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Hell, I don’t know.
It’s fucked up that she’s been staying at the Casa Bella. Does that mean she has no money? I’m driving past the motel as I have the thought, and I find myself squinting at the parking lot. There’s only one car there, a piece of shit subcompact that looks like it barely runs. Is that hers?
Why the hell isn’t she rich, though? Her daddy’s got more money than God. I guess she really has been estranged from him all this time. I knew Rory’s mom left town a long time ago, through Jessie from the bar. Apparently, Daddy Wilkins had been cheating on Rory’s mom Susan off and on throughout their marriage, but Susan only found out about it when one of his side chicks decided she wanted a big rock on her finger. From what Jessie says, the side chick called Susan and told her about the affair. Susan confronted Rory’s dad. And instead of him begging for forgiveness and breaking it off, he decided to divorce Rory’s mom and start all over with the side chick.
All that shit happened after Rory and I broke up. I didn’t know about it until way later. Made me sad for Rory’s mom. I always liked her, once I got to know her.
When I first saw Aurora’s mom that fateful summer, she was walking from the house to her fancy SUV to go out for a day of shopping or some other rich lady shit. She looked just like an older version of Aurora, except her hair was a couple shades darker. She caught sight of me out in the yard on her way to the car, and gave me a brief nod without breaking her stride. Then she climbed in her car, drove off, and that was pretty much it.
I figured she was just a stereotypical rich bitch, and didn’t give it any more thought. Once Aurora and me got together, I was pretty sure her mom would lose her damn mind when she found out. But that’s not what happened at all. Instead, she invited me to dinner that weekend.
It was awkward as hell, me sitting around with my girl and her parents. I felt like I’d been invited to dine with the Queen or something, and nobody had told me which fork to use with which course. They even had a cook who served the meal for us in the dining room. Aurora’s dad had a dark frown on his face the whole time. He barely talked to me, except to launch a couple of stink bombs about how unexpected it was that his employee was dating his daughter. Then again, he hardly talked to his wife and daughter during dinner, either. He just scowled through the meal, then muttered something about how he had to make some calls, and left the table.
Susan, on the other hand, asked me all sorts of questions during dinner. She wanted to know about school, what I liked to do in my free time, and whether I planned to go to college or do something else after graduation. After dinner was over and Aurora and I were hanging out in their living room, I told her I was surprised at how friendly her mom was.
“She doesn’t come from money,” Aurora explained. “She knows that a person’s bank account doesn’t say anything real about them. She likes you, Brody, I can tell. She told me that as long as you treat me well, she’s happy for us.”
And I did treat her well, my Princess Aurora. The thought of her ever looking elsewhere for another guy made me crazy, so I tried my damnedest to make sure she was happy with me. And she was. She told me all the time that she never would have believed she could be so happy, or so in love.
I felt the same way.
Aurora’s dad wasn’t very happy about us, though, and he made sure to tell Aurora that. He thought she should be with some big man on campus football type, a golden boy whose family had money, like her. Someone who didn’t have dirt under his nails.
My dad was pissed about it, too, but for different reasons. He told me I was at risk of beingpussified, as he called it. “You’re a good-lookin’ enough boy, you don’t need to work for tail. Why the fuck are you goin’ straight for that expensive pussy? That little princess is gonna expect presents and shit to put out, son. If she even will put out,” he muttered in disgust, spitting on the ground. She’s gonna lead you around by your dick ’til you don’t know whether you’re comin’ or goin’. Ain’t no woman worth that. Shit, I thought I taught you better than that.”
I remember flinching when Dad called Auroraprincess. The same word I used as a term of endearment sounded ugly and bitter from his mouth. It pulled me up short. Made me wonder, just a little, whether a girl like her could be happy with a guy like me. Could the princess and the pauper have a happy ever after? Did Dad know something I didn’t?
Dad was doing his best to look out for me, I knew. Even at the time, I understood that he was trying to teach me the life lessons he thought I needed to know. Truth was, he had taught me lessons, but not the ones he thought. He taught me that if you treat a woman like shit for long enough, eventually she’ll leave. I knew my mom hadn’t deserved the way he treated her. She didn’t leave him as much as he drove her away. I missed her like hell, but I understood why she had gone. I just wished she hadn’t cut ties with me, too. I hoped she was happy, wherever she was.
I didn’t want the life my dad had. One thing I knew for certain is that he wasn’t happy. I told myself I’d never treat Aurora like he treated my mom. And I kept my word.
But she still betrayed me.
And I never even saw it coming.
Aurora and I knew our parents would all be worried when we decided to run off and get married, not long after we graduated high school. We knew they all thought we were too young, even her mom. We both understood their concern, but it was what we wanted. I didn’t have a doubt in my goddamn mind that it was the right decision. She was my forever.
Goddamnit, I loved that girl.
When I found out that she had cheated on me, it happened in the worst fucking way possible. I found a pregnancy test that had been shoved to the bottom of the garbage, in the bathroom of the tiny studio apartment where we had moved after we got married. I never even would have seen the thing, except I was cleaning the place one day when she was gone, as a surprise for her.
The test was positive. Only problem was, we’d been using condoms religiously, since we weren’t ready to have kids.
When I confronted Aurora with the test, I don’t know what I expected. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind, I hoped there was a logical explanation for how she got pregnant even though we were using protection. And how it was that she hadn’t told me about it.
But as I held the test up between us, her face crumpled into an expression of agony. Then, a second later, it transformed into an unreadable mask.
Yes,she said, her voice monotone.I’m pregnant.
And then, a few seconds later, the words that would change my life.
No. It’s not yours.
The fucking irony of it all is, even though I did everything I could not to end up a bitter asshole like my old man, I ended up getting fucked over in the end. Aurora wouldn’t tell me who the bastard was that she cheated on me with. I left the apartment that night, so angry with her that I was afraid I’d do something violent if I stayed. When I came back the next morning, she was gone. To her parents’ place, I assumed, and it turned out I assumed correctly.
I was too proud to try to get her back, too angry to forgive her. She didn’t try to contact me, either.
The only news I heard was from Susan, who called me three weeks later. She told me that Aurora had had a miscarriage. The way she said it — the gentleness and sorrow in her voice — told me that Aurora’s mom thought the baby was mine. Aurora hadn’t told her mom what had happened, and why we weren’t speaking.
