Page 4 of Matrimonial Merger
The concierge responded, “Miss Delphine, Mrs. Markham is here. She’d like to be let up.”
“And I used to be!” I heard Elise protest.
Fuck!
“Let her up,” I said, too tired to have much to say.
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed.
I went back to the bedroom to finish putting in my earrings. I wouldn’t wait around for her. She’d come find me—demanding to know where her son was—soon enough.
“Calvin!” Her annoyance rang out. “Are youdecent?”
“Cal isn’t here,” I responded, screwing in my second earring. “He’s on his way.”
“Are you… decent?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes.”
“You don’t need to sound so annoyed.”
I made eye contact with Elise in the mirror. “Well, if you hadannouncedyour arrival two weeks ago, you wouldn’t have been surprised.”
At thirty-five, I refused to hear my future mother-in-law complain about walking in on us in the kitchen. And I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her about anything—let alone about this. It was a fuck around and situation, as Cal’s sister Chloe would affectionately say. Or, rather, we fucked around andshefound out.
“I didn’t think—” She changed her tone. “I won’t go there. However, I do doubt I will eat here anymore.”
That’s fine!
She retreated while I finished looking myself over. I may have felt bloated. I may have worried about the dress, but I didn’t worry about how Cal would feel. I touched my earrings, looking for strength just to power through how lousy I felt so I could be happy. They were a gift from my father on my twenty-first birthday. My ex called them “guache” so I hadn’t worn them much until he was out of my life. Cal, though, loved them on me. I knew he’d tell me I was the most beautiful woman on earth. Moreover, that adoration would be truly genuine.
“Fucking hell! I’m so sorry, baby!” I heard Cal’s voice booming from the living room.
By the time he made it to the bedroom, he’d thrown off his jacket somewhere and was unbuttoning his shirt. “Traffic was?—”
He stopped upon seeing his mother. “Well, traffic was awful. Sorry. I should have walked.”
“That’s a ridiculous idea,” Elise said. “People would hassle you.”
“They’re constituents, not the unwashed masses, Mom.”
She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug, intercepting Cal before he could so much as greet me. It wassotypical. Instead of paying her much mind, however, he turned to me.
“Well, you look… gorgeous,” Cal said. “Damn. Give me like ten minutes.”
“It’s going to take more than that, Cal. You need to shave,” Elise said.
I glared at her. “It’s fine. No one cares about the stubble.”
We were now at a standoff. And rather than give her any satisfaction, I kissed Cal—long and slow. Her Boy Mom bullshit wasn’t impressing me. I was all out of fucks two hours ago. Now, my fucks were in the negative and I was in a burn-it-all-down mood.
“Ten minutes. I swear,” Cal said, looking past me.
He expected Elise to leave, but she was being her overbearing most.
“Mom, a moment?”
“Fine fine.”
