Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” she says, stepping in. “I got you a present.” She holds up the bag in her hand and squats down so she’s on the same level as Meadow. Closing the door behind her, I watch Meadow take out the gift.
“Look, Dad.” She picks up the gift, which is the head of a Barbie with long blond hair.
“I bought it so when I do your hair, you can do this hair,” she tells her. “So, we can practice together.”
Meadow gasps. “Can we do mermaid braids?”
“We sure can,” she agrees, and Meadow gets up at the same time that the bell rings again.
I open the door, thinking it’s the delivery guy but come face-to-face with Marylin. I’m in shock when she throws up her hands. “Meadow,” she says, ignoring me, “come see Mommy.” Meadow rushes to her. “How are you, my princess?”
“I got a Barbie head to do braids,” she tells her excitedly.
“Meadow,” I say, finally snapping out of it, “go put that away.”
“Okay,” Meadow says, not catching the impending drama. I wait for her to walk up the stairs to her room when I turn on Marylin.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I hiss.
“I came to visit,” she says, looking at me and then catching that Grace is here.
“Oh, are you going out?” she asks. “You got your assistant to babysit for you.” She shakes her head.
“I just came to drop something off,” Grace states nervously. “I was just leaving,” she says, avoiding looking at me. “Have a nice night.” She rushes out of the house before I can stop her.
I watch her walk out, not able to chase after her because I have Marylin in my house, and I don’t want her in my house. “Marylin, this is ending today,” I snap between clenched teeth, “from now on before you come to my house, my place of employment, or any other place I’m going to be, I want notice or else I’m filing a police report for harassment. This is the third time that you’ve pushed your way into my space.”
“I came to see my daughter,” she huffs.
“And like I said, you call before.” I open the door. “We’re busy tonight.”
“But I’m here.” She throws up her hands, shrieking, “I came all this way!”
“Well, you should have called. We have plans this weekend.” She stares at me, or better yet, looks at me in a way that says if looks could kill, I would be dead.
“I wasted all that money coming here,” she huffs. “I have no place to go.”
“Not my problem.” I shake my head. “Now, are you leaving, or do I call the cops?”
“I’m going to talk to my lawyer about this,” she huffs again as she walks out the door. “To be treated like this is unacceptable,” she rants, and I slam the door behind her.
I’m pulling the phone out of my back pocket when Meadow comes back downstairs. “Where is Mom?” she asks, looking around.
“She had to go. She said she would call you later,” I tell her, and she doesn’t even bat an eye.
“Where is Grace?” She turns to walk into the living room.
“She had to go and get something,” I lie to her, and she looks disappointed. “She’s coming back.”
I pull up her number and call her, and the call goes straight to voicemail. I close my eyes, ignoring the hammering in my chest.
Me: Can you please call me, or better yet, come back?
I wait for a second and then two before I call her again and still it goes to voicemail. I leave her a message as I walk back into the house and go to the couch.
Me: Please call me.
twenty-nine
Grace
I look down at my phone as it pings again in my hand.
Not Batman: Please call me.
My heart beats erratically hard in my chest. From the minute he opened the door until I left, I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. Seeing Marylin there and then hearing Meadow say Mommy, I felt like I was an intruder. Instead of watching it, I took myself out of the situation. As I walked out of the house, my hands shook, my knees wobbled, the back of my neck was on fire, and I generally thought I was going to be sick in the middle of the driveway.
I put my head down on the steering wheel as my phone pings again in my hand, but there isn’t a new message. It’s just alerting me of the ones that came in. I think about calling him, but instead, I just send him a text.
Me: I’ll call you later.
I’m about to press send when I delete it and think about what to write.
Me: I don’t want to be in the middle of this. I don’t want to be in this fight.
I press send before I can take it back. I see the bubbles come up right away and the phone pings in my hand.