“I need to leave,” she said. “I’m too worked up to talk about this anymore.”
She grabbed her purse and marched out the door, driving to her mother’s rather than home.
She needed a shoulder to cry on and this was the one person who understood her the best.
“What’s wrong, Natalie?” her mother asked when she walked in the back door. “You’re crying.”
“I just want to scream. I even swore.”
“Arik?”
“The one and only,” she said. “He bought a house today. Didn’t even tell me he was looking, or give me a chance to talk about it, just hit me with it after he pulled in front of it to have me walk through it.”
“Oh,” her mother said. “I’m not sure I’d like that, but I’m positive the house is stunning.”
“Not the point.”
“It is the point. You’re still out of sorts over what is being said about your relationship with him and the fact you’re not married. Did you tell Arik what Melody said to you last week?”
“No. It’s not a big deal.”
But it was to her.
At least when Melody dropped her snide remark about her finding the oldest, most secure way to elevate herself in life.
“Best way to be one of the rich Bonds is to find another man with money and give him a kid. Eighteen years of support.”
Something like that.
Made her feel cheap and dirty.
As if everything she did in her life was a game to get ahead.
It’d never been her.
Never would be either.
“Don’t lie to me or yourself. People like Melody have always gotten under your skin. You never let them see the real you. You never defend yourself.”
“I did with Melody. Wasn’t rude, but I handled it my way.”
“By jokingly saying that Melody could only wish to find a man like Arik. That she was jealous. All those things are true. What Melody wanted was a reaction out of you.”
“And she won’t get it. She isn’t worth it. She never was. That’s how I live my life. If someone doesn’t like it, it’s on them.”
She brushed her hair out of her face.
“Oh my God, you got engaged?” her mother asked, reaching for the rock that was weighing her hand down.
“Nope. It’s asymbol,” she said sarcastically.
“Alright, I’m lost. Back up,” her mother said. “Come sit and talk to me.”
Her mother walked away to get the tissue box and handed it over.
Natalie hadn’t even realized she was still crying.
Nothing had been going right in her life in the past few months.
