The Secret of You and Me - Melissa Lenhardt Page 0,63

thirty minutes early?” I said.

Charlie went to the door. “I asked Avery and Mark to get here early.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” I said, keeping my focus on the list.

“Brenda,” Charlie said.

“Hello, Charlie.”

I put my elbows on the counter and rested my head in my hands. You’ve got to be kidding me. I hadn’t spoken to my mother since Wednesday, and it had been a pleasant two days.

“Um, nice to see you,” Charlie said. “What do you have there?”

“Spanish rice. I know Sophie doesn’t ever make it and thought it would be a nice addition to the menu.”

“Oh. Sophie, look who’s here.”

I stood and plastered a smile on my face. “Hello, Mother.” Charlie was behind Brenda, shrugging and mouthing, I did not invite her. I shook my head at him. “How unexpected.”

“I’ve come to help.”

I laughed. She came to keep an eye on Nora and me. “Charlie, would you go get the avocados from the back fridge?”

“Sure.”

When he was out of earshot, I said, “I know why you’re here.”

“I’ve been waiting for your call, Sophia.”

“My call.”

“To apologize.”

I laughed again.

“That’s why I’m here.”

“No, it’s not. And, you’re going to be waiting a long time for an apology. Like until hell freezes over.” I turned away from her to stir the beans in the Crock-Pot, but the anger and frustration and shame inside me swirled together until I thought I was going to explode. I turned abruptly toward my mother and pulled her close. In her ear, I said, “I told you something I’d never told anyone, and your reaction...it wasn’t one of a loving mother. It was selfish and vindictive and...”

Her blue eyes met mine. “...and every word was true.”

“I will never apologize to you, never answer the phone when you call, answer your texts. You’re ashamed to have me as a daughter? I’m horrified that you’re my mother. Stay tonight if you want, it’ll probably be a good show. But, after this? We’re done.”

“The town will talk.”

“I don’t give a good goddamn what the town says. I’ve been run through the gossip mill before, and I can survive it again.”

Charlie came back with the avocados. “Here. Start the guac.” I shoved the bag in her hand and walked toward the stairs.

Charlie followed me. “Did you invite her?”

“God, no. She’s here to make sure I don’t use paper plates.”

“Are you serious? Of course you are. It’s Brenda.”

I started up the stairs. “I’m sending Logan to the store.”

“I’ll go,” Charlie called from the bottom.

“Like hell, you will. You need to be here to greet all of the fucking people you invited. And, try to keep my mother away from me.”

I knocked on Logan’s door and entered without waiting for her reply. Big mistake.

Joaquin’s naked brown body blocked my daughter from view except for her splayed legs and tanned face visible above his shoulder with an expression I never wanted or expected to see.

Anger and shock and disgust roiled inside me. What was he doing to my daughter, who just yesterday had been on her bed, lying on her stomach, coloring in an American Girl coloring book, legs bent and scissoring back and forth, brow furrowed as she made sure to stay inside the lines? Or at least it seemed like yesterday. I grabbed Joaquin’s ankle to pull him off my daughter. Joaquin flinched, and Logan saw me.

“Mom, get out!”

I stopped, dizzy from déjà vu. I saw myself on the bed, watching my mother drag Nora from me and throw her to the ground, the screaming and tears that followed, the welts on Nora’s shoulders from the tennis racket my mother beat Nora with.

I released Joaquin’s ankle and closed the door behind me. I kept my back turned, staring at the door, and told Joaquin to take his clothes and get in the bathroom.

“Mrs. Wyatt.” I could hear him picking up his clothes. “This isn’t...”

“We all know exactly what this is.” I grabbed my stomach, afraid I was going to throw up. “Please tell me you’re wearing a condom.”

“Mom.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Thank God.”

The door to the bathroom clicked shut. I turned to face my daughter. She’d pulled a blanket up to cover herself.

“Are you insane, Mom?”

“Logan, shut up. Your grandmother and father are downstairs.”

“Grandmother?”

“Yes. She invited herself to our dinner party, the one that’s starting in twenty-five minutes. Did you forget?”

“No.”

“Right, so you just decided to...” I rubbed my forehead.

Nora and I had sex in my house when my parents were down the hall, so berating Logan for it was the height of hypocrisy. But,