Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 119852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Whether creating a home where we always felt loved or creating a business that would keep us financially secure, Mom and Dad are a team in every sense of the word. In my eyes, they’ve always been perfect and I’ve strived to live up to that standard every day of my life.
“Mom, Dad… I have something I need to talk to you about.”
They look at me expectantly, Dad with a flat expression and Mom with a soft smile. “Of course, honey. What’s up?” Mom says.
I look down at my hands, spinning my ring around my finger. You’d think that I would’ve figured out how to say this on my drive out here, but I couldn’t find the words then and I can’t find them now.
“Kayla, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
I look up to find Mom’s eyes have filled with worry. “I’ve met someone.”
Mom lets out a relieved breath in a whoosh. “That’s wonderful! When do we get to meet him?”
“Miranda,” Dad says slowly, his too perceptive gaze locked on me, “she’s not done. Are you?”
I shake my head, meeting his eyes with my chin held high. Once upon a time, I would’ve shrunk beneath the shrewdness of one of my father’s trademarked looks, but we worked together for years and I had to learn to stand up to him a long time ago. Honestly, of my parents, he’s the one I’m more prepared to deal with. I know how he thinks… methodically, how he feels… deeply but quietly, and how he’s going to react… poorly. And while I wish I could expect better, at least predictability is comfortable. I’m not sure how Mom is going to react. She’s understanding, but she’s also image-minded after so many years as the public face of the Harrington Foundation, so she could go either way, and that uncertainty pricks at me as I try to formulate a script of how I want to say this.
“It’s still new, but we were videoed at a restaurant last night. It’s going viral and news is traveling fast.”
Dad’s eyes narrow. “Can we see the video? Have you called Mr. Rodriguez?”
“Yes, Dad,” I say, glad I can at least answer his second question easily. As for the rest of this, it’s going to be more difficult. But maybe showing them the video is the quickest way, like ripping a Band-Aid off in one swift move. I pull the video up of Riggs, Maddox, and me outside the restaurant. The fight with Brent is irrelevant right now. “Here.”
Dad and Mom watch, and I know what they seeing… Riggs and Maddox gathering around me, both of their arms at my waist as we have an obviously intimate conversation. Maddox pushing my hair back to peer into my eyes and Riggs’s jaw popping from where he’s grinding his teeth so hard. One of the valets arriving with my car and them ushering me into the dark privacy of the backseat as they take the front seats. The angry glance they share before they relax, reacting to something I say.
“I’m confused. Which of these men are you seeing? They both seem particularly smitten with you.” Mom doesn’t get it.
Dad does. He’s looking at me with a totally neutral expression on his face, but I feel his disappointment all the same. He’s the one I watch as I tell them, “Both of them. I’m seeing Riggs and Maddox. We’re a… throuple.”
Oh, my God. Saying that aloud is wild. Saying it to my parents is terrifying.
“Kayla Anne Harrington!” Mom gasps, her hand at her throat as she clutches for pearls she’s not currently wearing. “What in the world are you talking about? You can’t date two men. What will people say? What will they think?” Mom is spiraling, her voice getting higher pitched and the questions coming rapid-fire. Out of the side of her mouth, as though I won’t hear her, she asks Dad, “Charles, what’s a throuple?”
Dad doesn’t explain but instead asks, “Is it serious?”
“Of course it’s not,” Mom answers for me.
“Mom—”
“You’ll have to choose one.”
“Mom!” I have never once raised my voice to my mother, but I do now. I will defend my relationship with Riggs and Maddox to anyone, to everyone, to my parents. “I am seeing Riggs and Maddox. We are together, the three of us, in a relationship. It’s not what any of us were looking for, and none of us have been in a throuple before so we’re figuring things out, but we are together.” I want her to understand. I need her on my side to battle Dad. I send her a pleading look before turning to Dad. “Yes, it’s serious.”
He inhales deeply and loudly exhales on a grumble. “I see.”
“Dad, I know—”
He talks over me, a bad habit he doesn’t usually have, which highlights how upset he is. “You are the child I have never worried about. I always trusted you to choose the right path and do the right thing—”