Page 51 of Not About That Life
Eight
I woke up from some of the deepest sleep I’ve ever had. Those Four Seasons beds will change your everloving life. Seriously. Get your life on a Four Seasons bed. You won’t regret it.
After that horrible confrontation at my Granny’s, Ian whisked me away to New York. He comforted me as I cried into his chest, soaking his shirt with my tears and drifted off to sleep a short time later.
When we arrived at JFK, a car met us on the runway and we went straight to Four Seasons. Ian ordered food for us to eat but I was too emotional still. I took another nap and he rested with me.
Now I’m awake and still feeling a bit ill about what happened. I haven’t turned on my phone so I don’t know if word got around that Ian officially threatened my family if they weren’t nice to me.
“My angel is awake,” Ian casually reads the paper and glances over at me, “how did you sleep?”
“Can we, like, take this bed home?” I rub my hands all over it. “It’s really nice.”
Ian smiles and folds the paper. He joins me on the bed. “We can do whatever you want, angel.”
I slightly yawn and that causes a chain reaction. “How long was I asleep for?”
“About five hours.” Ian replies. “I didn’t want to wake you up. You had an emotional day.”
That’s one way of saying it. The most accurate statement would beI had a fucked up day. Worrying about Ian and his not-quite cultural appropriation seems rather silly at this point. “I didn’t mean to ruin our trip, baby. I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting the whammy at my Granny’s house.”
“Understandable.” His hand caresses my face and I softly kiss his cheek. “It’s a shock if you didn’t know about it.”
I look up at him and turn towards him. He’s implying he’s known about this way longer than I have and for reasons, I hope he tells me very soon. “How long did you know?”
“Not long.” He admits, though he seems embarrassed that he didn’t say anything. “I had someone keep an eye on Sam and Candy due to what they pulled at 3121. They reported to me about Sam’s finances. It seems your stepmother is blowing through your father’s money.”
I don’t know how to feel about that. I don’t hate Candy but I hate how she effectively destroyed the relationship I had with my father. Now she’s making him broke? Now I have even more of a reason to despise her.
Yet, despite the broken relationships between Sam and his children, he would rather side with his wife who is draining him dry than to listen to reason. You can’t argue with someone who won’t listen to another point of view.
“What about the home?” I ask. My mother worked hard for that home and its upkeep. Sam may not care about the home anymore but I do.
“I’m carefully watching it for when it goes up for sale.” He pauses and stares into my eyes. “It’s yours if you want it.”
Do I want my mother’s home? I have many great memories there. I also have some horrible memories of watching my mother dying. At least she died at the comfort of her home and not in a hospital where it’s sterile and death.
I think my emotions are on overload, which is why my decision makes sense now. I don’t know what I’m going to do but I’ll figure something out. I’ll definitely need a plan once Sam and Candy know what happened. “I want it.”
Ian softly nods. “I’ll start the arrangements when we get back.” He softly kisses my lips. “It’ll be in your name so whatever you want to do with it is at your discretion. Sam and Candy will know you own due to public records and I can’t do anything about that. They might demand to move back into the home.”
I figured as much. I’ll worry about that when the time comes. “I don’t want to talk about that anymore. Is there any food left?”
“There’s plenty. You stay there and I’ll bring your meal.” He gets up and retrieves the food.
As I munch on my cheeseburger and fries, I start thinking about if reconciliation with my father is ever going to happen. It tears me up inside and a part of me feels for him that his wife, who he gave up his family for, only sees him as moneybags.
It might be too late for Sam and Adrienne but I wonder if I’ll ever be Daddy’s Little Girl again. I can only hope. I already lost one parent; I can’t lose another.
“Oh goody,” Ian says as he flips on the TV, “Friendsis on.”
I pause mid-bite and look at my screen. I have never watched an episode ofFriendslike ever. Even when the reruns came on, I turned it to another channel. The only name I recognize is Jennifer Aniston and that’s because she was married to Brad Pitt (I’m Team Jen, btw), but the rest of these people….who’s Lisa Kudrow?
Ian watches the episode and I’m trying to find the same humor he does in some of the jokes. He’s seriously cracking up over them and I’m just like what the hell?
Then Joey goes on a date with Phoebe’s friend, where she eats up all of his food, and Ian points to the screen. “You do this to me all of the time, you know this?”
“What?” I look at the screen. “He just told her what’s his is hers and she took him on the generous offer!”
