Page 80 of Unbreakable
She sat at the kitchen counter, drinking a glass of wine. “Finally,” she said as I walked through the door.
“Hey, Carla,” I said with a smile. “The kids do okay?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes. And all the other days I had to parent your children.”
I sucked a breath through my nose, doing my best to keep up the smile as I set my bags down and looked through the mail at my desk. “Well, I really appreciate you coming to take care of them. Dylan and I needed that time.”
Her nostrils flared. “Did my son need you to leave your post as mother of his children to go have some affair in wine country?”
Holding a fake smile was no longer an option. “I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”
“That’s pretty disrespectful,” she snapped. “I’ve been here, slogging through it with your children who clearly need a heavier hand, and you’ve been out flitting in the California sun.”
“Carla,” I said, emptying my hands and planting them on the counter, “since it seems we’re dropping pleasantries, I’m going to give it to you straight. Being nice has never gotten me anywhere with you. What’s the saying? It’s insanity to do the same thing the same way and expect different results? So I’m changing my methods.
“Dylan invited you here. Not me. He seems to have some misguided thought that you would change and see that I am not the diabolical demon you’ve made me out to be. I thought I’d make the best of the situation and take the break I so desperately needed. If I had stayed here and we tried to play nice, I don’t know that it would have gone well. I’m tired of faking like you don’t constantly try to cut me down and pit Dylan against me. What’s your end game, Carla? You want him to divorce me? What is your real problem with me? Or would no one be good enough for your precious boy?”
She stiffened and held her head up. “I told him you were a head case from the beginning. Flighty. Not even fit to look after yourself, so you glommed onto him,” she said. “He’s been cleaning up after you since you two got married. He only asked you to marry him because you went and got knocked up. He should have gotten an annulment when I told him to.”
Oh, the irony. The irony that the whole reason Dyl and I fell apart was because I was always cleaning up after him, that mylife was solely dictated by his. And it was her fault that he was that way, letting her whole life revolve around him.
“First of all, there is nothing wrong with having mental health issues, just like there’s nothing wrong with having any other disease. Second, if your son only married me because I was pregnant, then why did he stay when I wasn’t? Why did he have three more kids with me?”
“You coerced him,” she spat.
I shook my head. “I wish he could hear you now. Your son pursued me. Your son begged me to love him, because he probably never got it from you. You dangle the carrot in front of us, likeI’ll love you when you do this, but we never get the damn carrot. I’ve spent years trying to please you, Carla, to fit into some impossible mold you dreamed up. I’ve hit my wall. I can’t continually take abuse from you and keep running back for more, hoping you’ll wake up to the fact that despite your best efforts, I’m not going anywhere. Dylan and I have our issues, yes. But we’re willing to work on them and not just sweep them under the rug.”
“Abuse,” she scoffed. “You kids are too sensitive.”
Wow. She’s good at determining the takeaways.
“Carla, would you like to leave my house now? I’ll gladly pay for your hotel room to get out of my face. I’ve got a family to support, and if you’re not going to contribute to that, you’re welcome to leave.”
“After all I’ve done for you?—”
“Thank you,” I said over her, “for taking care of our children while we had some much-needed time to focus on our relationship. Will you be staying here tonight, or shall I book you a hotel?”
“You abandoned your children. You abandoned my son. I would never abandon Dylan,” she said.
“There’s the door,” I said, grabbing my bag and heading upstairs to unpack. “I’ll have Dylan call you when he’s home.”
THIRTY-THREE
DYLAN
NOW | DECEMBER
Can’t wait to be home with you
Jeannie
Waiting up for you
You don’t have to
I want to
<3
