Until May (Until Her/Him #11)(43)

“Nice to meet you both.” He holds out his fist to me, then dips his chin to May.

“I can’t believe you’re here. The last I heard, you were some big-time soccer player in London,” Daisy says, and I wait for the pain to hit my chest that normally comes when someone brings up soccer, but it never does. “How is your dad doing?”

“Every day, he’s getting a little better.”

“That’s good to hear.” She turns when a little girl yells “Daddy,” and a second later, a dark-haired girl—probably five or six—runs across the room wearing a gold dress that matches Daisy’s.

“Daddy.” The girl plows into Ryan, and he picks her up. “Can I please have a cupcake?”

“Of course you can,” he tells her while Daisy leans in to them and adjusts the little girl’s dress and touches her cheek. Envy slams into my chest as I watch the three of them, and my fingers on May’s waist tighten.

“Grandma said I couldn’t, that I’m getting chubby.” Her little brows drag together. “What’s chubby?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” he tells her with his jaw clenched before kissing her cheek, then he looks at his wife.

“I’ll deal with my mom,” Daisy assures him softly, rubbing his arm.

“You do it, or I will.” He leans over to kiss her before he places the little girl on the ground and takes her hand. “Let’s go get you a cupcake.” His eyes swing between May and me. “Nice meeting you both. I’m sure we’ll chat.”

I lift my chin and watch him walk off.

“Well, I need to go find my mom before my husband does.” Daisy sighs, looking around before focusing on us. “We’ll have to catch up. Maybe all of us can get dinner sometime.”

“We’ll make that happen,” I say, then she looks at May and smiles before she walks off.

“So you two pretended to date when you were in high school?”

“Sophomore year, her mom and mine conspired to get us together, so we ended up going to prom.” I start leading us toward the bar. “That night, she confessed she had a boyfriend a couple of towns over that her family knew nothing about. We didn’t go out again after that, but I knew she told her parents we did, and I did the same with my mom so she would stop trying to hook me up with her friends’ daughters.”

“What, you didn’t like your mom hooking you up?” she teases, and I grin at her, then spot my mother and my sister heading our way.

“Fuck.”

“What?” She frowns as my mother closes in on us.

“Remember your promise,” I whisper, then kiss her cheek, and her body braces.

“Aiden.” My mom grabs my bicep as soon as she is close, then leans up to kiss my cheek, hissing there, “I expected you to be here in your father’s absence to help me greet the guests as they arrived.”

“I’m sure you and Bridgett were able to handle things.” I look at my sister. “Bridgett, Mom, I’d like you to meet May.” I look down at my girl and find a warm smile on her face. “Doll, my sister and mother.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” May says, covering my hand on her hip, and I loosen my grip there, not realizing how tightly I was holding her.

“Jennifer is here tonight,” Mom says without even sparing May a glance. “She’s anxious to catch up with you.”

“As you can see, I’m here with someone.” I grit my teeth, narrowing my eyes on my mother.

She gives me a look that states clearly that she couldn’t care less about May—or what I want, for that matter. “Yes, well, tonight is about business, not about fun.” She raises her chin. At that moment, a burst of loud laughter rings through the room, and I look over at the bar, finding my sister’s husband Conner and a group of his friends circled around the pretty young bartender who’s passing them all shots.

“I see Conner is enjoying himself.” I nod toward the bar.

“Bridgett’s husband is good at entertaining people,” Mom says as Bridgett looks over at Conner and presses her lips together when he leans in to whisper something to the bartender that makes her blush.

I would be pissed on my sister’s behalf for his blatant disrespect, but they have an agreement. He keeps her in a nice house with a fancy car in their driveway, and sends her on vacations all over the world, while she keeps her mouth shut about him stepping out on her. It’s not an arrangement I would ever be okay with, but I learned a long time ago that my sister doesn’t want love. She wants nice things.

“Dinner and the auction are going to begin soon. We should all take our seats,” Mom says, glancing at May quickly when the music cuts off and a man steps onto the stage at the front of the room. “I didn’t know you’d be bringing a date, so she will have to find another table.”

“We’ll find another table.” I give my mother a tight smile, then hold onto May and turn us away from my family without another word.

We walk across the room as everyone begins to take their seats at the round tables on the outer edge of what will at some point be the dance floor, and I attempt to smile at people I know as we pass. If I didn’t know how important this event has always been to my father, I would leave, but it is a big deal to him.