Page 8 of A Linton Scandal

“What? Veronica’s wedding of course.” There was impatience in her voice.

A sinking feeling hit me. “Mom, I had no idea Veronica was getting married.”

“What?” She paused and suddenly everything went silent. I assumed she put me on mute, before she was back, I could already hear the usual tone she usually used to coax me. “Oh my god, Jul, I thought you knew. I… I thought you’d simply been too busy to send your RSVP for it.”

I wanted to laugh, but this had happened too many times before; to the point that now I only felt tired. How many times had my family forgottenme? I listened as my mother continued to make excuses, “Veronica said, she completely forgot to check back with you, but that’s the past now. She’ll send you an invitation, and about the Cake can you?—”

“I’m hanging up.”

With a click I ended the phone call. It was that simple to stop the flood of words that hurt. I didn’t ask for much, I wasn’t a child. Was I wrong for wanting my mother to be more considerate of me? Was I wrong for wanting her to notforgetme? My phone rang, but instead of seeing who it was I immediately hung up and put my phone on do not disturb.

A few minutes ago, the silence of my apartment didn’t bother me, but suddenly it was overwhelming. Giving a look around my clean, and well-spaced apartment I couldn’t take pleasure in the design or the minimalist soft whites and grays for the first time.

I glanced at the design I’d been working on, suddenly dissatisfied. Getting up, I was glad I had a habit of wearing large sweaters at home. It made it easy to leave when I needed to get some air. Slipping on my Uggs, and coat I grabbed my phone and wallet and left.

I told Sophie many times I was okay and that I didn’t resent my mother for forgetting about me, but that had been a lie. I was her daughter, her first child and yet the minute she’d met another man and his kids. It was like I’d been pushed aside and nothing about me mattered.

And while I never threw a tantrum because I understood she deserved to be happy, it didn’t stop the flood of resentment that filled my stomach.

Just because I’d reached Twenty-seven well, didn’t mean I no longer needed a mother.

Walking along the block, I aimlessly made my way toward a park that I often went to when I wanted to work out. It was large and featured a playground toward the back where the neighborhood kids played often.

Seeing that there was an empty bench available, I quickly made my way across the field and took a seat. Sniffling, I wiped the tears that had escaped my eyes. I didn’t want to cry over this, but I couldn’t help thinking about what would happen when I told her I was pregnant? Would she forget the due date, hell would she even forget I was pregnant shortly after I told her?

I found myself laughing at the idea of it. Me, showing up with a baby to be and shocking them both.

“A part of me wants to see it,” I said aloud.

“Wants to see what?”

I jumped slightly at the sudden question that came from beside me. I turned to find a large man seated next to me, I was so taken aback by his presence that I could only stare at him. He was taller than me, in fact I thought he could easily top Noah’s height. His features were placed as if God had taken his time, from the high nose to the deep-seated eyes and dark brows he was perfection. His thin lips seemed almost soft, though I didn’t know why the wordsoftcame to mind when the man was obviously anything but.

His jet-black hair was cut and smoothed back; the only other color was the gray at his temples. The trench coat he wore, laid on his obviously fit body well. The suit of black wasn’t extravagant, but for some reason it almost looked like it had been made for his body to perfection.

For the first time in my life, I felt dainty in comparison to someone else, he turned his head to face me. Eyes the color of dark azure met mine, the first word that popped into my head was imposing.

He put me in the mind of a war lord just in a suit.

Startled, I realized I’d been silently staring at him this entire time. “I… I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked you, what is it you wanted to see?” His voice was deep, and smooth. If he read me a story, I’d for sure fall asleep. I felt a bit of shame at my whimsical thoughts.

Giving myself mental head shake I cleared my mind before speaking. “It wasn’t anything important, a passing thought, nothing serious.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate I was interested to know what it is Ms. Juliette finds amusing,” he drawled.

I tensed immediately, for two reasons. One was because I’d never met this man before in my life, how did he know my name? Second, was the fact that three imposing men walked toward us and took a guard-like stance in front of me. Slowly, I found myself cut off from the eyes of the few people who’d also come to the park.

Unsettled, I straightened up.

“What is this?” I demanded, trying to maintain my calm.

“I’ve been wondering how best it would be to explain, but it turns out that there isn’t a simple way to go about this.” The man beside me continued, as if he hadn’t heard my question. “To your benefit, I’m starting to think that like me, you were unwittingly dragged into this situation, but whether you were aware or not, the two of us will have a relationship starting today.”

“I don’t know who you are, but I have no interest in having any sort of relationship with you.” Handsome he may be, but this entire situation had shot up to a level of weirdness that I was uncomfortable with. I went to stand, he shot out his hand and he grabbed my wrist.

“In August you attended a wedding at the Ochres Even Center, and after that, you went to the Sky lounge a bar connected to their hotel.” His words stopped my struggle, those eyes I’d thought were handsome darkened with something I could easily recognize as anger.

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