Chapter 2 - The Chair Nobody Wanted Me to Sit In
Diane's backyard looked exactly the way it did every single year. The pool sparkled under the sun, red-white-and-blue streamers strung along the fence, kids running barefoot through the grass while the adults carried plates of ribs, watermelon, and lemonade back and forth.
For one second, I actually thought I might survive this.
Then I saw Nathan. He stood by the grill with one hand resting on Vanessa's hip. She wore a red swimsuit under a sheer white cover-up, hair falling in perfect waves, looking completely untouched by heat, motherhood, or heartbreak.
Nathan saw Marcus first. Then he saw me. His smile changed shape.
Diane hurried over and hugged me. "Maggie, sweetheart. You look beautiful."
I tugged at the hem of my dress. "It's old."
Before she could answer, Nathan's voice cut clean across the patio. "Well. This is interesting."
People started very obviously pretending not to stare. Nathan walked over with Vanessa trailing beside him.
"Maggie." He looked Marcus up and down. "Who's this supposed to be?"
Marcus stepped forward, easy, unbothered. "Marcus. Maggie's boyfriend."
The word boyfriend seemed to freeze the entire backyard solid.
Nathan stared for a beat. Then he laughed. "Him? Your boyfriend?"
My face went hot. Vanessa looked down into her drink, hiding a smile behind the rim of her glass.
Nathan shook his head. "Come on, Maggie. You obviously paid him to be here."
The whole yard went dead quiet. I felt every set of eyes land on my dress, my body, my face, my hands. My fingers slipped loose from Marcus's.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. I didn't even know who I was apologizing to anymore.
Marcus took my hand back, firm. "Don't be."
Nathan smirked. "Does the boyfriend package include hand-holding, or does that cost extra?"
Marcus looked him dead in the eye. "Does the ex-husband package include humiliating the mother of your children in front of them? Or is that one free?"
Someone gasped audibly. Nathan's smile vanished instantly.
"It was a joke," he snapped.
Marcus just nodded once. "Interesting choice of one."
The party tried to keep moving after that — music came back on, kids jumped back into the pool, someone passed around a plate of burgers — but something in the air had shifted permanently. Nathan kept watching Marcus like he was waiting for him to slip up.
He never did. Marcus helped my daughter open a juice box. He asked my sons real questions about baseball and actually listened to the answers. He complimented Diane's garden. When an older aunt dropped her napkin, he picked it up before she even had to lean down for it.
He never overplayed a single moment. That's exactly what made him so believable.
Vanessa noticed Nathan watching him too. At first she leaned in closer to Nathan, laughed a little louder, touched his arm more often. But slowly, her smile started to thin out at the edges.
I tried not to notice any of it. Instead I kept moving — carrying plates, wiping up spilled lemonade, apologizing my way across the entire yard.
"Sorry, excuse me." "Sorry, let me get that." When my daughter spilled ketchup near Marcus's shoe, I grabbed a napkin so fast I nearly knocked over a chair. "I'm so sorry."
Marcus glanced down at the small red splatter on the stone patio. "It's ketchup, Maggie."
May you like
I laughed weakly, but my hands were still shaking while I cleaned it up. Marcus watched the whole thing. He didn't comfort me. He didn't correct me.
He just noticed.
