I turn around to look at my mother’s face, and she looks so much worse than the last time I saw her. She looks like she’s in her fifties, even though she hasn’t turned forty yet. Her eyes are sunken in, hair wiry and graying prematurely. Her yellow, rotting teeth look like a dentist’s worst nightmare as she smirks at me like she just caught her prey, and the man standing next to her doesn’t look any better.
“Weren’t even going to tell me you were in town?” she chastises me.
I grit my teeth, every muscle tensing as I slip into defense mode. I stand up from my chair, subconsciously stepping in front of Olivia, shielding her. “How did you know I was here?”
She shrugs a shoulder. “I have my sources.”
Sources?
What the hell does that mean? The only way she could have known I was in town is if someone told her. And then it clicks. The guy at the gas station. Not a doubt crosses my mind that they run in the same circles, and he put two and two together.
She waltzes up to the table, bypassing me to sit at the other side of it, the man, who I only assume is another one of her boyfriends, following her. Even my demented grandmother stares at them with skepticism and distrust.
I remain standing, itching to get out of here, and just as I’m about drag Olivia away, my mother speaks up.
“So, what, you’re just here to make sure you collect the money without even consulting me?” my mother continues, leaning back in her chair.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I spit, in no mind to play games.
“Don’t play dumb with me,” she snarls, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. “You heard she put you in her will instead of me and you’re only coming down here to make sure it stays that way.”
I shake my head, feeling like I just got hit by a freight train. “What?”
She growls impatiently. “That money belongs to me,” she insists.
I blink, growing frustrated. “I have no clue what you’re talking about,” I reply honestly, not knowing where she’s getting all these ideas about money. Did my grandma seriously put me in her will? Why?
She slams her hands on the table, gaining the attention of nearby residents. “The hell you do!” she accuses. “I talked to an attorney, and the demented old broad is leavingeverythingto you! And she’s so far gone now that she won’t switch it over to my name because she barely knows who I am anymore!”
A humorless, bitter chuckle escapes from the back of my throat. Of course. It all makes sense now. All the phone calls, why she wanted me to come down here to see my grandmother so bad. She wants me to have everything switched over to her name.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying my best to leash my temper. “Of course. I should have known. You only ever call me when you need money.”
“I deserve that money! I’m her daughter!” she states hysterically.
“Yeah, and a shitty one at that!” I roar back, any reserve I have left cracking. All the emotions I had festering inside of me are coming to the surface. “You don’t deserve anything!”
“And you do?” she counters, and for some reason her words hit me straight in the chest.
“I never said I deserve shit,” I growl. “But I’ll be damned if I give you any money so you can go blow it all on drugs. Like you always do. Always have. That’s probably why you’re not getting anything in the first place. You were a shitty daughter who only cared about getting your next high. You stole money from her all the time to get drugs and wound up getting pregnant at fifteen because you were so reckless. Then you were a shitty mother, never caring about your own son and shoving me off onto her for as long as you could until she had to kick you out.”
Her jaw ticks in anger and annoyance. “I was a good mother. You always had a roof over your head, didn’t you?”
I bark out a laugh. This lady is fucking delusional. “Yeah, because seventy percent of the time it was provided by other people!”
Zero remorse crosses her face, sending me over the edge. Suddenly I feel angry, hurt,vulnerable. Like I’m a little kid all over again, just wanting my mommy to care about me.
“Let’s get out of here,” I say, grabbing a stunned Olivia by the arm and leading her to the exit.
“We’re not finished here!” my mother calls, and I hear her get up. She grabs my arm, and I spin around to face her, towering over her.
“Yes. We are,” I say with finality. “Never in a million years will I give you a penny.”
Her eyes look up at me with pure hatred. “Fuck you.”
“Right back atcha.”
I back away slowly, sending her one last warning glare before placing my hand on Olivia’s lower back and steering her out to the parking lot. I open the car door for her, and she gets in, speechless. I get behind the wheel and start the engine, peeling out of the lot more aggressively than I intended to.
