (11 page)

The more I try to talk myself into this, the more I’m being pushed deeper into a black hole. I smile down at Caylen and kiss her on the cheek before opening the door. I can hear them in the dining room. She’s talking about school. She says something about her law professor, and I swallow the lump in my throat and practice my fake smile that seems to morph into a feeble grin as I enter the room.

Chris looks relieved, like someone just lifted the weight of the world from his shoulders. Maybe he thought I wasn’t really coming out. Mrs. Scott gives me a reassuring smile, and then I see Jenna. There’s no smile on her face, but her eyes narrow in on mine and she sits up straighter in her chair. Her gaze is on me. She hasn’t even attempted to look at Caylen. She’s studying me, and she’s not even trying to hide it. The practiced smile I was wearing, has fallen completely. I’m really straining for it to not fall into a full-blown frown.

We’re complete opposites, she has platinum blonde hair falling neatly to her shoulders and piercing blue eyes. Her eye lashes are long and her eyebrows are the same color as her hair so she’s definitely a real blonde. She has on a taupe cashmere sweater with an elaborate a gold pin. When my eyes land on her hand there it is, the engagement ring. I don’t know if she notices where my eyes land, but I swear her lips curve into a smile and the chill that was on her disappears as she stands up.

“Can I hold her?” she says sweetness dripping from her voice. My eyes dart to Chris who seems a little surprised. My immediate response is “hell no” but thank God my filter is working. Unfortunately, I’m frozen. My mouth won’t open, and my limbs won’t move.

“Is that okay, Lauren?” Chris asks, clearing his throat. I finally manage to walk over to Chris and hand Caylen to him. He sits her on his lap, she immediately starts reaching for the cookies in the middle of the table. Chris looks at Caylen adoringly.

“She’s definitely yours,” Jenna says with a chuckle and I let out a very dry laugh.
Is that supposed to be a joke?

“Hi, there. I’m Jenna” she says, leaning forward as she watches Caylen eat her cookie. I want to throw up.

“She’s beautiful, Chris,” she says, touching one of her pigtails, and I wonder how long I should stand here before she acknowledges I’m in the room.

“Lauren, you always dress her so adorably,” Mrs. Scott says, and I try to force a smile but none comes. “Don’t you think, Jenna?” she says, obviously attempting to give Jenna a hint.

“It’s very pretty,” she says flatly, keeping her eyes on Chris and Caylen, and I feel my cheeks start to burn. She’s doing this on purpose, not acknowledging me. The same way Mr. Scott did. Caylen’s a packaged deal with Chris that I’m not included in.

“You know Katie was saying our wedding colors should be yellow and white, but I thought it was too simple. I’m thinking of something more chic like taupe.” She glances up at me. Chris’s face flushes, and I feel my throat starting to burn.

“I think yellow is a beautiful color,” Mrs. Scott says, I try to ignore the mounting pressure in my head.

“We took Caylen to the zoo last time they were here. She loves animals just like I do,” Chris interrupts, trying to ease the tension in the room.

“Would a one year-old even know what’s going on at the zoo?” she asks in a playful tone, but it comes off condescending to me. Is she really trying to offend me?

“I think we all had a nice time,” I say. I don’t realize the edge in my voice until their heads jerk in my direction. Chris looks nervous, Mrs. Scott smiles at me warmly, while Jenna gives me a mirthless grin.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” she says innocently, but her tone is far from apologetic.

“Jenna’s not really a kid person.” Chris chuckles nervously, and she gives him an offended look.

“What does that mean?” she asks sharply.

“I just meant you’re not really around kids much.” He throws up his hands in defense.

“Just because I don’t want to have a thousand of them doesn’t mean kids don’t like me,” she says, rolling her eyes at him, and at that moment it’s solidified; I don’t like Jenna. Her attitude makes me feel a whole better about the fact that I want my husband; her fiancé.

“I’m sure Caylen and I will get along just fine,” she says, reaching for Caylen, who goes to her pretty easily I hate to say.

“See,” she retorts to Chris, and her eyes dart to mine as if she knew about the secret bet I placed on Caylen not going to her.

“So, Lauren, you’re from Chicago?” she asks, finally acknowledging my presence in the room.

“Yeah.” I decide not to correct that I’m really from Michigan.

