Page 76 of Come to Me
"No, it's just how it is. But, what about your mom?"
"What about her?" Her voice drops completely void of even a hint of enthusiasm.
I could let it go, offer to talk about this when Alyssa has more energy.
But I won't. She's my fiancée now.
And I'm not going to bullshit her or handle her. I'm not going to pretend everything is okay the way I did with Samantha.
I'm going to tell her the damn truth.
"If you want to stay estranged from your mom, I won't force you to reconsider," I reassure her. "But if not, I'd love to have her at the wedding."
"That's not a good idea."
"Why not?"
She sighs.
"She loved Ryan. Every other question out of her mouth, when we were still talking, was why can't you see that Ryan boy cares for you? Why don't you give him a chance?"
That doesn't sound promising.
"You did listen to her eventually."
"She doesn't know what happened," Alyssa says flatly. "She'd hate me even more if she found out."
Hate is a strong word.
"Are you sure that she hates you?"
"Maybe not hate, but... You wouldn't understand." She says it with such resignation, like no one ever could or will understand the things she keeps locked up.
"I want to."
"I thought we were talking about the wedding."
Alright.
"Do you want to invite your mother?"
"No."
"Okay. If you don't want to invite her, we won't."
"You're not going to give me attitude later?"
"I've never given anyone attitude in my life."
She scoffs.
"Right..."
I smile to myself.
"What is it I wouldn't understand?"
"My mother. She's not a bad person. She worked hard to make sure we had a nice house and food on the table, but she's not there. She's an empty shell."
