Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh at what she just heard.
She looked at Megan with an expression of disbelief. “Are you serious right now? You really don’t see me as an outsider, do you? I’m Sean’s girlfriend, and you’re asking me to bring my boyfriend to his admirer’s birthday party?”
She wasn’t angry. It just felt a little absurd.
Megan raised a hand and made a mock pledge to the sky. “I swear, it’s not like that. I just want to make up for all those years he never came. I’m not asking for anything else. Just bring him. You two can be all lovey–dovey, post it online, whatever. I can handle it. I just want him to show up to one of my birthday parties. Just this once.
“Please, Charlotte? You’re the best. Say yes?” Megan even grabbed Charlotte’s arm and started shaking it playfully, her tone pleading. “I really don’t have any bad intentions. Just this once, okay?”
Charlotte frowned, thinking it over.
“I promise I won’t do anything. Let this party be the closure to my years of unrequited love,” Megan added, her voice unusually sincere.
After a long pause, Charlotte finally let out a sigh. “Alright.”
Megan’s face lit up. “Thank you, Charlotte! Lunch is on me.”
At the restaurant’s private dining room, the three of them–Charlotte, Megan, and Sean–sat around a round table.
Megan passed the menu to Charlotte and let her order.
Charlotte ordered a few of her favorite dishes, including a plate of steamed shrimp. She had loved shrimp since she was a kid, and growing up, the housekeepers always peeled them for her. But today, it was just the three of them.
When the food arrived, she picked up a shrimp with her fork and dropped it onto her plate. She wiped her hands, ready to peel it
herself.
Before she could, a hand reached over and took the shrimp right off her plate.
She looked up in surprise.
Sean had already started peeling it for her.
He looked perfectly at ease, his pale, slender fingers moving smoothly and gracefully as he worked.
Charlotte blinked, a little stunned. Then she glanced at Megan.
Megan looked frozen in place, her expression slightly strained.
Sean finished peeling the shrimp, dipped it in the sauce, and dropped it back into Charlotte’s bowl.
“Thanks,” she murmured, picking it up and taking a bite.
Before she had even finished, Sean was already peeling the next one.
Megan forced a smile. “Wow, Sean. I didn’t know you were the type to peel shrimp for someone.”
He was the golden boy of Jersey City–the kind of man who had grown up with servants taking care of everything. Peeling shrimp should have been far beneath him. And yet, from the way he handled it, it was obvious this wasn’t his first time.
Sean kept his head down, calmly focused on the shrimp. “She’s my girlfriend. Of course I’m going to take care of her. I can’t expect her to do everything on her own.”
1/3
+25 BONUS
her chest, as if the wind had been knocked out of her.
tn’t say a word. Instead, she reached for a random dish and shoved a bite into her mouth just to keep herself quiet. She had no one to blame but herself. She should have known better than to keep talking. Every word out of his mouth cut like a
Megen had always seen Charlotte as a rival.
She used to imagine that if Sean ever got back together with Charlotte, Charlotte would gloat and brag about how easily she had won the man Megan had chased for seven years without success.
She’d even rehearsed how she would respond with grace and dignity when the moment came.
But she never imagined the one rubbing it in her face would be Sean himself.
In contrast, Charlotte actually looked a little embarrassed, even awkward.
Before long, a little pile of peeled shrimp had formed in Charlotte’s bow!.
Sean, satisfied, picked up a warm towel and slowly wiped his hands. “Is that enough?”
“Yeah.” Charlotte kept her head down as the ate
Sean then picked out a piece of fish, fully removed all the bones, and placed the clean fillet into her bowl.
