I step to the side and she waltzes inside, removing her hat and hanging it on the rack next to the door.
“Hello, Mother. What can I do for you?” I try to keep the irritation out of my voice. But right now, I don’t want to deal with her melodrama.
“Be a dear and get me a glass of sweet tea with a lemon in it.”
My shoulders stiffen. Here we go with this shit.
Where the hell does she thinks she is? A five-star restaurant? Bitch, please.
“We don’t have tea, we have bottled water and orange juice.”
“I’ll have a bottle of water.”
I go to the kitchen and grab the water from the fridge and head to the living room.
She sits on the couch and picks up a fashion magazine, and I set the bottle on the table in front of her.
Shock is an understatement as far as seeing my mother. We don’t have a relationship where she comes over to my place unannounced.
My mother has only been to my place maybe one or two times. So why is she here? Is it because I lashed out at her at dinner? If she expects me to apologize, I won’t. Is it because I’ve been avoiding my dad’s messages? I didn’t attend the board meeting this past Monday. Normally, I’d bring everyone donuts and put in my two cents on what we should do to improve the company. It doesn’t matter anyways. It’s not like my father needs me.
Felix was right about my father, and I need to stop expecting shit from him. He made up his mind about me, and he doesn’t want to do anything with me. I’ll just have to suck things up and accept what is.
She sets the magazine down and picks up the bottle, unscrews the top, and sips slowly of the cool beverage. “This water tastes like shit.”
Then she pushes the bottle to the side and eyes my living room as if it’s the worst thing she’s ever seen. “Your decor is so out of date, and the couch was out two season ag-”
“Why are you here?”
She stands up from the couch. “Where are you off to?”
“Vacationing in Key West with a friend.”
She knits her eyebrows together. “With Jasper?”
“No. Someone else.”
I don’t tell my mother my personal business because she’s always trying to tell me how to live my life.
She was never fond of Jasper because of his lifestyle, but who cares what she thinks? She’s not a saint in the moral department. Homophobia is beneath me, and I don’t believe in judging someone because of who they decide to sleep with.
“Is it a guy? Are you going to finally take my advice and find a wealthy man? There are a few gentlemen at the country club who are ready to marry. Larry has been asking about you.” There is a tint of hope in her voice and it only makes my irritation grow even more. Larry was my prom date and I didn’t want him, he’s too serious and annoying.
“I have a flight to catch. So I’m on a time limit.” I deliberately stand by the door so she’ll know that I’m serious. So she can hurry up and get out of here.
“You stormed out of dinner so fast that I didn’t get to deliver my news.” Annoyance eats up her face and she taps her foot with her hands on her hips. “We should have brunch after you come back from Florida.”
“I’ll think about it,” I snap. She eyes me up and down and her mouth twitches.
“When did you turn into a disobedient brat?”
“When I realized you’re a shitty mother.” I exhale loudly. “No disrespect, Mom, but you’re a shitty person. You treat everyone like shit. Who broke your heart? Who turned you into this cold hard person? Why is it so hard for you to love people?”
Shock encircles her eyes. Her shock wraps around me like a blanket. She opens her mouth then closes it, then opens it again.
“You’re just like your meme, living in this fantasy world where love exists, believing that love conquers all. It doesn’t. Love doesn’t pay the bills. Love doesn’t put food in your belly. Love doesn’t keep the lights on. My parents loved each other and look what happened to them. They died broke because they didn’t marry well.” She steps closer and her eyes grow angry with a mixture of rage. She looks like Cruella de Vil when she was driving that car. “Do you know how it feels to go without food? Or having the water cut off for weeks? Mom and Dad worked so hard to take care of Uncle James, Auntie Lauren and me. You’re such an ungrateful bitch.”
I feel bad for my mom; she’s so bitter and angry at my grandparents because they were poor.
She’s in my face. She’s only a few inches taller than me so looks me straight in the eye.
“I tried to break you from that thinking. You marry for wealth. You marry so your future children will be taken care of, not for some fantasy that love prevails all.”
Bile tickles the back of my throat and nausea dances in the pit of my stomach.
I’m so sick of her trying to control every fucking thing I do. She acts like I’m a robot and that I’m not entitled to my own emotions. No wonder Dad treats her like shit.
“I never said love prevails all, I said I’m not marrying someone for what’s in their bank account. And you know what? It’s an honor to be like Grandma Ruth because at least she died happy and knew she was loved unconditionally. I feel so bad for yo--”
Her palm smacks me in the face so that my eyes sting with tears. She looks at me as if I’m trash. For the first time since my
