Chapter 42

Chapter 0042 Judy’s POV “Irene,” I greeted, thankful that I sounded stronger than I felt. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“Oh, I was just getting some stuff for my upcoming wedding,” she said, holding up her shopping bag. She glanced at Nan. “And who’s this?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat; the last thing I wanted was for Irene to be curious about Nan and try to take her too. I knew it wasn’t fair of me to blame Ethan for leaving me on Irene because she’s as much a victim as I am if not more. But I couldn’t help myself. Whenever I look at Irene, I think about how my mate left me for her. I grimaced at the very thought of him touching her the way that he used to touch me. We were so in love at one point; he was my fated mate and we were supposed to be together forever. It was written on the star; it was the Goddess who paired us together.

But she had made a grave mistake. Or maybe it was Ethan who had taken the wrong turn. My chest continued to ache even after I swore, I was over him.

Does one ever truly get over their mate though?

“This is my best friend, Nan,” I told her, motioning for Nan who gave Irene a quizzical look. Nan already knew all about Irene and I didn’t have to explain who she was.

Irene held out her hand to shake Nan’s and Nan only stared at it for a brief moment, a frown marring her perfectly glossed lips. I had to nudge Nan slightly on the arm to snap her out of her stupor because Irene couldn’t know that something was wrong.

Nan hesitantly lifted her hand and placed it in Irene’s.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Nan said with a forced smile.

“Hello, Nan,” Irene said cheerfully, not noticing that anything was wrong or weird. “I’m Irene Landry. Gavin Landry’s daughter and Ethan Cash’s fiancé. It’s so very nice to meet you.”

I could see Nan struggling to keep her calm, but she managed just fine and dipped her head in respect.

“And it’s an honor, Miss Landry,” she said with a slight bite in her words.

“What are you girls up to?” She asked, looking between us 1 glanced at Nan who gave me a slight shrug just before looking back at Irene.

“We were just shopping,” I answered.

“It’s kind of a girl’s day,” Nan added.

Something flashed in Irene’s eyes that I couldn’t quite understand.

“Oh, I see,” she said thoughtfully. “I’ve never had a girl’s day before. I guess I never really had friends to do that type of thing with.

I raised my brows; I found it difficult to believe she never had friends. I mean, she was Irene Landry after all.

“You’ve never had friends?” Nan asked, mimicking my thoughts.

Trene shrugged casually, looking a bit troubled “Not real ones,” she admitted. “I guess people are just intimidated by me or something. It’s no big deal..”

+25 BONUS Chapter 0042 She bit her lip and stared at the ground. I looked at Nan again; I knew Irene wanted an invite to our shopping spree and 1 could tell Nan was thinking the same thing because she gave me a slight head shake when I met her eyes.

I grabbed Nan’s arm and turned back to Irene.

“Well, it was nice seeing you again, Irene. We should be going now,” I told her as I pulled Nan alongside me. “Oh,” Irene said, sounding disappointed. “Okay, I guess I‘ see you later.

I nodded and waved over my shoulder and continued dragging Nan down the street, ignoring that Irene’s eyes were burning a hole in the back of my head.

“She’s certainly an interesting character,” Nan murmured as we entered the boutique.

“Certainly,” I agreed.

We spent the evening shopping for Nan and getting Talia albirthday present. Nan settled on a gorgeous ruby bracelet with a heart charm; she got Talia’s name engraved on the charm.

After we went shopping, we went to a restaurant for dinner “Thanks for going out with me today,” Nan said as she dropped me back at the house.

I smiled at her.

“You don’t have to thank me,” I told her. “I love hanging out with you,”

She smiled; we hugged, and I left her car to return to my dark and quiet house. It’s been exceptionally quiet since my father was taken. My mother had hardly left her room in the last couple of days. I checked on her this morning, but she didn’t seem to want to talk. If I can’t get her out of Her room tomorrow, I’ll probably end up calling her doctor to make a home visit. She couldn’t keep going on like this; it wasn’t good for her. She was wasting away before my eyes, and I was so worried about her.