My Boyfriend Took My Best Friend Home for Thanksgiving Chapter 03

My Boyfriend Took My Best Friend Home for Thanksgiving Chapter 03

I didn’t want to deal with any of it anymore. I booked my ticket home and, since I still had time to kill, stopped by a nearby mall to pick up a few gifts to take back with me.

For lunch, I deliberately chose a Cajun seafood restaurant.

I had spent years catering to Mason’s tastes and couldn’t remember the last time I had chosen a restaurant simply because I liked the food.

The moment I walked in, though, I saw Mason and Tessa with a huge group of her relatives.

Mason was making the rounds, handing out gifts one by one.

Tessa sat beside him wearing the engagement ring he had told me was meant for me, dabbing the sweat from his forehead.

“This skincare set is for you. It’s the exact brand you asked for, and I got the top-of-the-line collection.”

Then he turned to Tessa’s father.

“Mr. Morgan, this one’s for you—a thirty-year-old single malt Scotch. The real thing. I had a few friends help me track it down.”

Shopping bags of every size were piled around his feet. Clearly, they were all gifts for Tessa’s family.

In all the years Mason had visited my parents, he had never brought them a thing.

I had always bought the gifts myself ahead of time and pretended they were from him.

“Mason, sit down and eat,” Tessa’s mother said, finally pulling him into a chair.

She loaded his plate with a huge serving of catfish drenched in spicy Cajun butter.

Mason’s face and neck were flushed, and sweat had already soaked through the back of his shirt.

That was how he looked when the heat had pushed him to his limit.

Still, he smiled and finished every bite without a word.

I remembered the first time he had come to my parents’ house.

They had made an entire spread for him, but one dish happened to be spicy enough to make him cough. He had immediately turned sullen.

After that, my parents had always been painfully careful whenever they cooked for him.

I couldn’t watch anymore.

As I turned to leave, I happened to notice the card Mason pulled from his wallet.

It was the card for our wedding fund—the one I had given him.

I immediately checked the balance.

The forty-five thousand dollars I had spent seven years saving was down to barely fifty-five hundred.

Dozens of charges, totaling $39,450, had all gone to Tessa and her family.

I was too furious to eat.

I went back that same day, packed my bags, and was about to change my ticket when Mason walked in with Tessa behind him.

What I hadn’t expected was for Mason to get angry before I even had the chance.

“Hannah, I told you to stay out of sight. Why did you show up at that restaurant? Were you trying to embarrass Tessa?”

I opened my mouth, but Tessa shoved him hard.

“Mason, what is wrong with you? That’s my bestie you’re talking to.”

“If Hannah showed up there to stake her claim, it’s only because she cares about you. Why are you yelling at her?”

“Apologize.”

She made it sound like she was defending me, while neatly confirming that I had shown up out of jealousy.

Mason immediately backed down.

He reined himself in and lowered his voice.

“I was out of line just now. I’m sorry.”

Then he continued, “But Tessa doesn’t have it as easy as you do. It’s just you and your mom. She has this huge family constantly putting pressure on her. You know how hard that is.”

“Stop making things harder for her. Aren’t you two supposed to be best friends?”

So having a whole crowd of relatives there to back her up and vet her future husband counted as a difficult life.

My mother waiting alone for me back home apparently counted as easy.

I was the one losing my boyfriend to someone else.

I was the one who wouldn’t get to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

And somehow, I was still the one who had done something wrong.