Lucille looked down at her drink, hiding a smile.
Ryan shook his head. “Come on, Maggie. You obviously paid him to be here.”
The whole yard went quiet.
I felt every eye land on my dress, my body, my face, my hands.
My fingers slipped away from Daniel’s.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
I didn’t even know who I was apologizing to.
Daniel took my hand again.
“Don’t be.”
Ryan smirked. “Does the boyfriend package include hand-holding, or does that cost extra?”
Daniel looked straight at him.
“Does the ex-husband package include humiliating the mother of your children in front of them, or do you do that for free?”
Someone gasped.
Ryan’s smile vanished.
“It was a joke,” he snapped.
Daniel nodded once. “Interesting choice.”
After that, the party tried to continue, but something had shifted.
Music played again. Kids jumped into the pool. Someone passed burgers around. But Ryan kept watching Daniel, waiting for him to make a mistake.
Daniel never did.
He helped my daughter open a juice box. He asked my sons about baseball and actually listened. He complimented Elaine’s garden. When an older aunt dropped her napkin, he picked it up before she had to bend down.
He did not overact.
That made him believable.
Lucille noticed Ryan watching him too.
At first, she leaned closer to Ryan, laughed louder, touched his arm more. But slowly, her smile grew thinner.
I tried not to notice any of it.
Instead, I kept moving.
I carried plates.
“Sorry, excuse me.”
I wiped lemonade from the table.
“Sorry, let me get that.”
When my daughter spilled ketchup near Daniel’s shoe, I grabbed a napkin immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel looked at the ketchup on the stone.
“It’s ketchup, Maggie.”
I laughed weakly, but my hands still shook as I cleaned it.
Daniel watched.
He didn’t comfort me.
He didn’t correct me.
He simply noticed.
