Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 113584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 568(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 568(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
“What?” everyone says in unison.
“Nick’s over there.”
“Oh fuck,” Abbie parrots, searching around for him. “Oh, fuck, fuck fuck.”
“Just say hi, smile, and let him be on his way,” Lloyd says.
“He doesn’t know about Jude,” Charley hisses.
“Oh shit.” Lloyd once again shrinks in his chair, but now for an entirely different reason.
“He knew I was seeing someone. Then my dad kindly told him I wasn’t.”
“And he’s not been updated on your relationship status?” Lloyd looks past me, worried.
“No. And I seriously don’t want to deliver that blow right now in front of everyone.” I know I’ve got to tell him eventually, but not now. It would be cruel.
“And Jude’s mega passive-aggressive possessive,” Abbie says, adding to my stress. It will not go well if Jude and Nick meet.
“Anyone would think he’s got a bloody tracker on me,” I mutter, ducking.
“Oh fuck,” Lloyd breathes, the words stretched out and guilty, prompting Charley to look his way.
“What did you do?” she asks.
“I didn’t know he didn’t know!” Lloyd exclaims.
I recoil. “Wait, you told him about Jude?”
“No, I told him Charley and I were meeting you here for dinner tonight.”
“What?” I blurt, my eyes split between Nick and Lloyd, who’s getting smaller and smaller on his chair. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Yeah, why the hell would you do that, Lloyd?”
“I was on the spot.” He’s suddenly scowling. “I ran into him outside the Tube station, and it was strained. I’ve got nothing to say to the guy, but he just hung around like a bad fucking smell, asked how you were, and because I had fuck all to say to him, I told him we were seeing you tonight.”
“You prat.” Charley smacks his bicep.
“Idiot.” Abbie throws an olive at Lloyd’s forehead, and it hits accurately, bouncing off.
“You told him even though you knew you were meeting me and Jude?” I ask in disbelief.
“Like I said, I was talking for the sake of it.”
“He’s seen you,” Charley says. “He’s coming over.”
I send a mental prayer to the gods to keep Jude in the men’s for a while longer, hope and pray it takes him time to cool his temper before he walks out and finds something else to explode over. “If Jude comes out before I can get rid of Nick, you can deal with the hurricane.” I quickly pull Jude’s untouched dinner my way and push my empty plate back.
“I can’t believe he’s shown up like this,” Lloyd mutters. “Just tell him you’re seeing someone.”
“Yes, just shatter his heart.” Charley rolls her eyes at Lloyd.
“Hi,” Nick says.
I take a forkful of rice off Jude’s plate and eat it as I look up at him. “Nick, what a surprise.”
Lloyd chokes on nothing, coughs, then loses himself in his beer as everyone scowls at him.
Nick laughs, uneasy. Guilty. “How are you, Amelia?”
“I’m fine.” My eyes constantly dart to the men’s, praying.
“The kids are getting big,” he says, and Lloyd and Charley murmur their agreement.
“Good to see you, Nick.” Lloyd smiles. It’s more of a grimace, actually, and I notice his gaze keeps moving to the men’s too. “Again.”
Nick ignores the sarcasm, his eyes flicking to my friends. “Charley, Abbie.”
“Nick,” they murmur together over their mouthfuls.
Jesus, I thought the atmosphere was horrific before. Add an ex-boyfriend to the mix, and you get a whole new level of uncomfortable.
Please go!
“Amelia, can you give me a couple of minutes?”
Oh God. I slow my chewing, hating this, wishing he would just stop loving me. “Not now, Nick.”
“Then when?”
Everyone visibly withers at the table, and I die a hundred times over, caught between that wretched guilt and absolute dread that Jude is going to leave the bathroom any moment and find Nick at the table trying to win me back. “I’ll call you,” I say, desperate. Anything to get him away.
“You will?”
“Yeah, I’ll call you.” I drop my fork, unable to eat another thing, and stand. “Excuse me, I need the ladies’.” I give Lloyd a look, one he can’t possibly mistake. Get him out of here.
He reads it well and springs to life. “Come on, Nick, I’ll walk you out.”
I leave the table and peek back, seeing Lloyd guiding Nick to the door. “Fucking hell,” I whisper, reaching the men’s. I knock on the door. “Jude?”
“Go back to the table, Amelia,” he says shortly, making me recoil.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Go back to the table.”
I think better than to question him, backing up, certain I wouldn’t want to be within exploding distance of him right now. He needs to calm down, and I don’t know what to say to help him. God damn you, Charley. I sheepishly return to the table. Could this be the worst dinner ever?
“Well, that was tense,” Abbie says.
I can’t even look at Charley. I’m fucking fuming, and she knows it, but had she not grilled Jude, he wouldn’t have left the table, and I might be in a whole other load of messy right now.