“Your father wouldn’t drive her, so she called me.”
And there you have it. My dad took a stand, the only way he knew how. He refused to drive my mother. Oh boy.
“Look, Mother, I’ll always be an Adler. That’ll never change.” And hopefully, someday, Willa will be one too.
“You’d expel yourself from our family over that—thatwoman?”
“I believeyou’reexpelling me, Mother. I’m not expelling myself.”
“Ungrateful…”
“You know what, Mrs. Adler?” It’s Harmony. I didn’t see her approach.
“What?” Monica snaps. “This isn’t your concern.”
Brent, my pacifist friend, looks like he might just kill Monica. “Do not speak to her in that tone, Fitzgerald. Remember, I know a few things about you that you don’t want shared.”
Monica’s face blanches. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.” Brent pulls his phone out of his back pocket. “I think I’ve got your dad on speed dial. I’ll start with him.” Brent taps his chin. “Let me see. Wasn’t that car averyrare ’62 Ferrari GTO…” He fiddles with his phone. “It’d been worth about $44 million today, right, Monica?” He taps into his phone. “I stand corrected. This says $48.4 million. Boy, your dad is going to bepissedwhen he finds out.”
“I’ve got to go, Marilynn.” Monica turns on her heel and marches out the door, letting it slam shut behind her.
What the hell was that all about? No matter. I’ll ask him later. I hope that means I never have to see that woman again. God, I hate her.
No matter, Harmony wasn’t deterred as she’s still talking to my mother. “Maybe the McAllisters needed to be sued. Did you happen to hear the reason for any of it?”
“I don’t need to know. It’s frivolous and ridiculous.”
“Oh?” Harmony crosses her arms over her chest. “Didn’t you sue that catering company because the canapés or some such for some fundraiser tasted bad?”
“That’s business.”
Harmony tries a different tack. “I shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to do it.”
Shit. What’s she going to say?’
“It’s obvious Hudson and Willa are serious.”
“It’ll never last” is my mother’s only response.
“Well, what if it does?”
“It won’t.”
“And if it does, they’ll probably have kids.” Harmony smiles. “Your grandchildren.”
Mother gasps, “Do not––”
“When they do, you’d better hope you’ve come to terms. Or you may not get to see your own grandchildren.”
Oh, fuck.
“Are you threatening me?”
“Not me.” She says in a lilting voice. “But, if it were me, I’d hesitate before I’d let all that venom around my little ones. Kids don’t need that kind of indignation in their lives.”
My mother turned from yellowish white to the brightest shade of pink I’ve ever seen. “Are you listening to this, Hudson? You’re going to keep mygrandchildrenfrom me?”
