“I don't think you understand, dear.” That way she had of speaking sweetly while completely eviscerating whoever she was talking to was evil. “Charlie has no use for you beyond this summer. He's having a little fun, that's all. He knows that I would never accept you as a daughter in law and he would never insult me by trying.”
“I don't believe you.”
“Then don't,” she snapped. “I'll wait for you to hear it from him yourself. When he finally cuts you loose because he has had his fill of... whatever it is you're offering him, he'll break your heart. Judging by your reaction, it's clear he hasn't been fully upfront with you about his intentions. Consider this a favor. You didn't have to hear it from the man that you are completely besotted by.”
I was crying at that point. I didn't want to appear that week in front of her, but her cruelty cut me right to the bone. The way she called me darling was soaked in disdain. I wish I was stronger. I wish it happened now instead of when I was nineteen. I would’ve said something. Defended myself better. Put her in her place. Instead, I just dropped my key on a table with a lamp on it and turned to leave.
“Don't tell Charlie that I came by,” I said to her.
“Of course not, darling,” she said. “I think it would be better for all of us, Charles included if we pretend this little dalliance of his didn't happen.”
That was the first last and only conversation I had had with Veronica Hampton. The shock that Charles was related to British royalty was almost as bad as what a bitch has mother was. It just didn't make sense to me. How could a man who was as kind, sweet and non-judgmental as Charlie be related to a woman whose main problem with me was the fact that I wasn't rich?
Her threats worked. His mother played a big enough role in his life to have a say in who he ended up marrying. I tried my best not to think about the two of us ever going the distance like that, but during that time when we were together, completely blissed out and in love, I did indulge in a couple of fantasies like that. Fantasies were all they were ever going to be. At the time, it crushed me.
I walked away. I left that summer, that time, that beach, everything like it never even happened. I completely ghosted him, which I can admit was wrong and foul. I wish I never did it, but reeling from the shock of that confrontation with his mother, I was humiliated and even a little scared.
Her attack hit me right where it hurt, and I knew that that was intentional. I couldn’t stand up to her. Who the hell was I? A chubby beach-rat who was at this summer job because I actually needed it. Who had grown up poor and been working most of her teenage life already. Whose usual suitors were nothing compared to her son in terms of rank and wealth.
And she was descended from royalty. She had tons of money and power, I didn’t stand a chance. And on top of that, she was Charlie’s mom. Who was he going to pick between her and me, realistically? He was a dutiful son back then and he was one now.
I believed her. I started thinking that Charlie was just with me for a good time before he leveled up to a woman who was wealthy and wore a size zero.
I was still mad about that. After seven years you would think the ache would have healed a little, and it had, but now, it was back with a vengeance.
For a long time just thinking about him would bring tears to my eyes. When I stopped having such an emotional reaction, I thought I was over it but clearly not. What was I thinking getting involved with him again? We were right back where we started. Me, involved with Charlie Hampton again just so his mother could come and ruin things. Why did I think things were going to be different? Why didn't I think about this earlier? I thought that maybe since he was so much older now yet still unmarried, maybe he had stood up to her, but he hadn't. She still had the same expectations of him. Even worse, he was still doing his best to live up to them.
Right now, he was getting dressed so he could go to some rich people party and be introduced to a woman suitable for him to marry. The socialite with generational wealth and a twenty two-inch waist. This was nothing to him. whatever he thought he was doing with me now; it wasn't going to last. He was going to, eventually, do what his mother wanted, and then what was I supposed to do?
I couldn't get sucked back in. We had a contract so I had to stay with him right now but once the baby was gone, I was out. The money was the real reason that I agreed to do this, and it would have to be enough. I couldn't believe that I let myself think he was serious about us trying again. It must have been the baby. He was just delusional, feeling close to me because I was pregnant with our kid.
No, with his kid. My hand went to my stomach. I felt ill. After this was over, I was out. I didn't want to be back here again, but at least this time, I knew my way out.
17
Charles
I watched the man’s lips moving as the words he said turned into a monotonous drone in my mind. My eyes glazed over.
“Don’t you think so?” he said. I snapped back into attention; the decorated hotel ballroom, the charity auction, the man in front of me who was telling me why this flightless bird from the forests of southeast Asia was worth saving.
“Yeah, of course, you’re absolutely right. One second, I’ll be right back,” I said, walking away from him.
What the hell was I doing here? How did I let my mother drag me out tonight? I should have been home with Brenna. We could have gone out tonight. We could have stayed at the house, ordered pizza and just watched a movie. Anything would be more interesting than listening to someone telling me about the mating habits of a bird that was going extinct.
I did my part for the environment, but tonight was not the night. I used to have a far higher tolerance for these sorts of things, but my priorities were a little different these days. Tonight just wasn’t the night. Sue me.
None of this was real. The relationships between all these people, the conversations, the way everyone pretended they were happy to see each other and were going to stay in touch; spoiler alert, they didn’t. It was completely false. They just wanted to know the ways that they could be useful to each other. That was it. They didn’t even care about the fucking endangered bird.
I grabbed a flute of champagne off one of the roving waiters and downed it in one swallow. I was ready to leave. I had shown up, said hey to the Thomases and laughed and smiled with people I never wanted to meet again. That felt lik
e more than enough to me. My mother was doing the rounds, socializing. Networking. She had done this all her life, she was great at it. I should have been better at it but guess I had no choice but to disappoint her some more.
I didn’t want this life. She thrived in this environment. I didn’t. She wanted this crowd. I would rather live in solitary confinement than deal with this particular crowd again. I couldn’t see myself doing this for the rest of my life and fuck if she or anyone else said I had to. I wasn’t going to. I wanted, no I needed something real. Brenna was real. She wouldn’t want to spend a minute with these people and wouldn’t allow herself to be coerced to come to something like this.
That was it. I was out of here.
“Oh, Charles, there you are,” I heard my mother’s voice behind me. I turned around, seeing her with a woman on her arm.