“She grew up in Saginaw,” Chris adds, and she doesn’t look pleased that he added the information.

“It’s such a small world, isn’t it?” Mrs. Scott adds.

“It must have been inconvenient to drop everything and come here, I imagine, and you’re staying for three weeks?” she asks as Caylen starts to wiggle in her arms. She’s going for the cookies.

“No, not really. I’m a free-lance editor so I can work from pretty much anywhere?” I answer as I see Caylen successfully grabbing a cookie.

“She’s an artist too,” Chris adds, and the glare she gives him makes him look down.

“I’m sure she can speak for herself, Christopher,” she says tightly. I make my way to the table and take a seat since it seems like I’m being interviewed. She’s the one who’s going to be around my daughter.

“What type of work do you do?” she asks as Caylen starts to suck on her cookie.

“I haven’t done any in a while,” I say shortly. “What is that you do?” I ask and see Chris starting to run his hands nervously through his hair.

“I’m in law school. My last semester,” she says proudly. That explains it.

“Congratulations,” I say, trying my best to seem friendly.

“Jenna comes from a family of lawyers,” Chris interrupts, and I smile pretending to be interested and wonder how long it’s going to take before Caylen’s cookie crumbs and chocolate are going to be all over that beautiful sweater Jenna’s wearing. The evil part of me wants to see how she reacts, but seeing how nervous Chris is, I decide to give him a break.

“You want me to take her?” I offer.

“She’s fine,” Jenna says adamantly.

Okay.

“One of my mother’s firms is based in Chicago. Klaron and Franklin?” she asks as if I’ve heard of it.

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever need one,” I reply, and she opens her mouth to say something else, but Chris takes her hand and squeezes it. And I feel like my heart sink.
Don’t look affected. Don’t look affected. It
helps that Jenna seems more irritated by the gesture than pleased about it. Then she glances down at her cashmere sweater that now has a big chocolate stain accompanied by drool and she looks absolutely disgusted.

“Oh, Caylen. Look what you did,” I say in a faux-scolding tone.

“Oh, I have a towel.” Mrs. Scott comes over with a wet cloth.

“It’s just chocolate,” Chris says, and she cuts her eyes at him. I reach for Caylen, and this time she doesn’t hesitate to hand her to me.

“Here, let me help,” Mrs. Scott says.

“No, no. It’ll just smudge. It’s dry clean only,” she snaps. “She probably shouldn’t have been eating that anyway. Isn’t that be bad for her teeth?” she asks with derision.

“I think Lauren made an exception since I made them.” Mrs. Scott smiles at me.

“Her first batch of Grandma’s homemade cookies is a special occasion,” I say simply and return Mrs. Scott’s smile. Is she really giving me nutritional advice about my daughter?

“I’ll give you one of my shirts to wear for dinner,” Chris says.

“Actually, I’m not staying,” she replies, and I thank God. Chris looks surprised; I, on the other hand. am thrilled.

“We had my dad’s fundraising dinner,” she says quietly.

“Oh, I forgot about that,” Chris says guiltily. She sighs. “Of course you did.”

“Lauren, do you mind if we talk outside for a bit?” she asks and both Chris and Mrs. Scott look as shocked as I feel.

“Sure,” I say.

“I’ll take her,” Mrs. Scott offers, and I hand Caylen over to her. Chris eyes Jenna, and she smirks.

“We won’t be long,” she says before giving him a quick peck on the lips. She turns towards me.

“Ready?” she asks, and I restrain the disgusted sigh that is begging to be released. I don’t know Jenna, but from what I gather about her from the brief time I’ve been around her, is that she likes to be in control. I think about Chris and wonder if he’s easy to control. He and Cal are almost exact opposites. Since Cal was completely uncontrollable Chris must be completely controllable and what she does to Chris would never fucking fly with Cal.

“I’m just going to get to the point,” she says, looking me directly in the eye. I can tell already this is going to be a fun conversation.

“Chris is a simple man. That’s one of the things I love about him. He wants to do what’s best for everyone. If he’s doing that, he’s happy and that makes me happy,” she says wryly. Then she walks closer to me.

”Things can be easy between us or they can be hard. Chris wants things to be easy, so I’d like things to be easy too,” she says, and I can hear the authority in her voice, which is laughable because Chris is a grown man, and she definitely doesn’t have any authority over me.

