“Your mother is the one who said it.” Her voice and manner changed abruptly. “You say it isn’t true. Why don’t you ask your mother why she would say that it was?”
“I don’t believe my mother said it,” I fired back. I really didn’t believe that. I feel like my mother would have said something to me by now. “I think your mother said it.”
There. The words were out there and I could see that they had caused a rift in the bridge that I felt we had just started building once again. Maybe there were no bridges that could span fifteen years of misinformation and hurt feelings. Maybe I was just being stupid here. Maybe it would be better to get this office off the ground and just go back to Kansas City and forget about this whole situation like I’d been doing for the last decade and a half.
Chapter Eighteen
Eleanor
“Oh my God, you actually showed up!”
I rolled my eyes at Lena’s overly dramatized behavior. My sister really had a flair for it. The behavior, I mean. It was like she couldn’t help herself. She had to make everything into the biggest deal possible. Okay. So that wasn’t actually fair.
“Do not give me that look,” Lena told me irritably. “You’ve been avoiding me ever since the bridal shower and do not even try to tell me that isn’t the truth. I know it is. I know you. We haven’t had dinner in weeks. You’re a creature of total habit. I had to practically beg you for our usual Cheesecake Factory sister dinner date and that’s just weird.”
“I’m not avoiding you,” I muttered to Lena as we did the obligatory sister hug. I’m taller than she is so it’s always a bit awkward to lean down and embrace her without feeling like the ugly duckling. “You’re just busy with wedding stuff. I know how that is. I can’t imagine what it might be like to try and get all of that together in a record two month’s time.
“Right,” Lena snorted as she inserted an epic eye roll.
“Hey there, ladies!” A waitress grabbed two menus and then waved us toward a table squashed in between about a dozen other two seaters that were all packed together like sardines. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen you. I was beginning to think you’d ditched us for another restaurant!”
“No, of course not!” Lena glanced back at me as we settled ourselves at the table. “My sister is far too habitual for that!”
I took the seat in the booth. Lena took the chair just like usual. But for some reason Lena happened to glance down at my boots as I removed my long jacket. The temperature had started to plummet so I’d grabbed a longer coat. My skirt was pretty and long, but not nearly thick enough to keep me warm when the wind felt like it had come straight from the Arctic Circle.
“Oh my God!” Lena gasped. “Where did you get those boots? They’re cute!”
“The store?” I said drily.
I was already signaling the waitress to get me an iced tea. I did not care to talk about my outfit. I had no idea why I had felt the need to dress like this. I just had. So, I did. Because that’s what a free woman who was single and in total control of her destiny could do in the morning right?
“Iced tea for me.” I looked at Lena and raised an eyebrow. “You want something with more calories than soda? Or are those empty calories plenty for you?”
Lena rolled her eyes. “I’ll have a Coke. And bring me some bread, please? I’m sorry, but I am totally starving.”
“Sure!” The waitress bustled off and I was once again alone with my little sister.
“Kevin had a baby with some other woman?” Lena did not pull her punches or waste one second of time. “Are you kidding me right now? Kevin Landau was keeping some baby mama somewhere? That’s what broke up your wedding and caused you to play the role of runaway bride?”
Why did it sound so preposterous when Lena said it and so reasonable when my own mother said it? I gnawed my lower lip and wished like hell that the waitress would come back with our drinks. And I wanted to order. I wanted chicken and biscuits like Lena always ordered because it looked good and because I was freezing cold and starving to death after eating almost nothing all day long. I was tired. That’s what I was. And after I finished my chicken and biscuits I was going to eat the biggest slice of chocolate cherry cheesecake that I could find. And I was going to enjoy every single bite that I put in my mouth.
The iced tea appeared on our table, thank God, along with Lena’s basket of bread. That did not look appealing to me. I wanted the gravy. That’s what I wanted. Yeah. I was losing it. Big time.
“So, quinoa salad with salmon?” The waitress was already prepared to scribble that order on her tablet, which would then mainline my order straight to some poor cook in the kitchen who was probably already starting to make my dinner because yes, I was that predictable.
“No.” I cleared my throat and prepared to make waves. “I’ll have the chicken and biscuits with extra gravy please. Then I want the choco cherry cheesecake for dessert.”
It was quite possible that I had just given the waitress an apoplectic fit. The look on her face at least suggested that I had blown her mind. But to her credit, she just gave me a huge smile. “Yes. Ma’am!” Then she looked at Lena. “And for you?”
“Double that.” Lena held up her hand. “Except I want my lemoncello cake. I can’t survive without that. I’m trying to find a way to get a caterer to provide that for my wedding. Don’t you think that would be a perfect wedding cake?”
“Oh hell yes!” The waitress’s eyes bugged out as she realized what she’d said. Then she winked at us and waved as she headed off. “I’ll put that right in, ladies. See you in a few!”
Lena did not waste a single second. “What is going on with you? Your hair is down. You look like you stopped using rice powder for foundation, you’ve got on cute boots, and now I bet you just ordered more calories in one meal than you’ve probably eaten all week long.”
