“Same thing. What would you tell me if Pres pulled something like that?” Lauryn’s husband was the sweetest man. Sloan couldn’t even imagine him raising his voice in anger at her sister, let alone their son.
“I’d tell you to shove him into a cannon and aim it directly at the surface of the sun.”
“Exactly.”
“I want you to be happy, but more importantly I want you and the girls to be safe,” her mom said. “If Drew can’t control his temper, then keeping the girls away from him might be for the best.”
“I just—I can’t wrap my mind around it. He’s always been arrogant, but he completely lost it. And I can’t tell Addison that she needs to forgive him for the way he talked to her.”
“Especially if there’s a chance he doesn’t think he did anything wrong,” her mom said. “Yeah. Do you want me to come out? He got off easy with me last time. He hasn’t met the full wrath of Pauletta yet.”
For a moment she considered it. She hadn’t seen her family in months. “No, I think we’re okay for now. I’m just so pissed. Screw him.”
“Let me know how me and your dad can help. And let me know when you call Wendy.” Contacting her lawyer was next on Sloan’s to-do list.
“I will.”
“So, you’re seeing this Rafe now?”
Sloan cringed. “Yeah, I know we didn’t meet under ideal circumstances, but I really care about him and he’s so good to the girls.”
“He cute?”
“Lauryn,” her mom scolded.
“Yes, he is cute and that definitely doesn’t matter.”
“What? I just wanted to know.”
Sloan heard her mom suck her teeth. “I met your father when he was cussing out my brother for not tipping enough and that turned out fine. I’ve talked to Rafe a few times and he seems very nice. I’m going to talk to him again though.”
“Okay,” Sloan agreed.
“Dang, I want to talk to him too,” Lauryn said. “I didn’t meet Drew until you were engaged.”
“I’ll arrange a conference call.” She was only half joking. She knew her dad would want in on this too.
She almost bit a hole in her bottom lip and let out a trembling breath through her nose. This was her mom’s own subtle “I told you so”. There was nothing bitter about it left between her and her mom anymore, but when Sloan met Drew, she and her mom were still healing from being glued together at the hip for more years than either of them liked. Her mom wanted to do things a certain way, meet his parents and all of that, but Sloan was so sick of her mother’s hovering that she begged her to let her do this one thing alone.
Sloan didn’t realize at the time that she was going along with what Drew wanted. Her mom wasn’t going to let that happen again, even if Sloan was really grown this time. And this time, Sloan knew she was right. She trusted Rafe, but she was that level of sprung, so it would be a bad call to not to listen to her family, who wanted the best for her and her daughters.
Plus, she’d already met his family and she didn’t doubt for one second that Monica was doing more than being friendly when she’d welcomed Sloan into her home. She wanted to make sure Sloan was what she and Joe wanted for Rafe. Sloan was sure they wouldn’t be psyched to find out that her ex-husband had attacked their son in the middle of LAX.
Another thing to do. Apologize to the Whitcombs from bringing this drama into Rafe’s life.
“I’m going to go check on the girls, but I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay, baby. You can call back tonight if you need to. It’s okay if you wake me up.”
“Thanks, Mom.” She knew she shouldn’t blame herself for Drew actions, but now she couldn’t help feeling like a burden to a multitude of people.
After they ended their call, Sloan opened herLetsChatapp and saw a bunch of notifications from the group chat with the girls. Meegan was currently in a Target dressing room, snapping pictures of every outfit she was trying on. Sloan almost started typing, but she didn’t want to disrupt the easy fun of their conversation. Instead she texted Xeni privately, telling her what had happened. Xeni was with her family, so she couldn’t talk on the phone, but she was texting back with a fury.
You know I’m going to kill him right?
I’m not even letting the aunts handle this.
I’m gonna fuck him up myself.
