“Anything you have to say can be said with Avery here,” I said.
Her jaw set and she adjusted her purse on her shoulder. Avery gave me a reassuring squeeze as my mother’s eyes roamed around the shop, the disappointment apparent.
“This used to be such a nice place,” she sighed. “You’ve really cheapened it with the decorations.”
“What do you want?” I hated this. I hated seeing her. I hated knowing that the fact she’d ventured into my shop meant she wanted something, and whatever she wanted was going to leave me feeling empty.
“Why do you always think I want something when I see you?” She scoffed and crossed her arms. “You’ve been avoiding my text messages and not answering me.”
“All of your texts have been rude.” I was now squeezing Avery hard enough, I wasn’t sure how she hadn’t pulled away. “I haven’t answered you because, as previously established, I do not engage with messages involving name-calling.”
“You’re so sensitive.” She shook her head, her eyes sharpening into daggers. “I’ll never understand what I did to deserve a firstborn like you. I’m a good mother. I don’t understand why you don’t talk to me or come see me and treat me this way.”
“What do you want again?” My voice was dangerously thin.
“Well, I wanted to talk about Laura. I heard she had an accident here on your watch.”
Howin the fuck had she heard about that? Surely Ethan hadn’t told her.
“It was an accident,” Avery butted in. “Laura is fine.”
“I wasn’t really speaking to you, Ms. Whynot.”
I started to lean forward to physically push her out of my shop, but Avery kept me pinned in place. Another squeeze. Another reminder to not give in to her antics.
She wanted to see me overreact. She wanted to see me lose it. If I did, it would just continue to feed the narrative she’d built up in her head about how tragically unwell her daughter was.
That’s what narcissists did.
Even knowing this, it was so fucking hard not to give in.
“Laura had an accident, yes,” I said. “But she is okay.”
“Well, why didn’t you call me? She’s my only grandchild—since you refuse to settle down. Not that someone would ever want to have children with you, but?—”
“We didn’t call you because you weren’t needed.” My chest ached. “You would have made the situation worse.”
Her mouth dropped. “I would not have. I’m her grandmother. She needed a strong woman to be there for her since her mother ran off and?—”
“If you stopped by to berate me for not calling you, then I have nothing further to say. Take it up with your son.”
She reminded me of a rabid dog as she sneered. “I really wish you’d come back to church. You’d be so much better off praying for forgiveness with the way you turned out. God knows I’m always praying for you.”
“Don’t even bother. You can save your prayers for someone who wants them.”
My mother’s glower became almost comical. Avery snorted next to me.
Her gaze snapped to my friend, and I knew she was about to spew out a bunch of unkind things. And if they were aimed at me, I could take them. I had the callouses for that.
But my friends? My friends I’d commit crimes for?
“If you say one fucking mean thing to Avery right now, I will turn your life into a living hell,” I said firmly. “Starting with performing a sex ritual where I offer my firstborn to Satan.”
That was out of pocket enough to shock her. Her expression warped to horror and she reached for the door.
“You’re gonna burn in hell, June.”
“You know it.” I plastered a smile on my face as she shook her head and stepped back out into the rain.