“Well, whether they’re easy for you or not isn’t my concern, Jenna. I’m here for Caylen. That’s my main priority,” I say bluntly, and her eyes widen. I don’t think she’s used to someone being as blunt with her as she is with everyone else.

“It’s funny that you say that because I have a sneaking suspicion that isn’t the
only
reason you’re here,” she says, sliding down from her perch on the railing.

“I think you want my fiancé,” she says bluntly, and I let out a laugh. The grown up thing is to tell Jenna that this conversations over, but I’m not feeling very mature today.

“You mean
my
husband,” I reply back and the grin disappears.

“Look. I don’t know what your relationship with ‘Cal’ was like. I don’t really care. I’m going to be Chris’s wife very soon, and I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t try to use your daughter as a pawn,” she says. My cheeks warm and I bite my lip. She has to be baiting me, wanting me to flip out and be the crazy woman like last time. Then she can show Chris that I’m an overemotional lunatic. I’m not going to do that, though.

“I’m not going anywhere, Lauren. Chris is too nice to say this to you, but we were in love before we knew you existed. It’s not fair, but I’m here to stay. The sooner you come to terms with that, the better it will be for everyone.
Including
Caylen.”

“Well, until you are his wife, I think the parenting conversations will stay between Chris and me. Thank you, though,” I say, wearing my practiced smile like a champ. At that moment, Mr. Scott walks up. He looks between us, the tension obviously thick.

“Ladies,” he says, giving me a nod. I can’t help but notice that Jenna gets an actual smile.

“Mr. Scott, will you send Chris out? Lauren, I think we’re done.” She says the last part dismissively.

“I’ll do that,” he says. I follow Mr. Scott into the house, glancing behind me at her before closing the door.

“Is everything okay?” He sort of grunts, glancing up at me momentarily as he looks at his mail.

“Peachy,” I say tightly.

He smirks at me before heading off to pass on Jenna’s message and leaves me standing in the living room. He’s such a prick. I quickly head into the bathroom, avoiding Mrs. Scott and Chris, who I hear in the kitchen still talking. I try to stop myself from pacing the small space but I’m trying to bring my anger down ten notches. I cannot believe that Chris could care about somebody like that. She’s such an arrogant bitch! Then she had the audacity to speak to me like that after not having said a word to me when I walked in the room. And then she gloats about being
Chris’s fiancée
before we’re even divorced. To think that I’d have to deal with a woman like that for the rest of my life makes me want to scream. Even if Chris doesn’t want to be with me, he can find someone with a better attitude than her. I sit on the edge of the tub and adjust my ponytail. I chuckle at myself. Who the hell am I to tell Chris he can’t have feelings for a bitch? Cal could be a complete asshole most of the time.

I guess Chris and I have more in common than I thought.

When I walk out on the porch to meet Jenna, she immediately pulls me towards her and kisses me on the lips. It’s strange because she’s understandably been standoffish since Lauren arrived on my doorstep. I didn’t get a chance to see Lauren on my way out. I’m guessing the conversation went well for Jenna to be in such a good mood.

“So what was that about?” I ask, holding her waist as she smiles up at me.

“The kiss?” she purrs.

“Your
private
talk with Lauren.” I chuckle.

“I just thought we needed to clear up some things. Have a better understanding of one another,” she says sweetly, and I can feel my eyebrow arch. I know Jenna and even from the way she acted towards Lauren in the kitchen, I can only imagine what happened outside, especially with her being in such a good mood.

“What’d you say?” I ask her hesitantly.

“Nothing much. Just making sure she’s aware of the context of our relationship and where she fits.” She shrugs innocently. Oh no.

“Jenna,” I say, letting her go and she frowns.

“What did you say?” I ask her again, and she rolls her eyes.

“What’s more important is what
she
said,” she retorts, and I cover my face and sigh.

“I just want you guys to get along,” I say in frustration because I know whatever was said hasn’t made them any closer.

“Look, we’re both adults. We’re never going to be friends what’s important is she knows her place,” she says.

“Let me guess. You put her in her place?” I groan.

“I had to. You don’t like to do the hard stuff, Chris, which is fine. We balance each other out. That’s what makes us work,” she says innocently.

“Jenna, I told you I’d handle this!” I say angrily.