Change of Hart(24)

“I have to go potty!” Emma yelled as she ran by, completely oblivious to the scene in front of her.

I turned back to Addison, only to see her bandaged hand clutched to her stomach, her other hand over her lips, and her wide eyes filling with tears.

“Addison,” I said, moving toward her. She took a step back, away from me. “That was . . .”

“I’m so sorry, Jason, that should never have happened,” she said hurriedly and rushed from the room, down the hall until I heard a door shut.

“Which way did Emma go?” Lindsay asked, walking through the kitchen.

“Bathroom,” I said, still staring after Addison.

Once again, I was left standing here thinking, “What the hell just happened?”

With nothing else to do but cut fruit and sort out my thoughts, I sliced everything and cleaned up before heading back outside. Addison was still hiding in the back, probably in the bedroom she had shared with her husband, so I delivered the fruit.

It was times like these when my media face came in handy. It wasn’t hard to smile and fake my happiness the rest of the afternoon. I even posed for an actual picture with Samantha, but only because she was Jaxon’s aunt. If she had been anyone else, I would have politely told her to buzz off and reminded her that this was a birthday party for a child. Maybe part of me was hoping Addison would see it on Facebook later and feel some jealousy.

About ten minutes later, Addison finally reappeared, this time with the cake.

She completely ignored me for the rest of the party. She didn’t look at me when we sang “Happy Birthday”. She didn’t look at me when she passed out slices of cake. She didn’t even look at me when Jax opened his present. Jaxon, of course, jumped up and down and squealed with excitement, which made me smile a real smile. But Addison didn’t so much as glance in my direction.

“What the hell is going on?” Lindsay asked quietly. I hadn’t noticed her standing next to me. As always, she apparently hadn’t missed anything.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re full of it, Jason. Something happened between you and Addison and it’s making things really uncomfortable.”

I looked around the backyard at all the partygoers laughing and having a good time. “It doesn’t look like anyone is uncomfortable.”

“Yeah. No one except you and her,” she said, pointing at Addison.

I tightened my lips but didn’t say a word.

“That’s what I thought,” she said. “What happened?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, turning around to sit back down in the lawn chair, silently praying Lindsay was the only one to notice the tension.

After all the presents were opened and the cake was devoured, Lindsay and I agreed we could slip out without seeming rude. We said goodbye to Jaxon first, who was way too distracted to really notice we were leaving. It didn’t matter to me. I was just happy he was having such a great time.

We found Addison sitting next to Samantha, of all people, on the other side of the yard.

“Hey, Addison,” I started, shifting from foot to foot, my hands in my pockets, trying, and failing, not to seem nervous. But damn, how was I supposed to act in this situation? “We’re headed out. Lindsay’s husband is heading home and wants to take them to dinner or something.”

“Ok,” she said, not moving from her chair or looking me in the eye. “Thanks for coming.”

“Uh, yeah, thanks for inviting us,” I said. “I guess I’ll talk to you later?”

“I’m sure I’ll talk to you soon,” she said, glancing at me quickly and looking away even quicker. “Jaxon will be asking about you, so . . . there’s that.”

I nodded once, feeling the sting of her remark. “Ok. Thanks again. It was nice meeting you, Samantha,” I said with small wave.

“You, too,” she said. “Oh, and I friend requested you on Facebook, so we can talk any time you want.”

Addison flinched just slightly. Samantha didn’t even notice. “I’ll let my publicist know. I’m not really on that Facebook page. It’s more of a marketing thing.”

Samantha’s smile fell. I barely noticed. But I noticed Addison’s back straighten just a bit. Yeah. She had been jealous. But that didn’t make any sense. Hadn’t she just blown me off after kissing me? And not just kissing me. But really kissing me. And now here she was, pretending like she’d never even met me before. I was so confused.

“Ok well,” I started walking backwards toward the door, “see ya.”

“See ya,” she said without another glance.