Page 56 of Built

“More news!” I didn’t think it was possible for Mum’s brows to jump any higher towards her hairline, but she proves me wrong.

“Yeah, I guess you heard things haven’t been going so well with Oliver.”

“Honey, is this really the time?” Mum makes the world’s least subtle gesture with her eyes towards Luke.

“I think now is the time, Mum.” I forge on. “I’ve decided not to marry him. In fact, as of a few weeks ago, I’ve broken things off altogether.”

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t you think that’s a bit hasty?” Dad frowns at me across the table. “You’ve known him for such a long time.”

“I’m not sure I really have,” I mumble. Beneath the table, Luke gives my leg another squeeze. “I don’t really want to go into the details, but I think it wasn’t what either of us really wanted anymore.”

“Quite the contrary,” Dad says. “When I spoke to him yesterday he still seemed very keen to give things a go. Why don’t you go talk to him and see if you can’t patch things up? I’m sure whatever the disagreement was, it can’t be that bad.”

I twist my hands together in my lap, wondering how much I should say. I don’t really want to tell them all the sordid details.

“He was always such a good fit for you, Mia.” When Mum looks pointedly between me and Luke, something in me snaps.

“He cheated! Tegan caught him cheating on me. So, no. I don’t think he was such a good fit.”

Mum opens her mouth, then exchanges a long look with Dad. I can’t interpret the meaning behind it. Normally, I’m pretty good at reading her, so it’s unsettling.

She makes a little humming noise in the back of her throat, then she leans a little closer across the table. “Would you excuse me, Mr Wilson, I need to use the ladies’ room. Mia, do you think you could come help me find it? Last time we were here I took a wrong turn and almost ended up in the kitchen!” It’s a blatant lie, but I smile and follow her to the back of the cafe and into the ladies’ bathroom.

As soon as the door swings shut after us, she turns to me and takes my hands. “Mia, don’t make a big mistake just because of one slip.”

“I’m pretty sure it was more than one.” I think of the scene Tegan described to me, and my stomach churns all over again. He must have been fooling around for weeks. Months! I don’t even know if that was the only woman he was seeing.

“I never told you that your father cheated, did I?”

I stare at her. Is this my perfect socialite mother talking? I never thought she’d accept that.

She nods, as if I’ve asked one of the questions spinning in my head. “Right after you were born. Things had been difficult at home and he... went elsewhere for a little while. But it was just sex. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

I shake my head. “What do you mean it was just sex? Didn’t you care?”

She shrugs. “There are more important things.”

“Like what? Loyalty? Trust?”

She smirks at me. “Come on, Mia. Use your brain. We have a very comfortable life. Do you think I would have been able to give you that as a single mother?”

I bite back a retort that she might have if she’d considered getting a job, but I guess that’s never been on Mum’s radar. “Mum, I have to admit I’m shocked. But what happened between you and Dad... That’s up to you. And it’s in the past.”

“Sweetheart, it may or may not be in the past. I stopped asking. When you’ve been together for long enough you learn what makes a relationship work. It takes compromise.”

It takes me a minute to pull my jaw up off the floor. And another to stop wanting to gag at the thought of my dad still sleeping around. I’ve had enough of this conversation. “Mum, I’m with Luke now.”

She pulls back. “The builder?”

“No, Mum. Not the builder. The guy I’m seeing. The guy who treats me a hundred times better than Oliver ever did.”

“Oh, Mia.”

I can’t take any more of this right now. My head is pounding and my skin prickles with heat. I turn away and walk out of the bathroom. As I open the door to leave, Mum says behind me, “He’s just your summer mistake, Mia.”

I hurry back out into the cafe and take Luke by the hand. “Sorry, Dad. We have to go. Something just came up. Tell Mum I’ll call her, OK?”

Dad gets to his feet as I pull Luke out of his seat and tug him towards the door. Luke grabs my handbag from under the table and gives me a searching look.

---