AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mom.” I opened my arms, feigning a smile. Meanwhile, my anger spiked at her impromptu trip while my life was crumbling to ashes. “So happy to see you.”
She crossed her legs, bringing her glass to her lips and sipping through a straw. “It wounds me to the core that you aren’t happy to see your mother.”
I circled the massage table, zeroing in on her face. “It wounds me to the core that you’ve chosen to ruin any chance of happiness in my life.”
She choked on the water, coughing as her eyes snapped up to meet mine. I never confronted her before. I was always cordial, understanding, and obedient.
My way of apologizing for killing her husband.
Mom set her cup down. “Excuse me?”
“You are, in fact, not excused.” I sat on a bench under the window overlooking the pool. This would be a long talk. “Since Dad died, I’ve tried to be the perfect son to compensate for killing him.”
“You didn’t kill him?—”
“I did, and we know it. His side of the car remained mostly undamaged after the accident. If he stayed there, he’d be alive. That rake should’ve pierced my chest, not his.”
She swallowed, turning away. Nothing she could say in the face of the ugly truth.
“After you snapped out of your grief?—”
“I haven’t.” She shrugged her robe on, staring off into the wall. “I haven’t snapped out of my grief.”
“Fair enough.” I believed it, because neither had I. “After you became functional again,” I corrected, “Ayi and I agreed not to rock the boat. We didn’t want to trigger a relapse.”
“I’m not broken.” She crossed her arms, still too stubborn to admit what had happened. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”
I ignored her, edging forward toward the nightstand. “At the time, I didn’t know that signing this unwritten contract would condemn me to a life of following unreasonable demand after unreasonable demand. Not because I agreed with them, but because I needed to atone for my sin.”
“You’re not a sinner.” She brought her index fingers to her temples, massaging. “There’s no sin to atone for.”
“There is, but I’m done atoning for it. I’m not marrying Eileen.”
Mom hopped off the massage table. “Eileen is safe.”
“Eileen isn’t for me.”
In fact,Eileen is more suitable for a career in Witness Protection.
“Andthatwoman is?” Mom rounded on me and stubbed her thumb in her chest. “Since the accident, I rearranged my entire life to make sure you’re safe. That nothing like the crash ever happens again. That you ate the safest food, spent time with the safest crowds, drove the safest cars. And look at you now. You’re alive.”
“Yes, I’m alive. But I’m also miserable.”
Well, before Farrow…
“Where is this coming from?” Mom scrunched her nose as if I was a service provider she no longer wished to deal with. But I saw through her. I’d hit a nerve. “This is just pre-wedding jitters. They’ll subside after the wedding.”
I raised my palm to stop her, shaking my head. We stood face-to-face. So close I could smell the faint perfume that always clung to her skin. Of coconut oil and cherry blossom.
“I’m breaking off the engagement. End of discussion. That’s not why I gave this little speech. I just didn’t want you to feel blindsided.”
She pressed her lips into a hard line. “Blindsided by what?”
I had never seen her like this. So completely red, the skin on her neck jagged, like she was having an allergic reaction to our conversation.
“By the fact that I’m cutting ties with you, should you refuse to accept the end of my engagement.”
“What?” Her eyes bulged out of their sockets. “You can’t do that. I’m your mother.”
