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Mom thought the smile was related to her story.
“I’m so glad you remember him!” she said, and I stiffened with alarm at the realization that I had no idea who she was talking about. “Marguerite said he’d be so excited to see you —”
“Wait, wait, who are you talking about?” I said.
Her face scrunched up with disapproval. “Oh, good grief, Jessica. Marguerite Fall and her son, Greg?” My face must have shown my confusion, because she sighed and said, “Greg Fall, from middle school?”
Rubbing my hand over my face, I said, “I guess I remember him.”
“Well, you’ll get to know him much better on Saturday,” she said, grasping my arm in her excitement. “I told him he should take you to that Italian restaurant you’ve always liked. Anthony’s!”
Surely I’d misheard her, or was misinterpreting what she was saying. I tried my best to remain calm as I said, “Mom, did you set me up on a date with a stranger?”
“Oh, honey, he’s not a stranger,” she said, chuckling as if I’d said something silly. “You’ve met him before! It’s justdinner. Besides, the man has more money than he knows what to do with —”
“I don’t care about his money!” I blurted. “Mom, this is so incredibly invasive. You can’t schedule things for me without asking me, let alone a date!” She was still looking at me as if I was being silly, overreacting. It drove my temper to boiling. “What if I already had plans on Saturday night?”
“Well?” She folded her arms. “Do you have plans? Perhaps with the same friends you spent time with this last weekend?”
I folded my arms in return, realizing too late that I was mirroring her position exactly. “Yes, actually. I do have plans with them.”
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “I saw Danielle and Candace in town on Sunday. They weren’t with you this weekend, you littleliar.”
Goddamn it. Caught red-handed. I should have known better than to tell her the names of people she would recognize. Her eyes filled with tears, and her voice trembled as it increased in volume.
“After everything I’ve done for you...” She sniffled. “Everything I sacrificed. Driving you to cheer practice, dance recitals, the piano lessons, tutoring! The amount of money we poured into your pageants so you could be happy!” She gave another massive, exaggerated sniff. “Do you have any idea how rude I’ll look if you don’t go to that dinner?” She clutched her hand to her chest, gasping through big fake sobs. “I’ll be so humiliated. And here I thought I was doing something nice for you. You have no idea what it’s like being a mother! To watch your own daughter breaking your heart! Spending all her time withdegenerates!”
“Mom —”
“That’s who it is, isn’t it?” she said, her tears vanishing as quickly as they had appeared. “Those boys, those ‘mechanics.’ Good Lord above, we let you live here rent-free, we provide for you, and this is how you repay me? By lying to me?” She cut me off again before I could get so much as a word out. “Is it really so hard to go and meet the man? A fine, decent,normalman with a good job?”
My heart throbbed against my ribs. Fury pumped into me with every beat. “What exactly do you mean bynormal?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Oh please, honey, the dumb blonde schtick is not a good look for you. I’m not ignorant of what those boys get up to. Word gets around.”
“You mean,gossipgets around.”
“The ladies at church have been asking me why I’m letting you go anywhere near them,” she said, shaking her head as if she hadn’t even heard me. But I’d had enough of not being heard. More than enough.
Shoving my chair back from the table, I stormed from the house. Mom shouted something after me, but the door slammed behind me before she could finish. My stomach felt like a hollow pit, my heart was racing in anger. If she expected me to go to that ridiculous dinner, then she was dead wrong. She could cry about it all she wanted.
Except it wouldn’t just be tears. It would be griping, scolding, and passive-aggressive comments until I gave in out of sheer exhaustion. It would be guilt-tripping me for every aspect of my existence that didn’t cater to her.
Swallowing hard around the lump in my throat, I pulled my cell out of my pocket as I power-walked down the street. Without really thinking about it, as if on instinct, I dialed Vincent’s number.
He picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, baby.” He sounded groggy, as if he’d just woken up. “What’s up?”
“Can you come pick me up, please?” Tears of frustration were threatening to escape, but I’d be damned if I let a ridiculous argument with my mother make me cry.
He instantly sounded more awake. “Give me ten minutes, I’ll be there.”
***
“She doesn’t listen! She never fucking listens! No matter what I say, it doesn’t matter to her.”
Choking up for a moment, I fell silent. It had been a long time since I’d been this frustrated with my mom, but it brought all the old feelings rushing back. The anxiety. The doubt.
