Mom’s Birthday Dinner
When we arrived at Mom’s house, Samantha opened the door.
Her eyes went straight to Mike.
“So you’re Mike! Mom’s told me so much about you!”
She threw her arms around him and held on until he pulled away.
She barely even looked at me.
At dinner, Samantha dragged her chair closer to Mike’s.
“I want to get to know my new brother-in-law!”
She laughed at everything he said.
When Mike brought me a cushion for my aching back, her smile tightened.
“You really spoil her,” she murmured. “You need a different woman. Someone more attentive. Someone who knows how to take care of a home.”
Then Spencer went to the garage to get more drinks.
The second he was gone, Samantha leaned over Mike’s shoulder, her hair brushing his cheek.
“Shame we didn’t meet first,” she whispered, loudly enough for me to hear.
I gripped my glass.
“Samantha,” I snapped. “Get your hands off my husband.”
She didn’t even look at me.
“Oh, relax! Mike, don’t you think we’d make a better couple?” She smiled. “Maybe you and I chose the wrong people.”
She wasn’t even ashamed to say it right in front of me.
I pushed my chair back, ready to say everything I’d swallowed for five years.
But Mike stood up first.
Smiling, he turned toward Samantha, his back to me.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Had he been lying to me all along?
Was he about to do exactly what Spencer had done five years ago?
“So you’re saying we chose the wrong people?” Mike asked.
Samantha gave him a smug little smile.
“Exactly.”
Mike nodded.
“Good. Then you shouldn’t have a problem with what I’m about to do.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket.
“I think it’s time everyone saw the messages you’ve been sending me.”
Samantha’s smile vanished. “Mike, don’t.”
He looked at her.
“Why not? You’ve spent the whole evening telling us how honest you’re being about your feelings.”
She reached for his phone.
He stepped away.
“Those are private conversations!” she snapped.
“Messages I repeatedly told you I wasn’t interested in receiving.”
Samantha looked toward Mom.
“He’s trying to embarrass me!”
Mike shook his head.
“No, Samantha. You’ve been doing that yourself.”
May you like
Then he turned toward me.
And I knew something was terribly wrong.
