Page 36 of Bastard-in-Chief
Sticking her tongue out at me for a second, Emma finishes her side of the story. “Anyways, Teddy found Max, our Max, and sent me a text to let me know. We hopped in the car to go pick him up and I saw his Max nosing around someone’s yard on the way. So we traded his Max for our Max before Mom took me over to Dad’s house for the weekend. Which sucked by the way, not that anyone cares what I think about it.”
“And your mom was weird with Mr. Sutton? Was he weird with her?” Lauren asks, ignoring me.
“Duh. Mom is always weird. But he was kind of flirty? But also not? I dunno.” Emma shrugs. “I kind of forgot it all since my weekend was terrible and no one cares.”
Irritated at her dramatics, I take a long sip of wine before responding. “Sweetie, you know I have to stick to the custody arrangement. I’m sorry it was boring.”
“It wasn’t boring, Mom. He spent the whole weekend hanging out with his girlfriend.” Her eyes open wide at the confession.
My body goes still. Slowly, I set my wine glass down before I break it. “You didn’t say anything about his girlfriend. Did she go with you to your doctor's appointment?” Anger builds in my gut, mixed with a healthy dose of guilt. I’d been off playing sexy weekend with Theo, while Emma was forced to play happy family with the woman her father had been cheating on me with. I count to ten in my head so I don’t lose my shit at Emma instead of Jake.
Lauren asks my question before I can get past five. “Hang on. Why didn’t you say anything about this before?”
Guilt flashes across Emma’s face, her shoulders hunching forward. “I didn’t want to upset you. We….uh…didn’t go to my appointment.” Her voice gets smaller and smaller as she speaks, until the last word is barely a whisper.
“What the ever-loving FUCK is wrong with that man?” Lauren yells for me.
All the missed events of our past come flooding back to me. Dentist appointments, school assemblies, play-dates—how many times had he missed one because he was too busy with his own hobbies? The guilt and anger in my gut boil over into a white-hot rage.
I don’t yell. I don’t shout. I pull out my phone and dial, holding up a finger as I lift it to my ear.
It goes to voicemail.
“You want to tell me why you couldn’t be bothered to take your daughter to her annual check-up? What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. You?” I grind the words out between my teeth. “Are you so busy doting on your shiny new toy that you can’t be bothered to make sure your actual daughter is healthy? Did your child-bride have her own doctor’s appointment to go to?”
Emma’s mouth drops open and her eyes go wide at my words. I should have known.
“I can tell from the look on your daughter’s face that I guessed correctly. Listen very carefully to me Jake—if you ever pull this kind of shit again I will not only make sure you lose all custody of Emma, but I will take you to court for every fucking penny you don’t have. Explain that to your new baby-mama.” I’m about to hang up, overflowing with righteous anger when another thought occurs to me. “You owe Emma an apology. I’ll be checking that it happens.” I hang up, dropping my phone on the kitchen counter.
“Daaaaamn, Soph. That was hot.” Lauren’s shocked look is replaced by a grin as she nudges my wine glass towards me. “Okay, so to sum up the weekend. You had a moment with Sutton, Emma got shafted by Jake, and now Sutton wants you to go to some event on Friday night? I feel like I’m missing something here. Does he know Elinor Price is your pen name?”
“Emma, I love you sweetie. I’m sorry your dad was an ass this weekend.” I pull her in for a hug and kiss the top of her head. “But go away for a second.”
“I always miss the good stuff.” Emma whines, but I don’t budge, just wait for her to walk away. “Fine. You have five minutes. I have to pee anyway.” She stomps the fifteen feet to her door and flips it closed.
“Theo asked me to meet him for coffee on Saturday morning. And I may have slept over that night.” If I thought saying it fast would somehow lessen the impact of my words I was sorely mistaken.
“You…slept with him?” Lauren’s eyes are open wide enough to rival the anime characters Emma loves. “You. Sophie Alexander, who’s never slept with anyone aside from Jake, had s-e-x with our boss?”
I wait for her to judge, to tell me what a bad idea it is, to help me come to my senses. Lauren puts her wine glass down on the counter with care before stepping close.
“I’m so fucking proud of you!” Her arms are wrapping me up in a bear hug before her words register. “My baby girl is finally doing something for herself.”
“Wait, you’re not shocked? You don’t think it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done?” I’m the one in shock now. I was sure Lauren was going to talk sense into me. Someone needs to. “You’re not going to tell me to stay away from him? I was counting on you telling me not to go to this event on Friday.”
Lauren lets go and eyes me. “Oh my God, you want to go, don’t you?”
I can’t hide my indecision from my best friend. “First things first, everything was consensual, right? He didn’t pressure you or threaten your job did he?”
I shake my head. “No, he didn’t. It was, uh, definitely consensual.” My cheeks flame at the memory.
“So, then the next question, was the sex good? Your blush tells me it was.” Lauren grins at me, picking up her wine glass for another sip. The toilet flushing in the bathroom warns me we’ve only got another minute to discuss the situation.
“Yes, it was good. Yes, I would do it again if the opportunity presented itself.”
Lauren sways her hips from side to side in a celebratory dance. “Oh yeah, we gotta make that happen. I don’t know if I understand the attraction—he seems like a real grouch to me—but if anyone has earned some fun and great orgasms it’s you.”
We clink our wine glasses together as Emma emerges from the room. Lauren winks at me before pulling Emma against her side.