Page 96 of The Meeting
Jane smiled as they all sat around the table. “Nothing but the best for my kids.”
Rob didn’t miss a beat before he kicked up the conversation. “So tell us about your job, Kailynn.”
“Oh. There’s not much to tell. I’m a designer. I do dresses, blouses, and skirts, and then I have an employee who markets them for me. She’s been trying to sell them to local department stores.”
Chase jumped in. “She might even sell them to some big companies in New York.”
Kailynn smiled over at him. “Possibly.”
“That’s exciting!” Jane said. “I’d love to see some of your designs.”
“I think I have a few on my phone that I can show you later.”
“I’d love that. It’s great that you’re a go-getter. Allison wasn’t much of one.”
Kailynn’s eyebrows shot up. She hadn’t been with someone who was divorced before, but she wondered if it was normal for the family to constantly bring up the ex to the new girlfriend.
“Mama!” Chase said.
“What? You can’t expect her never to be brought up. She was a part of our family for ten years. For longer if you count the time you two were together before you got married.”
“Allison struggled with finding things she was good at. That didn’t make her a bad person,” Chase said.
Kailynn looked between Jane and Chase as they discussed Allison and how productive she was in the marriage. She glanced down at her plate where she was pushing food around, no longer interested in eating.
Derek sat across from her and tapped her foot with his. She looked up, and he smiled and raised an eyebrow as if to say, “Here we go again.”
She gave him a small smile.
“All right, you two. No more talking about Allison. You’re being rude to our guest,” Rob said. “Let’s sit and enjoy this meal as a family without discussing Chase’s past relationship.”
“Oh Rob, it’s not a big deal. It is a part of our life, after all,” Jane said.
“Kailynn doesn’t need to hear about Allison every single time she sees you. And I doubt Chase cares to hear about it either.”
“Well, they only split recently.”
Chase shoved his chair back and stood up. “Mama! Stop. I don’t care that she and I only split recently. We had problems for years. It just finally became unbearable, so we called it off.”
“You mean,shecalled it off.”
Kailynn looked at Chase. Was that true? Was Allison the one to call off the marriage? Did Chase truly not want to leave?
She looked back down at her plate and furrowed her eyebrows. Then she pushed her chair back and stood up.
“I’m going to let you all resolve this and step outside.”
“Babe, you don’t have to go. This conversation is over,” Chase said.
“I think it’s best if you all discuss it. It seems like there are a lot of unsettled feelings going on.”
Derek stood up as well. “I’ll keep you company.”
Before anyone else could respond, Kailynn walked quickly to the front door and left. She looked around at the porch and found a swing on the far end. Wrapping her hands around herself to ward off the chill that settled in her bones, she sat down and began to swing.
This trip was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come.
She didn’t know what she had expected. Meeting a new family was always awkward, but meeting a new family who still had unresolved feelings over an ex-wife was a new one. Derek stepped out a minute later, carrying two plates, and sat down next to her.
