Page 7 of The Big Catch

I’d never driven so fast in my life. I was ready to go home, but first I had a bone to pick with mommy dearest. My G-Wagon was barely parked before I jumped out. “Mom!”

She stuck her head out of the kitchen. “Girl, why are you so loud? Did you get what you needed from the store?”

“Have you been running your mouth about my damn business? I ran into Tink and her cousin at the store. She fucking said something about my fake marriage and being broke. I know she couldn’t have gotten that shit from anyone but your talk-too-much ass.” I was enraged.

My mother stepped fully out of the kitchen. Her face was all kinds of screwed up. Ask me if I cared. “Little girl, who the hell are you talking to like that? Now, I was wrong about discussing your business with my knitting group. I asked them how I could encourage you and get you to be more grateful for the things that you do have. I apologize for telling your business.”

I stepped closer to her. “I don’t give a single solidary fuck what you asked. My business is not for public consumption. Leave it to your gossiping ass to make it.”

My mom rushed to me, then slapped me in my face. “Look, lil girl, I don’t give a damn how you feel. Don’t you ever in your ungrateful life talk to me like that. I said that I was sorry about telling your business to people. You’ve been back here for months and think people are supposed to bow down to you. Well, let me burst your bubble. You aren’t that little teenager that everyone tolerated.

“It’s time to humble yourself because God surely did. Last I checked, you’re living in a house that your grandmother left you when she died. Do you remember what you told me when I told you that she left it to you? I had to tell you about it because you were toobusyto come to her funeral.” She paused, then put her hand on her hip. “Your ungrateful ass told me that you would never live in that lil ass house. You were nasty to my fucking mother, but she still loved you enough to leave you a house you didn’t deserve.”

My hand was on my face in surprise. My mother had never hit me before. “How dare you hit me when you were wrong.”

“I never said that I wasn’t wrong, lil girl. I apologized because I was wrong. You talking to me like you’re crazy will never be alright. As far as me hitting you, I should have beat your ass when you were little. If I had, maybe you wouldn’t have grown up to be the disrespectful, entitled, ungrateful bitch that you are now.” She stepped into my personal space. “Now get the fuck out of my house until you find your respect.”

I turned on my heels, then stormed out of my parents’ house. Her ass was mad at me, but she was the one that was wrong as hell. I was sure the entire town knew my business by now.I hate it here.

When I got home, I put my groceries up, then sat on my couch. I looked around the house that I lived in. It was a four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom house. The closets were so small that I had to turn one of the bedrooms into a closet. Yes, the house was much smaller than my house in California, but I couldn’t deny that it was a very nice house.

My body shifted to the sound of a key unlocking my door. My father barged in with fire in his eyes. “Little girl, I’ve been nice for way too damn long.” He stood over me. “If you ever in your damn life disrespect your mother like you did earlier, there are going to be more problems than solutions in your life.”

I couldn’t believe this shit. “While your wife is acting like the victim, did she tell you what she did to make me come to her house and ‘disrespect’ her?” I used air quotes when I said the word disrespect.

“Yes, she did tell me that she ran her mouth about your business, trying to get advice on how to handle your rude, ungrateful ass. I told her that she was dead ass fucking wrong. Guess what? So the fuck am I. I told Griff about what was going on with you too. Yeah, curse me the fuck out. I thought what you went through would make you see life through a different lens, but I see it made you more difficult than when you were younger.” His voice was loud.

My dad was overall a quiet person. When he was in conflict, he normally was the person to walk away, cool his head, then come back. It looked like he didn’t take this time to cool his head.

“Well, both of you need to mind your business. I don’t need every bum in Newsome knowing what’s going on in my life.” I rolled my eyes.

My dad just gawked at me for a beat. “From where I’m standing, you’re the bum now. Let me tell you what you’re going to do. Get your fucking ass up and apologize to your mother. After that, you’re going to carry your ass to Gunner’s house to get one of the puppies from the new litter he breaded. Maybe if your ass had something to take care of, you will find some compassion for others.”

When I started to refuse, the look he gave me told me that it wasn’t a good idea to play with him. My father stood there until I got up. He followed me to his house to apologize to my mom. In the beginning of the apology, I didn’t mean it. After I saw the hurt on her face, I felt horrible. By the end of the apology, my heart softened. I was still upset about what she did, but I admitted that I shouldn’t have talked to her like I did.

After my apology, my dad gave me Gunner’s address. It would be him that had a damn puppy. He lived on the other side of town from my parents. I sat in my car for a minute to look at his house. It was a nicely sized brick house.Let’s get this over with.

He opened the door with a puppy in his hand and no shirt. I had to get myself together, because he was a sight to damn see. I told him that I didn’t want to be called Adabelle anymore, but his hardheaded ass just wouldn’t listen.

“My dad told me to come over here for a dog or something. Is that the mutt?” I asked with a tilted head. It was a cute puppy, but it looked like a damn mutt. I didn’t want a mutt.

Gunner looked down at the puppy before his head snapped back to me. “You got me and My Boy fucked up. I don’t breed fucking mutts, stuck-up ass girl. This is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Get the fuck from my doorstep.” He slammed the door in my face.

I stood there with wide eyes and shock.Did he really just slam the door in my face?Seconds later, this rude ass nigga turned off his porch light.Fuck him.

A FEW DAYS LATER…

I’d been holed up in my house. It felt like I was slipping into a depression. My stupid ass had the genius idea to do some snooping on social media. Needless to say, I got my feelings hurt. I wanted to see how Carson and his wife were doing. More than that, I wanted to see how Mrs. Kimberly looked.

It didn’t take much to find her page, and my heart was immediately broken. The few times that I visited Carson inTexas, we were always in hotels. Color me surprised when I pulled Kimberly’s page to see him and his wife lived on the outskirts of Dallas on a fucking farm. His wife was beautiful, thick, and a farm girl. I was talking lifting hay, feeding horses, and milking cows kind of bitch. She was the complete opposite of the person that I showed myself to be when I was with Carson. I tried so hard to be someone different than a backwoods country girl, and he ended up falling in love with that kind of girl. If that wasn’t some shit, I didn’t know what was.

What drove me crazy was that he looked so in love and happy. I didn’t think I’d ever remembered a time when he looked at me like he did her. Their children were adorable. Two and a half years into Carson’s and my fake marriage, I told him that I wanted to have a baby. He told me with strong conviction that he did not want children. He claimed children were not something that he saw for himself and wasn’t interested. As I looked at him with his family, it became real that he just didn’t want a child with me.

There had been a lot of realizations in the last couple of days that had crumpled my self-esteem. My mom was right: God humbled the hell out of me. This was a feeling that I never thought I would experience. Last night, I thought about the years that Carson and I were together. He said that he met his wife six years ago.

Did I see any changes in him?At the time, I didn’t, but I can’t say that I was looking for them. Yes, he told me that he would have to spend a lot more time in Texas. I didn’t think anything about it because he traveled for most of our relationship. The few times that I traveled to visit him when he claimed he had to be there for an extended time, I hated it. I made sure that I told him as often as possible. When he suggested moving, I told him that he was crazy.

I vaguely remembered him saying something about me not being willing to sacrifice for him. Well, I was happy I didn’t, because we weren’t married any damn way. When he started staying in Texas longer, it didn’t faze me because he left his money.

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