Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
“What did he do in Boston? Same thing?”
“No. First, he was the chief of staff at whatever hospital, and later the chief executive officer, which, I understand, had to be voted on by their board of commissioners.”
“How do you know all that?”
“Kurt told me. The hospital must’ve contacted him in their vetting process.”
“And what did Kurt say?”
“He said he couldn’t speak about the man as he hadn’t spoken to him in over ten years at that point.”
“They hired him, so I guess they didn’t care.”
“I guess not.”
“So your father is a doctor, and he treated you both like trash and then allowed you to go ahead and walk on out of his life?”
“Oh, he moved away before Kurt was even declared an emancipated minor.”
“How?”
“Think about your time in foster care. How many kids there are, how many fall through the cracks. No one checked up on us. From the outside, we looked good. Kurt took such great care of me, no one ever suspected a thing.”
“It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that…he left you.”
“And never looked back. Just like her,” she said flatly. “But you have to give him his due. He was horrible, but he fed and clothed us.”
“The people I know, and you and Brad, for fuck’s sake, all love your kids. I don’t get having children if you’re not going to…I dunno…love them.”
She took a shaky breath. “I know, and I agree.”
“He got remarried too?”
“Yep. He had four kids with his second wife. Four half-siblings I hope never to meet. They don’t need to encounter my venom over a man who—at least from the Facebook posts, from his wife’s Instagram, and from the Boston society pages—is a celebrated physician, philanthropist, and a pillar of his motherfuckin’ community.”
I couldn’t help the chuckle, and after a moment, she joined me.
“It’s so weird to hear you swear.”
“Well, I bear them both deep ill will,” she let me know.
“Kurt would say that’s not healthy.”
“Oh, I know. And I’ve worked hard to get it all out. On a day-to-day basis, I don’t think about either of them. It was me and Kurt for so long, and then me and Brad and his family.”
“His mother,” I goaded her, knowing that she and her mother-in-law, Suzie, were frenemies.
“Yes, his mother is a pill. But I’m sure she thinks the same of me. Though ever since everything happened last Christmas… When they came to visit us after New Year’s, she came into the house, walked by her son, her grandsons, and right up to me and hugged me tight.”
“What was that about?”
“She said that if Brad, or the boys, heaven forbid, had been taken from her, she knew in her heart that they were aware she loved them dearly. She would have worried about me.”
“That’s kind of nice.”
“Yes, it is. And though I drive her bananas, and she makes me want to drink, a lot, the reason we rub each other the wrong way is that we’re both perfectionists.”
“I can see that.”
“Yes.”
“What now?”
“Well, now we’re trying to be more patient with each other, and I even had her tape an episode with me where we talked about mother-and-daughter-in-law issues.”
“And?”
“And it went viral. People like to see us talking, arguing, creating beautiful curated spaces, and dissing others.”
“I bet.”
“They like to see us shop together, decorate together, and snip and snap at each other. I think it’s so true to life, you know?”
“I’m happy for you.”
“I am too.”
“And you love Brad’s father and his sister and his brother.”
“I do. His father is chef’s-kiss perfection. The father we all want and need. And I can see in him the man Brad will be. I understand that Suzie and I married the same kind of man because we’re both type A personalities.”
“No. Really?”
“I’m coming to your wedding in the fall, George, and I do have a speech to give, so mind your manners.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“But I get why Suzie needs me. Geneva does not share any of her mother’s interests. Not one. She doesn’t even like jewelry, for heaven’s sake. What is that even about? Who doesn’t like jewelry, George?”
“She’s a child of nature, not material possessions.”
Her groan was loud.
“She’s at one with the universe, Kurt said.”
“I hate both her and her wife.”
“You do not.”
“Fine, but the two of them, living off the land with the compost toilet and that horrible trailer? All sustainable and gross. Good God. That’s as close to hell as I ever want to get.”
I couldn’t help laughing.
“And they’re both vegans, and they do all that yoga, and neither has ever heard of deodorant or shaving, but worst of all, like the pinnacle of horror, is that neither drinks coffee.”
“That’s not really a bad—”
“They don’t even drink black tea. Only that herbal shit.”
“You’re being very judgmental right now. Kurt says their systems are free of impurities, toxins…they eat clean, they’re both in great shape, and they are completely self-sustaining with their tea business. I understand there’s one for everything.”