“That’s where you’re wrong. I’m making your daughter’s happiness my concern and priority. And you seem hell-bent on destroying it.”
I can’t even talk, at a loss for words, trying to figure out how to defuse the situation. This is a nightmare, and I’m paralyzed with fear.
“I don’t need lessons in parenting from someone like you,” Vivienne venomously hisses. “I have no doubt that you have little bastards roaming this city, but I will deal with Genevieve the way I see fit.”
“Do you think she’ll bear it for much longer? You’re going to lose a second daughter, and you’ll have only yourself to blame for it.”
I don’t know what comes over me, but I aggressively shove my hands into Jake’s chest, overtaken by a mix of panic, guilt, and fright. “I said that’s enough, Jacob!” I shout.
He looks dumbfounded, as if I’m wrong for trying to stop him from ruining everything. Can he not see all the irreparable damage he’s causing? It will take months,years,to make up for this.
I’ve worked so hard to maintain a cordial relationship with my parents, bitten my tongue hundreds of times, swallowed back my pride, endured the underhanded remarks… And he’s destroying all of it because he can’t contain himself for a single evening.
“This is the man who treats you like a queen?” Mother asks with acidic irony. “Maybe you two deserve each other after all.”
I stand there as if my stilettos are glued to the hardwood floor while she makes her way out, returning to the others.
“What a heinous bitch,” Jake mutters under his breath as soon as we’re alone.
“She’s mymother, Jake!” I vehemently say.
“That woman doesn’t deserve an ounce of the respect and affection you have for her.”
“Weren’t you the one saying people should cherish their mothers? This is my life, and I will decide what I can and can’t have in it!”
“So because she gave life to you, she gets to treat you horribly for the rest of it?”
“I endure it because of Victoria, okay?!”
For a couple of beats, he tries and fails to make sense of my words, his eyebrows twitching as he thinks. “Your sister? Would she want this for you? Would she want to see you endure a miserable life of victimhood?”
“Don’t act like you know what my sister would have wanted, Jake. You didn’t know her.”
“I don’t need that to know she’d want better for you! You deserve better.”
“No, I deserve exactly this!”
“No one does, Gen. And your sister would—”
“I killed her!” I blurt out, cracking under the immense stress of this situation. Jake’s angered features transform into confusion, like my confession isn’t clear enough. So, I continue. “She died because ofme, Jacob. I killed that woman’s daughter, and I deserve her punishment.”
“I thought it was an accident? That her car hit a deer?”
“She was out there because of me. If my parents want to blame me for it for the rest of my life, I will let them give me every bit of their hatred.”
He still looks so lost, and I have no idea how I could lay it out for him any clearer.
“I was perfectly fine with paying for what happened to Vicky. I was fine with it all, but then you came in and ruined everything.”
He looks dumbfounded. “Iruined everything?”
“You make me want a lot more than I deserve. And I’ve been so distracted by you that I barely even thought about my sister for weeks. But if I’m not there to remember and love her, who will?”
“It’s called healing, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Whatever you did, whatever involvement you had in her death, you don’t deserve to pay for it for the rest of your life.”
I shove his chest again, irritated by his clueless insistence. “Stop acting like you know what this is about! Vicky died all alone on the side of the road because I snuck out for a dumb party. I deserve this life for being so stupid and selfish!”
He thinks about it for a moment, eyes set on mine, and the silence that falls around us is laced with tension. I vaguely notice that we can hear the others talking, meaning they might hear our argument. But I can’t be bothered to care.
