The Mischievous Mrs. Maxfield

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Damn the Devil

A/N: Hello everyone! The plot continues to twist and turn for us a little in this new chapter. TMMM is maybe three of four chapters away from the end... I'm excited about it because after this very long journey we've all been in with Charlotte, I feel like it's about time she ends it with a bang. 

Anyway, hope you enjoy this new chapter and the song that accompanies it. It's personally one of my favorites and it has a pretty powerful message. 

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“Drink number eight now, isn't it?” I asked as Jake swiped another glass of wine from a passing server’s tray. “Do you want us to just hook you up to the bar through an IV and save yourself the trouble of getting more?”

Jake sent me a quick glare as he downed the wine in one gulp. “It’s not funny, Charlotte.”

“No, it’s not, yet here you are, making a joke of yourself,” I muttered as I plucked the empty glass from his hand and handed it to another passing server, yanking Jake away before he could grab another drink. 

It was the evening of the Arts Appreciation dinner and the entire Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was nearly incandescent with soft, glowing light, and packed full of incredible art pieces and some of the country’s most fashionable patrons.

It was turning out to be a huge success in terms of money raised and art pieces being sold off like they were hotcakes but under the shiny, sparkling surface, trouble brewed.

It started with Layla’s appearance and her tight-lipped behaviour throughout most of the night. She barely spoke to me or looked my way and I had a nagging suspicion it had something to do with the grim-looking Don LeClaire stuck to her side like an ugly, painful wart. Her face didn’t look twice its size anymore and if there were any traces of her injury, her make up artist and stylist hid them well especially with some frilly fascinator nearly hanging down one side of her face. Something was definitely keeping her from reaching out to me and for Riley’s sake, I intended to find out why as soon as I found a chance. I didn’t want to confront her out of the blue and send her scurrying even farther away.

Then there was Nicole’s first foray into the public eye. Brandon and I had been taking turns in taking her around and introducing her to people as a distant part of the Maxfield clan. Francis turned up and kept some distance even though his eyes followed Nicole everywhere she went. 

Despite their heartwarming family reunion on my birthday, we didn’t fully trust Francis quite yet to leave Nicole completely to his care. To his credit though, he neither threw tantrums nor sent snide comments our way—baby steps, even though he was a few years too late.

Finally, there was Jake who arrived in a very good mood, smiling, laughing and greeting everyone with his usual easy charm—until Tessa showed up with a date, whom she introduced to us, right in front of a gaping Jake. His name was Michael and he was a law student attending Yale. He was quite attractive in a preppy way, and while he lacked Jake’s flirty, fun flair, he was certainly friendly enough that no one could hate him on the spot, even Brandon, the ever-protective older brother.

Since then, Jake’s evening, and mine by extension because I was still really the only one who knew about him and Tessa, started going downhill.

“You don’t think I know that?” Jake grumbled as he continued to glare in the direction of Tessa and her date. “I feel pathetic but there’s no helping it, is there?”

I sighed, sympathetic to Jake’s suffering. “Looking like you’re contemplating ways to dismember her date isn’t going to warm you up to Tessa, you know?”