“You’d lose that bet,” I murmured with more than a little satisfaction. “Could you please stop thinking that you know everything? And why would Mom lie to me about that, Lena? Why?”
“Are you kidding me?” Lena glanced to the right and left. There were other tables there so close that we could have reached out and smacked the people eating their dinners. “Our mother was a bitch, Eleanor. A total bitch. I know that you were Mama’s Girl. All right? But I don’t think you get what that really means.”
“Okay.” I placed my hand flat on the white linen tablecloth and took a few deep breaths. I could be rational about this. I had to be. I had to at least be realistic and that meant considering all the angles. “Let’s say Mom did lie. What would be the purpose? You say I don’t get what that really means. So help me get it.”
“Mom hated Kevin Landau.” Lena said it firm and hard as though this were a fact that I’d just been unaware of all these years. “Come on. You really didn’t see it? Mom didn’t like him for you. Dad did. But when did Mom ever listen to Dad? Our mother was a narcissistic woman, Eleanor. She had this grand idea about who you were going to marry and be with. She had these grand plans for you. I don’t really know what they were, but I do know that she died before any of that could happen. And maybe that was for the best, for you.”
“Excuse me?” I felt my eyebrows bounce off my hairline. What in the hell was my sister talking about? “You think it was better for me that Mom died?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes!” Lena pressed her lips together. “Do you think Mom would have liked Damion?”
“No.”
I didn’t even have to guess at that. Damion Alvarez was everything that our mother would have hated because he did not give a shit about what anyone else thought. The guy had agreed to a steampunk-themed wedding, for crying out loud. That would have been enough to throw my mother over the deep end.
But Lena was nodding. “He’s good looking, he’s rich, he lives in a huge mansion in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in St. Louis County. Come on, Eleanor. What is there not to like about the guy as a potential husband for your da
ughter? He treats me like a rock star queen. I’m not kidding here. The man would buy me the moon if I asked him to.”
All of that was true. There was no doubting it. Damion loved my sister the way that most women dreamed of being loved. The two of them were absolutely disgusting together. They had so much fun that it made you want to spit on them and knock their happy asses to the ground. So yeah. Damion was good for Lena. Lena was probably good for Damion too.
“I can’t argue with that,” I told Lena quietly. I didn’t even want to. “I think he’s good for you. I just—I just can’t believe that Mom would lie about something so—so—so…” I could not even find a word for it. “That’s not just a lie, Lena. It’s horrible. How could she do something so awful?”
“The alternative is that Kevin lied to you, is probably still lying to you, and what? Maintains his innocence, I’m sure.” Lena gave me a long look. One of her judgy looks. “If you’ve even had the courage to tell him that’s what happened.”
“I have told him.”
“And?”
Like I wanted to admit she was right. Good God, could we make this whole thing just a little more embarrassing? Thankfully the food came right then. It smelled so good! My mouth was watering. It was like a visceral reaction to the potential for real taste. I wanted it so badly right now that I was pretty certain that I was going to die if I didn’t start eating immediately.
To say that I tucked into my meal would be putting it politely. I think I destroyed that plate. Destroyed it. I ate so fast and so furious that within minutes I was already seeing the bare plate in certain areas and my belly was starting to tell me that I needed to slow down if I was going to have room for my cake.
I wanted cake. I wanted chocolate. I wanted my bratty little sister to stop staring at me like she needed to call the men in the white suits to come and take me away to a padded room somewhere. That’s what I wanted.
And then I saw something guaranteed to distract my dear sister. I felt the smirk on my face and could not help but chuckle.
“What?” Lena demanded. Her back was to the front doors of the restaurant so she could not see what I could.
Fortunately, the waitress came bustling up right about that moment. I knew what she was going to say. So did she. Or rather she knew that I knew what she was going to say. I think I had easily lost track of how many times this had happened to Lena and I over the last few years. Although, this was totally new.
The poor waitress sighed and touched Lena’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry to bother you ladies.”
“It’s okay,” I told her. Then I winked at my sister. “The happy couple has come to show off their nuptial bliss.”
Lena’s blue eyes got absolutely huge. Big as hubcaps. Then she dared to turn around and steal a peek. “Oh, for the love of God!” Lena moaned. “Really? Trinity looks like she’s wearing a wedding gown!”
“She probably dresses like that all of the time just in case she has a chance to rub it in your face,” I said with no small amount of glee.
Ah yes. Trinity Moberly—or rather Mr. and Mrs. Karl Kitson—were standing up at the front of the restaurant trying to get a table right beside ours. The management always asked, though, thanks to their understanding of how a restraining order worked. Unfortunately for Karl and Trinity, they had never seemed to fully grasp the concept.
“You know what?” I smiled at the waitress. “Those two actually got married just to try and torture the people that they were stalking.”
“Wait.” The waitress looked as though she could not quite wrap her mind around that. “People do that? What kind of people do that?”
“I don’t know, but I tell you what.” I was having way too much fun. This was so not like me. “You give them an entire lemoncello cake on me as a wedding gift. Tell them that we don’t want to sit with them, but we wish them all the happiness and wedded bliss in the world.”
