Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
“I am. I wish you were coming. Henry’s friends and colleagues are boring,” I half-joked. The parties my husband hosted weren’t just mellow dinners. They were full-blown celebrations. I was pretty sure we’ve had dinner parties that were fancier than our own wedding a few years before. Fireworks and all. This one was even more exciting for Henry since it was the first gathering on our new land. Unfortunately, the parties always included Henry’s friends and colleagues and not my own. Our groups were like oil and water: we didn’t mix well. Where my friends were welcoming and inclusive, Henry’s friends were, well, not. My best friend, Rosie, called Henry’s dinner parties a pissing match for rich snobs to talk about who had the bigger yacht.
She wasn’t that far off.
If I had things my way, dinner parties would include a Below Deck viewing party, in pajamas with Chinese food. Obviously. Toss in Vanderpump Rules, and we’d be staying up past midnight.
Joseph grinned, knowing how much I dreaded the parties. “I would be there if I could. I’ll make the next dinner party when I’m back in town.”
I smiled. “Where are you off to this weekend?”
“Austin,” he said. “I’m seeing an old friend who just had a baby. But trust me, I’d rather be at one of Henry Hughes’s parties. Rumor has it, you have the best champagne.”
“Only the best for my husband,” I teased.
“That’s why he has you,” Joseph replied, nudging me in the arm before saying goodbye.
After he left, I took a few minutes to mentally prepare for the amount of socializing I would have to do that evening. Some people were gifted at entertaining big groups for hours while keeping their spirits high. Me, on the other hand? I always worked best one-on-one with individuals. It was one of the reasons I dived into my career. I loved to zoom in on individuals and learn how they ticked. With the big parties that Henry threw, there was a lot of drinking and many blunt personalities that I found hard to connect with on a deeper level.
I loved to go deep with people, yet those parties made that next to impossible. I found it hard to really get to know a person when there was so much chaos around. Still, I’d do what I did best: I’d pretend that I was happy and having a good time.
Otherwise, I’d end up arguing with Henry when the night came to an end. And by arguing, I meant he’d point out all the ways I was a flawed wife.
I was very careful about picking my martial battles.
Dinner parties were a battle I was willing to lose.
2
Kierra
Some people daydreamed about dinner parties. The perfect space with elegant floral arrangements. Gold silverware and plate settings. Classical music playing in the background. Guests dressed to the nines with wine and champagne poured at a ridiculous pace. There was such an elegance to dinner parties with wealthy individuals, yet the one thing that always seemed to be missing was the heart of it all.
My husband, Henry, was a perfectionist. He also happened to be one of the most brilliant minds in Maine, if not the world. But when my husband wasn’t being a super genius, he was busy becoming my greatest heartbreak.
I met Henry Hughes during the hardest chapter of my life.
I had many regrets in life. Choosing Henry as my husband might’ve been among my top three worst decisions. I didn’t love Henry anymore. Most days, I debated if I even liked him. I’d seen his red flags from the beginning, yet I’d chosen to quietly ignore them. A part of me at the time probably thought that was the love I deserved. A part of me believed I was lucky that anyone would want me—scars and all.
That was the problem with falling in love when you were out of love with yourself: even monsters looked appealing then. Some say that during the lowest moments of life a person can come across someone who will bring them their warmest summers or their coldest winters. Henry was my cold front, the chilling punishment during my season of despair.
We weren’t in love; we were imprisoned in a loveless marriage. At least I had been. For the longest time, I’d figured he was my karma for the mistakes of my past.
Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered staying in a marriage as harsh as my own, but then I’d see her face—Ava Hughes. The greatest gift Henry had ever brought into my world. I feared deep down that if I left Henry, he would never let me see her again—and that was always enough to get me to stay.
Our daughter, Ava, was a professional at hiding out in her bedroom to read whenever a party was going on. I wished so deeply that I could hide away with her. With a book in my hand, of course. I’d choose fictional realms with dragons over reality with Henry and his friends any day of the week.