Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
I marched around my desk, and she took a step back as I neared her. “Do you really have the nerve to show up here and reprimand me when you couldn’t even be there for your own son? Lew called you every day, but did you answer? No. You only did when you felt like it.”
“I was traveling!”
“Oh, right. Gloria Travels,” I said in a jeer, referring to her stupid blog, where she traveled and wrote about it. And no, she wasn’t paid to do this. She did this willingly with the life insurance payout she’d acquired from her husband’s—Lewis’s dad—death. “Traveling meant more to you than coming to see Lew? Those last few weeks, he asked for you, Gloria. He was waiting for you to walk through that door, but you never showed up. Typical Gloria, always making an excuse to not take care of her own child.”
“I birthed and raised him!” she countered, getting in my face again. “He wouldn’t have been the man he was without me!”
“Wrong. He wouldn’t have been the man he was without his father, who also died when you weren’t there. Don’t act like you were the good parent to him.”
Gloria sucked in a sharp breath, and her eyes glistened.
I’d had enough of backing down from her—from handling things so kindly. Why the hell was she even here? I hadn’t heard from her since she showed up about the photo album. Now all of a sudden she was charging into my office and shouting at me? What was wrong with this woman? I get she was lonely and miserable, but I’d never seen someone try so hard to drag another person into their misery.
I took a moment to collect myself, realizing her barging in like this wasn’t about me. All of this was from a problem she had brewing within herself, and she was looking for someone else to blame.
“Look, I get that everyone grieves in their own way, but this is not it, Gloria. Taking your anger out on me because you didn’t do your part as a mother is wrong, so don’t you ever come into my space pointing fingers at me when I did everything for Lewis. He was the love of my life, and I would’ve done anything for him, but he was dying. Do you think I asked for that? Do you think I walked into our marriage wishing he’d die when he was in his thirties? I loved him, Gloria! I never wanted him to leave me!”
She blinked as she backed away, but I couldn’t see her clearly anymore, because my vision had blurred. I blinked and waited to hear what else she could spew at me as she shifted on her feet.
She looked awful, like she hadn’t slept properly in months, and she reeked of stale cigarettes. She normally wore a lot of makeup but not that day. It was like she rolled out of bed, saw the news leak on BOBBLE, and drove straight to my office.
When she didn’t speak, I pointed at the door. “If that’s all, you can leave now. I have work to do.”
“I can’t believe you.” Gloria pointed an angry finger at me. “I hope this new guy you’re with forgets about you like you’ve forgotten about Lew.”
She turned on her heel, snatched the door open, and stormed out. I stared after her until my vision grew blurry again, then rushed to slam the door.
My knees felt like they were going to give out on me as I walked back to my chair to sink into it. I glanced at my phone and was shocked when I realized Deke was still on the line.
I picked the phone up and brought it to my ear with a shaky hand. “Oh my goodness. Deke?”
“I’m here,” he murmured.
I swallowed thickly and tried fighting my tears. To stop them, I closed my eyes. “Please don’t tell me you heard all of that.”
“I didn’t want to hang up until I knew you were okay.” He paused. “Are you okay?” His voice was soft and sincere, like he felt sorry for me. It was enough to make me break.
I placed the phone down and dropped my face into my hands. I couldn’t fight the sobs, couldn’t stop the tears. The emotion had accumulated into a large monster inside me, and this monster was wreaking havoc. There she was again, that bitch Grief. Always coming in swinging.
I heard my office door open, heard the faint voice from Deke as he called my name, felt a hand rub circles on my back.
“She’ll call you back, Deke,” Tish murmured. After ending the call, she guided me to the sofa and helped me sit.
“Look at me,” I cried. “I’m the worst, Tish!”
“Davina, no.”
“She’s right. I—I’m moving too fast. This isn’t normal!”
“Who said there were rules on the timeline of dating?” Tish asked, her brows dipping. “Davina, you told me yourself that the true intimacy between you and Lew was lost months before he died. You knew the day he passed away would come, and you did your best to prepare for it. You can’t blame yourself for liking who you like, and you can’t fight how you feel when you feel it. What good will that do for you?”