The waitress pressed her lips together. She was struggling not to laugh. Lena’s mouth was hanging so wide open that I was surprised her chin did not drag in her gravy. Then the waitress nodded and turned back toward the front.
“Girl,” she told me. “You are one cool chick. I will enjoy every second of this. And you ladies enjoy the rest of your dinner. I’ll bring your desserts in just a few minutes.”
“Sounds great!” I waved her on and stared at my younger sister.
Lena was staring at me as though I were a total stranger. “Who are you?”
“What? You never actually got to know me?” I teased her. “Gee. I’m so shocked. You’ve been telling me who I am for so many years that I’m kind of surprised you have enough room in your brain to absorb a change.”
“Eleanor, that’s not fair.” Lena looked troubled. She bit her lower lip and then she started to shake her head. “I want you to think twice about believing Kevin. All right? I know that there is no way to find out whether or not Mom told the truth or she lied. We can’t ask her. We can’t even demand an explanation or an accounting. Not for anything. But I don’t believe Kevin would have done that to you. I always thought you just weren’t ready. That’s what you told me for years.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Right, but this is a lot different. Not being ready to accept that the man you had fallen in love with had also been in love with another woman enough to father a child with her is a big deal, Ellie.”
I hated it when she called me that. Ellie. It was too familiar. The way she said it had the ability to send me flying backwards through space and time to a spot where I was totally vulnerable. I didn’t like it. But maybe right now there was a bit of truth to how I was feeling. Maybe I needed to go back to those vulnerable feelings and try to look at this whole thing from a new perspective. One where Kevin wasn’t a liar and a cheater. One where I had been manipulated into believing the worst about a man who had done nothing to deserve that treatment.
Chapter Nineteen
Kevin
Ask your mother.
Eleanor’s words kept spinning around and around inside my head. It seemed that this spastic concept of the ruminating thoughts was going to be my new way of processing everything. Great. I was just so looking forward to this. It was a horrible way to function. I felt as though I were ready for the nuthouse. I could see myself sitting on a foam cushion in some common room with other patients who were eating their checkers and building a house of cards. I’d be sitting there with my mouth half open, drooling on my hospital gown and asking myself what had happened to the guy who had thought he was so successful that he was sitting on top of the world.
When had that been anyway? Like three weeks ago? Three weeks since I got my high end watch from Todd and Dan Hopper on stage in front of the whole company while they all looked on in disdainful jealousy. Now I was here in St. Louis feeling about twenty-two years old again and useless as could be.
“Are you all right, Kevvie dear?” My mother’s expression was more than worried. I think she was so tense about so many things that the idea there could be something wrong with something that she had already tagged as being right was probably going to tip her over the edge. “I just feel like you’re not yourself this evening.”
It was just the two of us at the dinner table again. Gee. What a surprise. I could hear the television droning on and on as the clink of my father’s knife and fork on his television tray supported dinner plate filled the living room. Sometimes I really wanted to stomp in there and do something totally obnoxious like overturn his tray. The purpose of that would have been totally lost on both of my parents though. And that was just sad.
“I heard something that really bothers me, Mom.” I had to be careful with this. If my mother thought for one second that I actually believed that she had said something to end my wedding day on such an abrupt and final note, she would be crushed. “Eleanor Schulte and I have been very casually talking together about old times.”
“Oh?” My mother got up from the table. I got the feeling that she just neede
d something to do. She began puttering at the stove. There was evidently a cake of some kind for dessert. “Would you like some dump cake? The recipe is new. I was hoping you would try it out for me before I try to serve it at Thanksgiving dinner. Your sister told me that Brock doesn’t like pumpkin or pecan pie.”
“Sure.” I was going to need to go jog around the entire city if this food assault kept up. I had not consumed this many calories in ages. “That sounds great, Mom. I think it’s nice of you to try and make Brock feel welcome.”
“Of course.” My mother did not sound all that certain of her desire to make Brock welcome.
Was that because it was Brock Mortensen or because she didn’t like anyone for her children? I couldn’t help but have a single moment of doubt when it came to the lies that Eleanor honestly believed my mother had told to her mother.
“Mom,” I said firmly. I had to get this out or I never would. “Eleanor was under the impression that I had fathered a child with another woman.”
The crash of china against the tile floor in my mother’s kitchen was so loud and so echoing in the small space that it actually got my father’s attention. Not that he actually got up. He just yelled.
“What in the hell is going on in there? Are you throwing stuff around now, Katrina?” Dad shouted from the safety of his chair.
“Just hush yourself, George!” Mom shouted right back. “I just dropped a bowl. For heaven’s sake! It’s not a big deal.”
Mom was on the floor cleaning up the blueberry and yellow cake rusted mess. I knelt beside her to help. She pushed my hands away. I pushed her hands away in turn. “Mom, I’ve got this. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you that badly.”
“It’s not true,” Mom said fiercely. “You didn’t do that!”
What was this? Obviously my mother had heard this rumor before. I was reminded of Thayla’s memory of the beauty shop war. “Mom, is that why you and Mrs. Schulte had a fight in the beauty shop?”
Tangled: Contemporary Romance Trilogy Page 37
