Page 5 of Now or Never

Chelsea shook her head. “Only twice a year. He sees Ben on his birthday and Christmas.”

“So, hedoeshave a relationship with Ben?”

Jae snorted. “If you can call it that. He doesn’t even give her any support.”

Chelsea hummed in agreement. She didn’t get a cheque until Ben was three, but she understood why. He’d been just as young as she was, and just as broke. But she’d thought they would do it together, and he’d had other plans.

Over the years, he’d sent her some bits of money, here and there, but never enough to pay an actual bill. After a while, Chelsea had given up and gone for it alone. She was a pretty decent writer and editor. If she worked all day and night, she could get by.

She swallowed, walked to the counter, refilled her glass, and took a drink. She could feel Natalie’s eyes tracking her.

“So he left you to raise your son alone and went off to pursue his career?” Natalie asked.

Chelsea shot a sarcastic smile and stuffed the rest of the brownie in her face.

“What an asshole. God, I hate assholes.”

“Well, that’s notexactly—”

“Jae . . .” Chelsea warned. “Don’t start.”

“Tell me,” Natalie said, leaning forward.

“When did this become a full-on tea spilling?” Chelsea wondered out loud, but she was ignored.

Jae leaned toward Natalie. “A few months after he left, he came back. Told Chelsea how wrong and stupid he was. Begged for another chance.”

Chelsea rolled her eyes. “He wasn’t sorry at all. He just felt guilty, the selfish ass.”

Jae leaned closer to Natalie. “He’s ahotselfish ass,” she said in a stage whisper, making Natalie’s eyebrows rise. “Tall, dark . . . fuckable,” Jae added. “I couldn’t believe she shot him down.”

Natalie scrunched up her nose. “Selfish asses aren’t hot, no matter how fuckable.”

Jae nodded, but then shrugged. “I’m not convinced he’s that much of an ass, to be honest. He acted like an asshole, but he was completely head over testicles in love with Chelsea.”

Natalie cocked an eyebrow. “You think she should have taken him back?”

“You guys know I can hear you, right?” Chelsea asked.

Once again, they ignored her.

Jae shrugged. “Not necessarily. But she shouldn’t let it control everything she does, years after the fact. Did you know she won’t have sex? Like, ever? She’s too scared of getting pregnant.”

“Ugh, Jae . . .”

Natalie twirled on Chelsea. “What?!”

“Okay, sleeping kid upstairs. No screaming.”

“You never . . . like,ever?” Natalie’s eyes went so wide you could land a plane on her cornea. “He wasn’t your last, was he?”

Chelsea sighed. No point in lying now. “Last. First. Only . . .”

Natalie’s jaw slowly unhinged until it was nearly on the floor.

Chelsea wanted to crawl into a hole. And she hadn’t even admitted the most embarrassing part: that she’d never even been on an actual date before. She shook it off. “Can we please talk about something else now? Anything else?”

They all reached for their wineglasses, took drinks until Natalie finally broke the silence.

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