“You know, I had dinner the other day with Victoria, your fiancée. She’s distressed.”
“She’s nothing to me, Fey,” I clarify and thank the Lord the elevator’s doors opened. “Have a good life.”
Fey doesn’t take the hint and she steps right next to me. “Well, she mentioned you’re dating a tramp with no class… but that there was a very attractive man there too. Any way I can convince you to lend me the money?”
“You know, Fey, I don’t care what your poor imagination is cooking up. Fuck off.” I step out of the elevator and don’t look back.
As long as they stay on their coast and I stay in mine, nothing bad can happen. If Fey gets any closer to my girl, she will shred her apart. No. Fey is playing games. She’s pushing me so that I lend her the money. I won’t.
Matt: Cali is a no go. I’ll send you Thea’s new number as soon as I get it.
Coop: What happened?
Matt: Thea is okay, I’ll explain later. Love you, babe.
I stare at my phone, split between flying home and going to work. Fuck.
ChapterEleven
Thea
It was onlya matter of time.
I’ve always known this would happen. Time and again, I trust her blindly, and she betrays me.
Why did I call her last week?
The child in me still wants to believe in her. She’s my mother. The one who should love me above everything.
I continue making excuses and forgiving her behavior.
This time it’ll be different.
She’s ready to clean up her act.
One day, she’ll learn to be a good mother.
“I’m sorry, Aggie,” she sobs on the other line. “I had to give him your new number. He needs us. The whole family. He’s my husband. I have to help him. He assured me he’ll fix everything, and we’ll be a family.”
“So, he has a plan, and it involves me.”
“You and his old band. It’s going to be great,” she promises.
Jessica Levitz has once again erased everything her husband has done wrong over the years. She believes he is the same loving man she met when she was a teenager. I’ll never know if the man was indeed a caregiver who gave a shit about her at some point.
Being the youngest of the Levitz family entitles me to scraps of what we once had—theyhad. A happy, wealthy family.
I never lived in happiness with them. We were broke most of the time.They used my hard-earned money to spend on their luxuries and vices.
“You believed him, Jessica?” I dare to ask.
“I have to, Aggie. He’s my husband.” Her desperate voice breaks my heart, but not my determination.
But you’re my mother. I want to yell at her, but I can’t because I’m at work. Thankfully, there’s no one in the waiting room and the offices are all soundproof.
Also, I can’t do that to her. In some twisted way, I love my mother with all my heart. To this day, I think she once loved me more than the shit she ingests.
“What did he offer this time, Oxycontin?” I shouldn’t judge, but I bet he lured her back to the old habit. Six weeks ago, I was on the verge of searching to buy some myself, downing them with vodka the way she used to do.