Chapter 2 : Dinner Gone Wrong

Kaia

We pulled up to the Ashford estate at seven, and my arms had gone numb somewhere around Sunset Boulevard.

"Girls!" Catherine Ashford met us in the foyer, looking elegant in a cashmere wrap. "Just in time for dinner. Sophia, tell your brother to come down and tell him to bring that girlfriend of his to the table on time for once. The last time they were late, the lamb was ruined."

I made my face blank and kept walking.

"Kaia, honey, you look exhausted," Catherine added, almost as an afterthought. "Sophia, are you running this poor girl ragged?"

"She's fine, Mom. She likes helping." Sophia pecked her mother's cheek and dropped her bags right in the doorway. "Kaia, can you take those up for me? I need to freshen up."

"Of course," I said.

I always said of course.

___

Liam's door was cracked open.

I don't know what made me slow down. Ten years of practice, and I still hadn't learned not to look. But my feet stopped before my brain could stop them, and then I was staring through the gap at the worst possible thing.

Isabella pressed against the wall. Liam pressed against her. His mouth on her throat, one hand sliding up her waist, her fingers knotted in his hair.

They were laughing. That was the worst part. Not the kissing. The laughing, it was intimate, the way people laugh when they've known each other's bodies for years.

"Sophia's going to kill us," Isabella murmured against his mouth.

"Sophia's going to have to get in line. My mother's been giving me hell all week."

Sophia cleared her throat.

They broke apart. Liam's hair was messy, his mouth swollen, and when his eyes found mine over Sophia's shoulder, my knees went weak.

"Hey, Soph." His gaze slid to me, and his face softened. "Hey, Kaia."

Say something. Say anything.

"Hi," I managed.

That was it. That was all I had.

"So cute," Sophia drawled. "Dinner in ten. Don't be late, Mom's already threatened the lamb."

Isabella finally looked at me. Up and down. Her eyes flicked over my jeans, my sweater, my plain face, and her mouth curved into a small, private smile, like I was an amusing little thing she'd just noticed scurrying across the floor.

"Kaia," she said. Just my name. The way you'd greet a doormat.

"Isabella," I said back, and hoped my voice didn't shake.

Liam squeezed Isabella's waist once, right in front of us and pulled her back into the room. The door clicked shut.

Sophia turned to me with one eyebrow raised.

"You know, you always get weird around my brother. If I didn't know better, I'd think you had a thing for him."

The floor tilted.

"What? No. He's — your brother."

She made a little gesture between me and the closed door, like she was connecting two dots that didn't belong together. "You and Liam."

My cheeks burned. "I didn't say—"

"I know, I know." She linked her arm through mine, suddenly sweet, suddenly warm. "You're just easy to tease. You always have been. It's why I love you."

It's why I love you.

I held onto that. I held onto it tight.

Dinner was a disaster, and it hadn't even started yet.

The dining room was long and gleaming, three chandeliers dripping down over a table that could seat twenty. I took my usual seat, the one to Sophia's right and tried not to look at Liam, which meant I looked at Liam constantly.

"Kaia, dear." Catherine unfolded her napkin. "Your mother's well? I haven't heard from Grace in months."

"She's good. She started a garden." I said. "Tomatoes. She's very proud of the tomatoes."

"How sad," Isabella interrupted.

"Tomatoes are actually quite difficult," I said, too brightly. "They need a lot of sun and—"

"Yes, I'm sure." She dismissed me with a smile and turned to Liam. "Darling, tell them about the club."

The conversation moved on without me. It always did.

Isabella dabbed her mouth with a linen napkin. "So, Kaia. Does your mother ever miss the Ashford house? All those years of service. It must have felt like family."

The table went quiet.

George Ashford, at the head, cleared his throat and didn't say anything. Catherine looked at her plate.

"She's retired now," I said. "She's happier."

"How lovely." Isabella smiled. "It's so inspiring, really. People like your mother , they work so hard, and then they just... fade away. Out of sight." She tilted her head. "I suppose it's the same with their children. You just sort of... stay. Around the edges."

"Isabella." Liam didn't raise his voice. "Drop it."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. I'm only making conversation."

Under the table, my hands had gone white-knuckled in my lap.

I looked at Sophia.

Say something.

She was very carefully cutting her chicken into tiny, pieces, her eyes fixed on her plate like she'd never seen food before.

I looked at Catherine.

Was it my imagination, or did she look almost relieved when Isabella changed the subject?

I looked at Liam.

He smiled at me, that soft smile I'd been living for since I was fourteen and said, "Kaia's always welcome here. You know that."

He always defends me.

The warmth flooded through me, and I let myself have it.

I missed the look Sophia shot me across the table. Gone before I could name it.

"Actually, everyone." Liam tapped his spoon against his glass. "Before dessert, Isabella and I have an announcement."

I didn't stop chewing. It was just Liam and Isabella, and they were always announcing something. A new apartment. A trip to Aspen. A breakup that would last three days.

"We're engaged."

I froze.

Isabella lifted her hand. The diamond ring caught the chandelier light.

We're engaged.

We're engaged.

We're engaged.

The fork slipped from my fingers and clattered onto my plate.

No one noticed.

Catherine was on her feet, hands clasped. "Oh, finally! I was beginning to think you two would never—" She caught herself. "Well. Finally."

George said something delighted about "an heir, finally." Sophia squealed and flung herself around the table to hug her brother. Isabella was laughing. Liam was laughing. Everyone was laughing, and the room was full of noise, and I was in the middle of it like a woman underwater.

Ten years.

Ten years of waiting. Ten years of carrying bags and smiling at insults and telling myself that one day—

Liam looked at me.

"Kaia?" His brow furrowed. "You okay? You look pale."

The whole table turned.

Ten pairs of eyes. The engagement ring glittered at me from across the table like a small, cruel star.

Say something. Smile. Be the sweet, reliable family friend. It's what you do.

My lips parted.

I was going to say something that would change everything.

I just didn't know yet what it was going to be.