Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Oh, for God’s sakes,” she groused. “Do I now have to sit here and listen to all the ways I was a shit mother?”
“We actually don’t have enough time to do that. We need to be in Arizona by this evening.”
She stared at him, her face slack.
And yeah, that was over the line.
Hale reeled it in.
“I think maybe we need to come to terms with the fact we don’t get along,” Hale decided. “If you need anything, I want you to know, all you have to do is reach out to me, I’ll be there. But I think we’d both be happier if we weren’t trying to navigate who we’re supposed to be to each other.”
With that, he pulled out his wallet to get some cash to pay for the drinks they wouldn’t drink, and his mother’s lunch, if she stayed to order.
Sam reached a hand toward him on the table and said, “Don’t do that.”
“I don’t think you’re enjoying this, and I’m not enjoying this, so I think we should cut our losses here.”
“Is this meant to be enjoyed?” she asked as the server showed and set down their drinks.
“Are you ready to order?” the server inquired.
“We’ll start with the saganaki and fried calamari,” Hale ordered his mother’s favorites to make a point.
The server read the vibe and replied, “I’ll get those started and come back for the entrees.”
He took off.
“You have to understand, Hale,” Sam began, “my husband told me he slept with his best friend so I’d divorce him only for me to find out years later that he actually didn’t. He told me that, which was just how badly he wanted me to divorce him. But she was my friend too, so I went those years thinking she ate at my table and pretended to like me when she slept with my husband. And she was never gone from my life, because she was deeply involved in yours.”
“That was thirty years ago, Mom.”
“I found out he lied only three years ago, Hale.”
“You certainly went for the gusto to make him pay for what he did to you, committing to it for decades, and using me to do it too,” Hale retorted.
She lifted both hands up in a don’t shoot gesture, pressing them his way. “Okay, okay. I leaned too far into that.”
Hale didn’t know how to respond.
Elsa waded in.
“Perhaps you two should share what you want from your relationship.” She didn’t hesitate to turn it right to his mother. “Samantha, you start.”
Sam looked apprehensive before she noted to Hale, “You’re my son.”
Hale didn’t know how to respond to that either.
“I think he needs more,” Elsa remarked drily.
“I love you,” she whispered. “Of course I love you. Do you doubt that?”
When Hale shifted uneasily in his chair, Elsa spoke again.
“Hale’s not going to say it because it’ll make him sound like a selfish brat. So I’ll say it. A kid doesn’t need birthday cake for his birthday. He also doesn’t need his mom to take him to his favorite restaurant or make his favorite meal for his birthday. What he needs is his mom to know what will make the day special, and then she bends over backward to do that as best as she possibly can.”
She grimaced her understanding of what Elsa said, and then her expression turned pleading when she shifted her attention to Hale.
“I loved your dad like Genny loved Duncan. And after Corey broke them up, like Genny loved Tom. And all that time, Corey loved Genny.”
“I don’t think you get that what you have with me has nothing to do with that, Mom. Nothing, Hale retorted. “I shouldn’t be made to pay for my father’s mistakes. That’s fucked up. But that’s what I felt has been happening all my life. You hated him, and you didn’t like me all that much because I was his.”
“And that’s what made you pull away and made me think you hated me,” she deduced.
“Well, yeah, Mom,” he stated the obvious.
“It made me feel unlovable, him picking Genny over me. Divorcing me, but she was always a part of his life. It destroyed my confidence.”
“So as a power play, you made everything about you,” Hale surmised.
Again with the reaching of a hand across the table toward him. “I didn’t know I was doing it.”
“I want to believe that, but you’re a grown woman. You can’t possibly think, when your son’s father just blew his brains out, your first response should be to reach out to a gossip show to talk trash about him and expose his secrets.”
She ducked her head, giving the side eye to Elsa.
“If you give her shit about doing her job again…” Hale let his threat trail.
“How did you two get together anyway?” Sam asked.
“You see, I’d tell my mom that. What I don’t think you’re comprehending is that I don’t feel safe telling my mother that,” Hale replied.