"Yeah, I thought we might for a minute, but then, of course, I met my fiance. Lexington Wells?" I enunciate the words just to see if I can see a shift in his expression, but his poker face holds.
"I knew his father when I was in college. What a great man. Tragedy what happened."
I clench my jaw and force a smile I don't feel at all."Yeah. That's really what brought us here, at the end of the day. Had he not perished, Lexington's mother wouldn't have fallen into her habits that she needed help with– and all of these people wouldn't have been affected in some way."
A nearly imperceptible twitch at the corner of Charles' eye lets me know that the insult has landed. These coded barbs we're trading might be lost to those around us, but we're both all too aware of the conversation that's taking place tucked between friendly words and coy smiles.
