Read Online The Wife by S.P. Cervantes - Free Book Online Page A

calm the butterflies battling inside me. I haven’t even gotten to tell Lee a word about what happened between Mike and me today yet, and perhaps it’s for the best. If I’m going to stay with him, it’s best as few people as possible know that he’s actually confessed to cheating on me. I’ve been using the fact that I don’t know for sure as my reason for staying to them.
    “Here he is,” she whispers excitedly as she takes another sip from her drink, looking like she’s ready for a show. “And, who’s the other hottie he’s with? I don’t want your leftovers anymore. His friend is pretty delectable too.”
    Here we go.
    Luckily, she doesn’t wait for my answer because her attention is solely on Jamie and Frank when they walk through the dimmed entrance. It feels like some twisted, weird dream as I watch Jamie, the boy from my past, walk toward me, looking so much more like a man. The softness of his face was gone, replaced by a look that was more forlorn. Perhaps it’s the light layer of beard he’s let grow out; perhaps it’s the sadness that is hidden in his eyes. I didn’t look away when his eyes met mine this time. I didn’t want him to think his being here was affecting me in the way it seemed to be. It really was like seeing a ghost from my past walk to me. He has been dead to me for so long, nothing but a faint memory that lingers in my soul, that as I watch him now, it’s hard not to surge with emotion. Part of me wants to run in his arms and tell him how proud I am of all he’s accomplished, and the other part of me wants to kick him in the balls and tell him what a selfish asshole he is.
    I don’t do either.
    Frank approaches the table eagerly, kissing my cheek before he quickly introduces himself to Lee and takes a seat at her side, much to her pleasure. My heart’s in my throat and butterflies battle out World War III inside me when Jamie is left no other option than to take the seat next to me. I nervously take a sip from my drink, trying to quell my anxiety and quietly cursing myself for caring that he’s so close to me now, after so long apart. After I thought I’d never see him again, and now he’s unavoidable.
    This is all too weird. I need to just think of him as another business associate and not the man who stole a piece of my heart and never gave it back.
    Jamie reaches for the chair beside me with a slight grin at the side of his mouth, bringing me right back to our time together in camp. It was a smile that I knew well. A smile that told me he knew the crazy thoughts going on in my head right now. Accidentally, his hand brushes against mine as he pulls out his chair; we both flinch back as if touched by a live wire. He tries to ignore the reactions each of us have when our skin meets and he takes his seat next to me.
    “Good to see you, Lex,” he says in his smooth Irish brogue.
    “Hi,” I say, simply because I’m not sure what to call him. We both turn to Frank and Lee, hoping they’ll save us from the tension that is building like a tsunami with each look.
    Awkward doesn’t begin to describe our dinner as Jamie and I acted uncomfortably polite to each other, while Lee and Frank tried to pretend they didn’t know everything about our past. My night has been filled with flashes of Mike’s confession, and it makes me feel uncomfortable sitting here next to Jamie. If feels as if I’m doing something wrong, even though I’m not.
    I’m trying to treat Jamie as if he were any other client I was having dinner with throughout the evening. It wasn’t uncommon for me to go and celebrate with some of my clients, and I tried my best to act the way I would have with anyone else. Jamie seemed almost amused by my attempt to maintain a nonchalant attitude when we all talked about very safe topics like Jamie’s restaurants and Lee’s job in technology, all the while ignoring the elephant in the room. Jamie rarely spoke about himself, letting Frank and Lee take over the