“You know I do. Listen, I don’t have too long to chat. It’s Aiden and Rhea’s housewarming party tonight and we’re going gift shopping soon.”
“I can’t believe how fast they’re moving. Last I saw them, they weren’t even together. But I guess when you know, you know.”
I thought I knew with Johnny, but I was wrong.
“That’s true. They bought two houses at the lake, near Denise and Ryder. I’m excited to see both and see which one they’re going to live in while they build the house they really want.”
“That’s crazy to me. This is your life now. You’re in with the rich and famous. When are you and Connor going to buy some lakefront property? Will you guys buy three places?” I laugh and shake my head.
I’ve never had a lot and this all reeks of excess to me. But they’re all good people and if that’s how they want to spend their money, more power to them. I’ll probably end up living in a tiny house somewhere with a dog and three cats.
“Stop distracting me,”Alex laughs.“I have something important to tell you.”
“Geez, okay. Sorry. Get to it then.”
“Sit down.”
“I’m laying on my bed.” Okay, this is starting to sound serious. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Mostly. Just listen. Okay?”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
I hear her take a deep breath.“Okay. So. After you left, Johnny was going crazy.”
“I don’t want to talk about him,” I say.
“Don’t interrupt. I promise you want to hear this. He wasn’t doing well. He got drunk with Aiden one night and helped him burn a huge dick into some asshole’s lawn.”I snicker a little at that, picturing some guy standing in his underwear, ranting and raving at a drawing of a dick.“After a few days, he got in touch with me. He was confused, and couldn’t figure out what he did wrong. He told me he said he agreed with your mom that you two were on two different levels.”
“Yeah, thanks for the reminder.” As if it didn’t hurt enough already.
“Okay, but the thing is, Johnny was an idiot. He misunderstood your mother. He thought that she was trying to protect you from him. That she thought you were too good for him, not the other way around.”
“Umm, what?! Excuse me?” That can’t be true. Can it? She’s always been pretty clear when she’s telling me I don’t measure up.
“That’s pretty much what he said. After his initial anger wore off, he realized he needed to find you even more now. So we went over to see your mother.”
“Okay,” I drawl out, not sure where this is going.
“Long story short, she told us about your father. She told us she stole you because he was gay and she thought it was disgusting or something.”
“What a bitch.” I knew she never had any gay friends, but I’d never heard her say anything outright homophobic. I’m so ashamed of her right now I feel sick.
“It gets worse. She also said that it took her at least a hundred times making soup on the front burner before she finally gave up and just asked you to go grab it.”
Something tickles in the back of my brain, a memory. I’m little, my mother is making lunch. I ask her why we’re having soup again. We had it every day for as long as I could remember. Shetoldme to go check on it. Shetoldme to pull on the handle to see if it was ready.
“She burned me on purpose,” I whisper.
“She said she thought it would bring attention back to her from you. She was upset that all anyone ever talked to her about was you.”
“She burned me and then told me no one could ever love me because of my scars.”
“When she told us that, Johnny and I both went a little crazy. We convinced her to tell us where you were or we would knock her out, drag her to the bathtub. Then I would dismember her and we’d feed her to Johnny’s uncle’s pigs.”
A laugh sneaks out of my mouth. I can just see my mother actually believing they would do that. Especially Johnny, because of all his tattoos.
“She finally told us where you were, and that you’re okay. And that’s when I knocked her out.”
