Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 116231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
“I’ll be home in thirty minutes,” I assure her. “We are going to Kirby’s and we are going together.”
“I just—” she starts to say. “Okay, fine.” I kiss her goodbye as she walks up the steps, going to shower.
I nervously make my way over to my parents’ house, parking at the curb and ringing the doorbell for the first time in my life. Usually I would just walk in, well before that is, now I feel like I’m a stranger.
My father opens the door and smiles at me. “The door was open.” He says nothing else to me. “Come in.”
“Thank you,” I reply and I feel like I’m about to crawl out of my skin. “I don’t have much time.”
I hear footsteps coming down the hall and my mother joins us. “I made us lunch,” she announces and I shake my head.
“I’m having lunch at Kirby’s,” I tell her and she just nods.
“You could have cancelled your plans to eat with us,” my mother starts, “we haven’t seen you in months.”
“Next time,” I tell her as I walk over to the living room and sit down. “You said you wanted to talk to me.” I sit and watch my father put his hand on my mother’s back and makes her walk to the couch first, then he sits next to her.
“We need to talk about this whole thing,” my father starts. “Your sister—” I hold up my hand.
“Listen, Dad, I don’t have anything to say about that.”
“She’s your sister,” my mother snaps, taking her side. “You can’t just not talk to her for the rest of your life.”
“She’s my sister,” I begin to say, and my voice stays calm, “and we both went through a traumatic life experience that I don’t think many people go through.” I look at them. “But when we were going through it, all she did was think about herself. She blamed me.” I put my hand to my chest. “As if Jeremy cheating on her was my fault.”
“Well, if you hadn’t depended on him,” my mother starts, and I get up to my feet as my father puts his hand on her knee.
“I’m not going to sit here and defend myself against him. I asked him to help out, I didn’t ask him to fuck my wife!” I roar. “Now, she forgave him, good for her. I don’t. I never will. I don’t have to.”
“You could forgive Josephine,” my mother says. “She made a mistake.”
“Wow.” I put my hands on my hips.
“She’s sorry and she regrets it.” My mother defends my wife instead of defending me. “You didn’t even try and forgive her.” She gets to her feet. “Instead, you parade a whore—”
“Watch yourself,” I warn, my voice tight and then I look at my father, who gets up.
“That’s enough,” he says. “We said we wanted to talk, this isn’t talking.”
“I have nothing to say anymore. Whatever I did have to say obviously doesn’t matter to you.” I look at my mother, who is glaring at me. “Kylie is the woman I’m going to marry,” I inform her, and she gasps as her hand goes to her mouth. “So if you are going to have any relationship with me from this day on, you have to know that I come with her as a package.”
“That gold digger,” she accuses, and I burst out laughing.
“That gold digger is more loaded than I will ever be.” I don’t think I could shock her more. “Yeah.” I look to my father. “I’m sorry this is how it has to be. But it is what it is. I will be cordial to you in front of the kids, because I was brought up with respect, but that is as much as I will give you both.” I look to my mother. “And if I find out that you speak one word against Kylie to my children, I can guarantee you I will stop you from seeing them.”
“You wouldn’t,” she hisses.
“I would,” I retort. “One fucking word, Mother, and you will never see them again.”
“We won’t say anything,” my father assures me for both of them. “We would like to meet her again.”
“We will do no such thing,” my mother snaps, putting her shoulders back.
“You are willing to lose your son, for what?” he asks her. “For who?” He doesn’t wait for her to answer. “For Jeremy?” She doesn’t say anything. “For Josephine? Good fucking Lord, woman, they broke up this family and you are defending the wrong person. In all of this, he did nothing wrong.” He points to me.
“I have a right to my opinion,” she spits, fighting her fight.
“And you have a right to keep your opinion to yourself,” I say.
“I will—” my mother starts to defy me, and my father roars out again.
“For fuck’s sake.” He throws his hands up. “Listen to yourself.”