Page 69 of Riding the Pine

Must be bad if she’s breaking out the hot chocolate. “Sí. Por favor.” Bad news is best heard over a cup of steaming, hot Abuelita.

When she’s done making drinks, she sits next to me on the couch and takes a sip. “Tu padre es un imbécil infiel.”

She knows. How the heck did she find out? She points at me. “You know. I know you know.”

I nod. Should I tell her about the stepsiblings?

“He has a list of conquests as long as my arm.”

I sit my hot chocolate on my lap, suddenly uninterested in taking a drink. “Abuelita, how do you know about Papá?”

She waves a dismissive hand like that’s not the important part of the conversation and shifts her weight on the black leather sofa. “She won’t listen to me, Nieta. I’ve tried. She won’t leave your father.”

Abuelita drinks from her cup again. My heart squeezes. I used to see more of her when I worked in the restaurant as a teenager, but since I graduated high school and moved to college our time together has grown less and less.

“She might listen to you. Were you planning on talking to her about the whole situation?”

I shake my head. “Not yet, but I don’t know when, or how…” I take a drink but not because I want to, because I need to do something with my hands.

“Do your brothers?—?”

“Not the twins. I couldn’t tell them; it would destroy them. Ares is like a grenade with the pin pulled.”

“Scott?”

I nod, my cheeks heating again.

She pats my knee. “He’s good for you. Why won’t you talk to your mother?” Her stare grows more intense in that way that feels like your grandmother is staring directly into your soul.

There’s no point in lying to her. “I’m afraid, Abuelita. I’m scared she’ll stay with him. I’m scared she’s not as strong as I think she is. I’m scared her love for him will be stronger than her love for us.” My hand snaps to my mouth on a gasp, like I didn’t plan to let those words come out of my body, like I wasn’t sure they were in there to begin with.

Blinking back tears doesn’t help the pooling ache in my chest. What if she loves him more than us? That’s what it comes down to. What if she chooses Papá over us? Or worse, what if she chooses him over herself?

As a strong woman, I’ve studied women. I’ve read about domestic abuse, coercive control, toxic narcissists, and I’m notsure what level of hold he has on her. Is he abusing her? Or simply cheating on her?

What level of intervention will she need? Will we need to destroy him to bring him down? He’s rich, but between the five of us, I’m pretty sure we could take him on in a court of law if he brings the petty. I know businesses, rich people with more money than sense can crush ‘the little people,’ by drowning them in litigation. They waste time by taking them to court and throwing years of red tape at them until their pockets run dry.

The more I run over the thoughts in my brain the angrier I get. Ultimately, if Papá wants to throw the weight of his company behind him, his legacy will throw the weight of our collective companies behind us.

He may have helped make us into the resilient, strong, and very wealthy adults we are today, but he has no idea what lengths we will all go to to protect our mother.

Abuelita has cupped my cheek, she’s smoothing my tears away with her thumb. “It’s okay, Athena. You’re allowed to love your father.” She brushes my hair back from my face. “You’ve always been closest to him. Daddy’s little girl.”

There’s no judgment in her words but each one strikes my chest like an arrow drenched in guilt. He’s hurt Mamá, lied to all of us. I’m not sure I can ever forgive him.

“It’s okay to feel the hurt, Nieta. Without truly feeling the hurt, we cannot begin to let ourselves heal.”

CHAPTER 29

Athena

JANUARY 18TH

My uterus is trying to kill me.

Not figuratively. I’m not overreacting. I swear, my body is trying to murder me.

I’m lying humping a hot water bottle, I’ve taken as much Midol as I’m allowed to for the day, and I’m in bed with the Raccoon’s game on my laptop.

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