Love, Lies and Unfiltered Hearts

The Dinner

JOSIE

Max glances at me. "A girl from the east side. Family connection. He's been planning an engagement." He says it the way you say something you've already made peace with not accepting. "That's why I need tonight to go well."

I stare at him. "Max. You used me to block an arranged engagement?"

"I'm using our arrangement to block an arranged engagement," he says carefully. "There's a difference."

"Is there really?"

He's quiet for a second. "I know how that sounds. But you're not a prop. I need you to know that."

I look out the window and say nothing for a while. I'm still deciding how angry I am when we pull through a set of iron gates and up a long driveway lit on both sides.

The house is enormous.

*Of course it is.*

We walk in and a man appears at the end of the hallway before we've taken our coats off.

Gabriel Thorne is silver-haired and well-built for forty-five. He has Max's jaw and Max's stillness, but none of Max's warmth. His eyes land on me and move over me in one careful second, measuring, without a single blink.

*Ah. So this is where Max learned that trick.*

"Dad." Max puts his hand against the small of my back. "This is Josie."

Gabriel looks at me. "Josie." He shakes my hand. Firm. Brief. "You'll forgive my surprise. Maxwell doesn't usually keep things from me."

"I prefer my personal life private," Max says easily. "You know that."

"I know you've never had a personal life worth hiding before." Gabriel holds his gaze for a moment. Then he turns.

"We're waiting for two more," Gabriel says as he leads us through. "Caroline and her son. They should be here shortly."

I feel Max's hand tense slightly against my back.

"Caroline?" Max asks.

"Caroline Callahan," Gabriel says. "She's the woman I've been seeing."

Max doesn't react. Not visibly. But I feel his fingers press into my spine for just a second before he loosens them.

I keep my face neutral. Caroline. Drew's mother. The woman whose coffee I drink every morning.

We enter the dining room. It's the kind of room that makes you want to walk quietly. Long table, low lighting, crystal glasses. Four place settings. Max pulls out my chair and I sit and remind myself to breathe.

The front door opens.

I hear Caroline's voice first. Warm. Apologizing for being late.

Then I hear Drew's footsteps. I'd know them anywhere.

*Of course I would. Of course.*

Gabriel stands and moves toward the doorway. Max stays seated. So do I.

Caroline appears first. She's beautiful in a navy dress I've never seen, her hair pinned up, and she's glowing the way she does when she's happy. Then she sees me.

"Josie?" She stops mid-step. "What are you…"

Then Drew walks in behind her.

He freezes.

His eyes go from Caroline to Gabriel to Max to me. They land on me last. They don't leave.

I watch it happen in real time. The confusion. The recognition. The slow, horrible understanding as he puts the pieces together. His mother's boyfriend is Gabriel Thorne. Gabriel Thorne is Max's father. Max is sitting next to me. I'm wearing a dress I didn't pay for. I'm here. With him. On a date.

Drew's jaw tightens.

His hands curl into fists at his sides.

"Andrew," Caroline says gently, touching his arm. "This is Gabriel. And this must be his son, Maxwell."

Drew doesn't speak.

"Andrew," Caroline says again, firmer this time.

"Nice to meet you," Drew says. The words come out flat. Mechanical. Like someone else is saying them.

Gabriel extends his hand. Drew shakes it. His grip looks like it could crush bone.

"Caroline has told me so much about you," Gabriel says. "She says you're a remarkable young man. Captain of the hockey team, if I'm not mistaken."

"That's right," Drew says.

"Maxwell is also captain of his team," Gabriel says. "Blackbridge. I believe you two know each other."

Drew's eyes cut to Max. "Yeah. We know each other."

Caroline looks between them, sensing something but not understanding it. "Oh, that's wonderful. You boys already have something in common."

Max stands. "Mrs. Callahan." He takes her hand. "It's a pleasure."

Caroline smiles at him. "Please. Call me Caroline."

I watch Drew's face while Max is charming his mother. Drew looks like someone is twisting a knife in his chest and he's not allowed to scream.

Gabriel gestures to the table. "Shall we?"

Caroline takes the seat next to Gabriel. Drew is across from me. Max is to my right.

Drew doesn't look at me. He stares at his plate like it's personally offended him.

"So, Josie," Caroline says, trying to make sense of this. "I didn't know you and Maxwell were…"

"Dating," Max says. "We're dating."

Caroline's eyebrows go up. "Since when?"

"A few weeks," I say.

She looks at me, and there's something in her expression. Hurt, maybe. Or confusion.

She didn't know. She thought she knew everything about my life because she gave me a room and a job and coffee without asking.

*And somehow I'm the one sitting here feeling guilty about it.*