Page 36 of Eternal Pieces
“Yes, by you cheating on him.”
“He did the same to me. He was always spending time with his receptionist rather than me.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. How can she lie so easily? I believed her when she first started insisting he cheated on her, but we quickly discovered she was lying when Reginald’s receptionist introduced her girlfriend.
“You know he didn’t. He never spent time with you because he couldn’t stand to be near you.”
Shit. That was too mean.
Mom’s expression hardens. “I always found it difficult to get close to you, but maybe we’re more alike than we thought. Maxand Maddox will grow bored with you. I can’t imagine someone like you ever being able to find two people interested in you enough to stick around.”
Her words stab me like an ice-cold shard to the heart. The attack doesn’t stop.
“You made a mistake and hooked up with them. I get it, I was young once. They should have helped you to get rid of the babies, not dragged you along with this whole charade. No one’s going to want to date a single Mom with triplets once they eventually leave you. You’ll be all alone, and who will have to pick up the pieces? Me!”
“Why are you so sure they’ll leave me?”
“Because that’s what men do! They use you, turn you into a mother or a stepmother, and once they’ve had enough, you’re out on your own again.”
My body is shaking so hard I can barely stand upright.
“Violet, I’m only trying to help take those rose-tinted glasses off that you’ve always worn.” She stretches her arms out for a hug, and I back away.
“No. You’ve never put me first. If you had, then you’d know that for the first time in my life, I am truly happy. This isn’t some fantasy I’m living out like you do every time you play house with some new guy. What I have with Max and Maddox is real. Maybe if you weren’t so selfish, you would have gotten to experience true love once in your life. But no, you don’t even know how to love your own daughter.”
Her face falls. The waterworks are about to start and I’m not falling for them.
“Mom, I need you to leave right now. There’s only one road in and out of here; you won’t miss your car. So start walking now. Please.”
“But, Violet, I want to be part of this.” She gestures to the room around her. “If you’re so insistent on staying with them,then let me help you with the wedding, and then when the children are here?—”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I’m still invited then?”
Is that seriously what she cares about? A wedding invite?
I’m not sure what I want from her anymore. But right now I need her out of my house.
“I’ll think about it,” I repeat a little softer this time for my own sake, not hers.
For once, she takes me seriously and listens.
“Alright. I’m going. I’m staying at theQuartz Hotel,and I’m only a text away if you want to talk again. I’d love to make this right.”
I don’t believe that for a second, but I desperately want to.
My body feels so numb, I barely register walking her to the front door. Mom says something else to me, probably more reasons why my relationship will never work, or why she should stay, but it’s all muffled.
This is too much to deal with, and my mind feels like it’s shutting down to protect me.
Once she’s out of sight, I head to the bathroom and throw up. Then I take a shower, hoping the heavy rush of water will bring me back to my senses.
It does, but I can’t bring myself to leave its comforting heat. I want Max and Maddox here to make me feel better, but they’re both busy with work nowadays. It would be selfish to make them drop it all for me. I’d be just like my mother.
CHAPTER 17
MADDOX
