Page 124 of Second Chance with the Single Dad Goalie
"I…, we never lied," I snap. “We just…, didn’t tell you."
"That’s the same thing!" Janet throws her hands up.
"No, it’s not," I shoot back, my chest tightening. "And you all know Blake. You know him. You’ve known him for years. So why is this even a discussion? I get that you are upset and disappointed, but why are you asking me to end things with him?"
"Because we know him," Edward cuts in, his voice sharp, "which is all the more reason for you to end it."
My stomach drops. "What does that even mean?"
My mother exhales, slow and deliberate, before delivering the words that send a chill through my spine. "It means I don’t want my daughter tied to a man who comes from abandonment - who was raised in it. Because patterns repeat, Whitney.”
Silence.
She didn’t just say that.
It falls over the room like a heavy, suffocating fog.
My chest tightens, my breath catching in my throat.
Every single person turns to look at her.
"Mum?" Janet’s voice is barely above a whisper like she can’t believe what she just heard.
"Mum!" Rosa starts, then stops and exhales sharply. "You didn’t just say that."
Her lips part slightly, her eyes widening in horror. She lifts a hand to her mouth as if she can take the words back and erase them from existence. "I didn’t…"
I stare at her, my chest tightening like a vice. "Not what, Mum?" My voice wavers, but the fire in my veins burns hotter. "Not what? Not say that? Not mean it? Because you did. That’s exactly how you’ve been looking at him all these years, isn’t it?"
Her silence is enough of an answer.
I let out a breath, a bitter, unsteady laugh. "And yet you're friends with his mum. You smile at her. You talk to her like you actually care, like she’s not the same woman who raised the ‘abandoned son’ you just dismissed." My voice breaks slightly on the last words, but I push through it. "I get that you are looking for a reason or excuse for me to end things with him, but you didn’t have to say that, Mom. That was low."
Her lips part, but no words come out.
"Whitney!" Janet snaps, horrified. "Don’t talk to her like that."
"She’s still our mother," Edward adds, his voice laced with warning.
I scoff. "And I’m still her daughter. But that didn't stop her from looking me in the eye and saying something so cruel about the man I love."
Silence. Thick, suffocating.
Keith still hasn’t said a word, but his jaw is tight, his arms crossed like he’s holding himself back.
“For goodness sake, this is not that deep. I am sorry, okay? I am really, really sorry for keeping my relationship with Blake a secret from you all. I am really sorry. But asking me to end things with him is taking it too far. You can be upset, angry, disappointed, but don’t ask me to end things with him because I won’t.”
“Whitney…”
"No!" I stand abruptly, my chair scraping against the floor, the sound sharp in the heavy silence. "Please, don’t ask that of me. I am not ending it, because I am the one in this relationship. Not you. Me!" I press a hand against my chest, my heart pounding beneath my fingertips. "You don’t get to dictate this. You don’t get to decide who I love."
Dad just sits staring at me. Mum exhales sharply, shaking her head. "Whitney, you deserve someone better. You are our little girl. I get that Blake is charming and nice and all…. But… sweetie, you don’t understand…"
I throw my hands up and begin to pace. “No,youdon’t understand. Why do you all always do this when it comes to me? Huh? Why? Why do you shut down and disapprove of everything when it comes to me?”
My voice rises, thick with frustration. “It’s always, ‘Whitney, are you sure?’ ‘Whitney, maybe think it through.’ ‘Whitney, you should reconsider.’ ‘Whitney, you should not do this.” I let out a bitter laugh. “Meanwhile, everyone else gets a free pass and who they get to be with. Everyone else gets to make their choices without being second-guessed, but me? No, not me. Never me.”
“Sweetheart, that’s not…”
