After I Stopped Loving Him (Isabella and Ethan) novel Chapter 991

“We’ll just go to my family’s hotel. I’ll call the manager right now and have them hold a table for us.”

“I’m kidding, we definitely don’t need a bunch of tables… One big one is plenty. And I’m bringing Douglas,” Linda said. Then she turned to Laura. “Laura, it’s been ages since we saw Melissa. Do you think we could invite her too?”

It was obvious what she was doing—giving Douglas a shot.

Laura and Jesse had talked about Douglas and Melissa before. Jesse liked Douglas and thought he’d be a great match for Melissa.

Melissa had that naturally cool, distant vibe, while Douglas was always warm and easygoing. She wasn’t much of a talker, but Douglas could fill the air with stories and jokes. Whenever the two of them were together, Douglas was the one carrying the conversation.

Their personalities sort of balanced each other out.

Jesse once said he wanted to test if Douglas actually liked Melissa, but he hadn’t gotten the chance yet.

Linda was clearly impatient. Laura made a mental note to talk to Jesse about it later. If they could figure out if Douglas was serious about Melissa, and if his feelings were real, maybe they could step in and help push things along.

Laura spoke up. “Hey, I’m not the host, so I probably shouldn’t be inviting people. You should check with Isabella and Harold.”

Before Isabella could say a word, Harold jumped in. “I’ll call Melissa later, see if she’s free. It’ll be fun to all have dinner together.”

Linda shot Harold a grateful look.

He appreciated her too—she’d always put in a good word for him when Isabella was around.

Linda had known for a while that neither Isabella nor Laura was into her brothers.

Once she noticed Harold had feelings for Isabella, Linda would always find ways to support him, little comments or casual mentions. Harold was someone even she respected, and in her eyes, Isabella would be a thousand times happier with Harold than with Ethan.

At last, he didn’t have to be jealous of Jesse.

Natalie never saw it coming. Her plan to ruin Isabella’s reputation had only pushed Isabella and Harold together. She ended up with nothing for herself and spun out with anger. All it did was land her in another messy scandal—now people were dragging her name online everywhere.

She even saw people leaving nasty comments about her on The Gates Group’s Twitter page.

Her parents and older brother all called to scold her.

Natalie felt trapped, like the whole world was closing in. Old friends—everyone except Nadine, who was in lockup—were starting to step away, acting distant, not wanting to get involved.

And her family was turning on her too.

Was it really her fault? All she ever wanted was to make Isabella’s life miserable. She couldn’t help how much she hated her.