Page 26 of A Constant Reminder

Chapter 16 – Sam

An hour later, I was reluctantly saying good-bye to my adorable new puppy and, even more reluctantly, headed to do Christmas with Tyler’s family. The thought of entering that apartment again churned my stomach, but Ty assured me his mother would be civil.

Plus, if he and I were going to make this work, his mother wasn’t going anywhere, so I might as well learn to deal with her sooner rather than later.

We were the last of his siblings to arrive at the large Manhattan penthouse, and when we entered, everyone was nice enough to come greet us and give us hugs…except his mother, Maria, who was busying herself in the kitchen.

She did wave and say hello. I guess I’d rather her fake civility than give me the verbal tongue lashing I received less than a month ago in his same house.

This time, there was no fancy multi-course meal but instead, just a large spread of appetizers…still fancy ones though. Though my stomach was in knots, I forced myself to try to each at least a little bit.

His siblings were all very nice. The two older twins, Tawna and Tristan, made polite small-talk as best they could, and Tess asked me if I liked the puppy. Apparently, she had gone with Tyler to pick him out.

Maria suddenly chimed in with, “You got a puppy?”

“Yes Mom, we got a puppy. Do you have a problem with that?” Tyler’s tone held enough edge to make her back down.

“No. Just surprised is all,” she replied trying to sound as relaxed as possible.

I decided to try to alleviate the tension. Pulling out my phone, I showed her a picture I had taken before we left. “We don’t have a name yet. What do you think we should call him, Mrs. Wendell?”

She took my phone examining the photo. I swear her eyes softened for the briefest of moments before ice returned to her features, and she handed it back to me. “Name him whatever you want, dear.”

She walked away, and Tyler stared daggers through her, but instead of causing a scene, he just wrapped me in a hug. His strong arms seemed to make everything better.

After everyone had their fill of the delicious food, it was presents time. The siblings had opted not to buy for each other, so it was mainly just Maria handing out gifts to her children, and Theo looking equally as surprised as to what she picked out.

Of course, I wasn’t expecting anything. These people barely knew me, so when Maria handed me an envelope, I looked at her like she had just grew a third eye.

Everyone opened their gifts, most of which were fancy electronics or nice clothing.

When everyone else had finished, Maria eyed me as if edging me to open the envelope.

I handled it with such caution, you’d have thought it was a bomb. When it was finally opened, I glanced inside, I realized I’d rather have the bomb.

It was a small stack of one-hundred-dollar bills.

I wanted to scream, but I didn’t. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t. I wanted to run away, but I didn’t.

Instead, I calmly stood and set the envelope on the coffee table. “While I thank you for the gesture, Mrs. Wendell, I don’t really believe in hand-outs. Christmas gift or not, I’d rather just earn that money myself.”

In her most condescending tone, she replied, “Sam, it would take you weeks to earn that much money.”

I wondered how someone so beautiful, someone who made such awesome kids, could be such a bitch.

“Then, I guess I will just have to work weeks. Thank you though.”

Standing up, I excused myself to get a glass of water. Tyler immediately stood up to follow me, and I heard Theo whisper to his wife, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

I was doing my best not to let her bring me down. This woman wasn’t going to break me…no matter how hard she tried. I’d dealt with a lot worse than Maria Wendell.

“Baby, are you okay?” Tyler said, hovering right behind me as I poured myself some water.

Giving him a forced smile and a quick kiss, I assured him I was fine.

His tall father entered the kitchen soon after. Tyler favored his Colombian mother in the looks department except he inherited those icy blue eyes from his dad.

“Sam, I would like to apologize for my wife. She’s clearly lost her mind and forgotten how to be a decent human being,” he said while rolling his eyes.

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