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Caot it,caused all of this A gigantic spectacle over nothing I laughed and wavedto dispel his panic, h to stop this train wreck "That’s not about me," I scoffed "It’s about Nicole"

"Nicole?" Vic’s voice finally held a hint of doubt He cocked his head at nition of the name

"YES Nicole Brantley, my boss? The star of the film you just financed?" I stoppedin a rabbed Carter’s hand, trying to o honant That text wasn’t aboutyou, we are over" I spoke clearly, enunciating every word, hoping that Carter’s parents were following all of this

"It was You are--" He frowned, his dense skull still not getting it "I saw the text es…" he protested

"About my boss," I repeated, and I think he saw the truth in nant It was about her"

"Not you?" He sounded almost disappointed

"No" I stepped away froentler

I turned to Carter and noticed the crowd Still watching, still listening, their faces rapt, their phones out, probably Periscoping the whole thing My eyes dragged over them and I tried to remember what I had just said, how loud I had said it, and my stomach dropped

Suddenly, I felt queasy But it didn’t have anything to do with being pregnant and everything to do with the fact that I nancy, and her affair, to the world

81 The Worst Kind of Goodbye

I ignored the crowd and stepped close to Carter, wrapping y into his ear and pulled him down for a kiss

He resisted, his mouth stiff when it connected with mine, his hands wooden on my hips, and I had a moment of desperation before he softened When his hed against his kiss

There was a loud clear of a very old throat, and Carter pulled his head up, our kiss breaking We turned and saw his parents, twin visions of disapproval, both staring at me as if I were the devil

"I’ after all," his mother said stiffly "All of this has left a rather bad taste in ht shohich was still running, a hundred-foot i now front and center It would have been funny if I’d been an innocent bystander Noith the i … it was terrible

"Goodnight, Mother" Carter didn’t apologize, and I knew I should step forward and say so that would put all of this behind us

I drew a co the woman, and she stepped back I revised the approach and held outhis palm back as if I was diseased "I’nant"

Wow If there was a list of things you didn’t want to say to your boyfriend’s parents during an initial nant Super classy stuff I tried again "It was nice to see you both again Maybe we could have lunch next week"