Page 58 of (Un)Planned

“Your mother isn’t being too hard on you?”

“Nope.” A loud bark of laughter came through the other side of the line. Calla sighed. “I have to get going. If I’m late to dinner, my mother will have a fit.”

“Yeah, I should get back to it too.”

“You’re right,” Calla said but didn’t hang up the phone. She sighed into the receiver. “Only a few more days, right?”

“Only a few more days,” I repeated, hating the weight that fell on my chest at her statement. Only a few hours ago, I was floating, on the top of the world, elated that I got to call this woman mine. But now, all my fears had suddenly grown teeth, making me nervous that a lifetime with Calla wasn’t as promised as I thought.

THIRTY-FOUR

“Thank you for finally joining us,” David scoffed as I took a seat at the table. Just my luck that everyone had already found their place when I stepped back into the room. Maneuvering around the table, I found the inscribed card with my name, the elegant script almost mocking me. After all, who needed assigned seating for a family dinner?

Diane Winters, that’s who.

As soon as the appetizers were served, I zoned out, already bored by the same mundane conversation I’d heard a million times before. David’s coworkers would blow smoke up his ass while my mom pretended to be the picture-perfect wife without a single hair out of place.

The chatter died down as David’s guests, whose names I hadn’t bothered to remember, turned toward Devyn and me. “Calla…” the shorter one sneered, talking more to my breasts than me. “What is it that you do? Do you work with your father?”

“No,” I answered coolly. “I don’t work with mystepfather. I’m an assistant at a talent management agency.”

“Ah.” The man turned back toward David with a pity-filled smile. “One of those bleeding, artsy hearts, huh? I have one of those myself.” He patted my hand. “When the money dries up, we all know where you’ll turn, child.”

“Exactly,” David scoffed. “It’s all rebellion until they learn the value of a dollar.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Devyn kicked me in the shin, shaking her head subtly. My jaw hung open in shock. She’d never been good at ignoring out their nonsense—at least when she was a kid. Now, it seemed like she’d drunk the Kool-Aid and become one of the prodigal daughters, the ones whose names meant something—unlike me, the black sheep of the Winters clan.

“It’s just temporary, Richard,” my mother interjected. “Calla wanted some independence, so we encouraged her to branch out and expand her horizons.” She lifted a brow at me, at least as much as she could with the amount of filler pumped under the surface. It was a look I knew well, one that promised hell if I embarrassed her. “We’re planning on her returning to the fold once she’s had a taste of how the other half lives.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “Even if I don’t end up staying there long term, I’m not planning on working for David.”

My mother’s eyes narrowed in my direction. “We’ll be discussing that later, Calla.” She smiled back at her guests. “I apologize for my daughter. She’s still at that willful age where all children believe they need to find their passion. But she knows our family values well. She’ll make a great addition to David’s staff someday.”

Family values? I almost choked on my sip of wine. If I’d learned anything from this family, it would be that appearance matters more than anything, and your value is defined by the money in your bank account. None of thosevalues were ones I wanted to emulate. As the conversation started to resume around me, I couldn’t bite back my words anymore. After years of being shoved into a box, only expected to smile and wave as the cameras passed me by, I was done.

My mother cast me out of her life months ago, so what else was there to lose?

“Actually, Richard…” I downed the rest of my wine glass. “That’s not true. In fact, I’d rather chew off my own toes than spend a single day working for David. And since I don’t hate myself that much, I think I’ll stick with my current job—the one I gotwithoutany intervention from the two of you.”

“Calla,” my mother hissed. She looked at her guests. “I apologize for our daughter’s outbursts. She hasn’t been herself lately.” She tilted her head, as if in a secret code that only the upper class knew. There’d probably be whispers later that I had a problem, something vague enough to give an excuse for my behavior without making my family look bad.

I scoffed, accepting that there was no hope of us reconciling. I’d come here with good intentions, hoping that after months apart, my mother and I would be able to turn a new leaf. But instead, all I’d gotten were snide comments and insinuations that my absence was due to more nefarious reasons than reality.

And I was done.

“You know what, Mom? That’s fine. Tell your lies, twist your truths. I don’t care. If you want to spend your life looking down on others, I can’t stop you. But I’ll be damned if I have to spend another minute listening to it.”

Staring out at the shocked faces, I stood from the table, feeling a new level of thrill for finally standing up formyself after years of snide comments and remarks. Without another word, I stepped out of the dining room, heading straight for the foyer. I paused, looking around the apartment that housed me for so many years. While I’d always appreciate my family giving me the very best money could provide, that didn’t make it a loving home, and I was tired of settling for something less than that.

Not when Theo had shown me what it meant to be loved unconditionally.

Before I could find my purse, my mother stormed into my space. “Calla Marie, what the hell was that in there? That man could have helped you secure a good future, a career, and you practically threw it all in his face.” She crossed her arms and shook her head. “What has gotten into you? You are not the girl I raised.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

She narrowed her eyes, “You will not speak to me this way. Not in my own home.”

“Precisely why I’m leaving,” I scoffed before turning to face her fully. “Don’t you ever get tired of this, Mom?”

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