“Where to?”
“Next door. Landon and his wife have invited us over for dinner.”
My heart sinks in my chest. So she is his wife. I feel like I got my hopes up over nothing. I sigh.
“Dad, I’m not feeling great. Maybe I’ll skip it.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “Now come on, Elena, we only get one chance to make a good impression. It would be rude not to go after they’ve gone to the effort to invite us. Besides, you were the one that wanted to be friendly with the neighbors.”
I feel my stomach twist in anger. I can’t believe how much he’s enjoying this. He must have been able to tell that I was interested in Landon. And now he’s rubbing it in that I can’t have him. I’ve never known my dad to be malicious like this, but this stings. I can’t believe he would ever want me to feel so hurt. Maybe it’s because he’s never felt the way I do for Landon, maybe not even mom. If he knew how I felt, he wouldn’t be laughing in my face.
“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. Dad smiles as he leaves my room, leaving the door open. It’s all I can do to stop myself from getting up and slamming the door.
I should be studying now, but I can’t concentrate. I barely slept at all last night either, and now I have to go and face up to the fact that the man I’m falling for is married. Maybe it’s good that I found out this way before I got too invested. So why does it still feel like my heart has been shattered into a million pieces?
I just have to push through this. It’s just one dinner, one night, then can I pretend like our neighbors don’t exist. Sure, I’ll have to make sure I never look out of my window for fear of seeing the man I want with another woman. And I’ll have to be pleasant when I pass him in the street and pretend that I’m not obsessing over spending the rest of my life without him. I may never feel this way again, but plenty of people go through heartbreak right? Maybe I should just pull myself together and stop being ridiculous.
I spend the day mentally trying to prepare for the evening ahead. But by the time we’re heading over, my heart is racing and I feel nauseous. This is the last thing on Earth I want to be doing. I’m already counting down the minutes until I can excuse myself and go home for a long cry.
Landon looks amazing when he opens the door. He’s wearing a striped button-down that clings to his muscled chest. He’s holding a bottle of wine in his hands and he smiles at us.
“I was just about to pop the cork on this,” he says, waving the bottle at us. “Why don’t you head inside to the dining room? Jenny is in there.”
Jenny, the last person I want to see. I don’t want to be reminded of how beautiful she is, how superior she is to me. I’ve always been a confident girl and that hasn’t exactly changed, but she’s somehow made me feel unworthy. She’s like a goddess, which makes sense when she’s married to a man as good looking as Landon.
I force myself to step inside and follow my father through the house. Jenny is standing in the dining room, her tiny waist sporting an apron. I hate her already.
“Hi!” she says with a smile that looks both flirtatious and friendly at once. “Nice to see you again John.” She turns to me. “You must be Elena, I’m Jenny. Landon’s sister.”
My whole world explodes.
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. She’s his sister?
It suddenly makes sense. They do look alike, that explains their otherworldly looks. They’re family so of course, it’s not unusual for them to live together, and that’s why she wasn’t sleeping in Landon’s bed last night.
I’m trying not to smile right now. Jenny has just gone from my biggest competition to my favorite person in the room. There’s a long silence, only broken by the sound of Landon popping the cork of the wine.
“Sorry. I zoned out for a second,” I say, reaching out to shake Jenny’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m looking forward to having some new people in the neighborhood.”
“Sister?” my dad says blankly. I can tell he’s upset and confused. He must’ve just assumed the same way I did that they were a couple. I feel like an idiot right now, but not half as much as my dad must. And now, suddenly, the ball is back in my court. The odds are in my favor. Because I know there was a spark between Landon and me. I know now that he’s not cheating and I know that it’s real.
Now we can take this a step further over dinner.
“Please, sit down!” Jenny says as Landon returns with the wine. She looks up at him with a grin. “John thought that you and I were married, Landon! Isn’t that funny!”
A flicker of something comes over Landon’s face. I guess he must’ve been confused about why my dad was being so nice to him. Now it’s making sense to him. His smile drops. I think he’s realized that he’s not going to be treated so nicely now that he’s not on his good side.
“Very funny,” he growls. There’s an uncomfortable silence. Jenny smirks as she looks over at me. I think she’s enjoying stirring up a little trouble.
“We made pasta, I hope that’s okay,” she says. “Sit down, make yourselves comfortable.”
My dad looks anything but comfortable as we sit at their kitchen table. Landon clears his throat and begins to pour me a glass of wine.
“No,” my dad hisses. “Not for Elena.”
“She’s twenty-one, she can make her own decisions,” Landon growls in return. I blush. As much as I like him sticking up for me, he’s going to
