Page 24 of The One for Me
“You always were special, Devney,” she says with a hint of sadness. “We all knew it, but you were so wrapped up in the Arrowood boys and running around with them that you didn’t date.”
The doe-eyed girl who left Sugarloaf at seventeen had no idea about the world. I was so accustomed to things being one way, and then there was this whole other life that was before me. No one to tell me what I wanted or not to do something. I felt free and alive. Options that never seemed possible were before me and a man who never would’ve looked my way in Pennsylvania was showering me with attention.
Christopher was charming beyond measure and I was gullible to a fault.
“We will never agree on this, Mom. You’ll never stop seeing me as the whore in it, and I will never forgive you for not just understanding.”
She turns away, swiping at her face. “I don’t think you’re a whore.” I hear her voice crack.
“Well, you damn sure make me feel like one.”
She shakes her head, shoulders slumped as her voice carries through the room. “Regardless of whether he was married or not, you were sleeping with a professor. You knew better.” When she turns, I see the sadness replaced with disgust and any chance of a conversation where we might have found common ground is gone. She continues, “A man who was close to your father’s age. It was wrong. You knew, he knew, and so did the school. I can’t even imagine if you had gone to a local university.”
“Yes, then the shame would’ve been public,” I say with a laugh.
“It was public enough.” Mom rubs her eyes and sighs. “You could’ve had a fresh start with Oliver. He is a good man, one who was able to overlook your transgressions and love you. Now, what? You stay in this house until we die and continue to waste your life away?”
I think about the current status of things, and they’re not great, but I’m not wasting anything. I have a good job where I help people, friends who support me, and my family, all of whom I love, especially my nephew. Things aren’t perfect, but my mother continues to make things worse. I am so tired.
I’m over it all.
“I understand that you feel that way, and I’m going to go.”
Dad takes a step to me. “Go where?”
“Away from here, where I’m clearly not wanted.”
Dad’s eyes volley between Mom and me. “What are you saying?”
“I’d rather be homeless and sleep in my car than go through this anymore. I’m sorry that I’ve disappointed you.” I look to my mother, who keeps her back turned. “I’m sorry that the pain you’ve suffered has been so great. You’re not the one who lived it, but what the hell do I know? I’m going.”
I head to my room, tears streaming down my face as I pack whatever I can, and then get the fuck out of here.
Chapter Eight
Devney
“What’s one truth about an arrow?” I ask myself as I sit at the end of the driveway to Sean’s house.
I’ve been here for ten minutes, trying to get the tears to cease, but they won’t. For years, I’ve bottled up my past, forced it to stay contained, but now it’s all in the open. I loved a liar. A married, cheating, stupid liar.
The worst part was, I had to leave school after I was put before the disciplinary board, and he had nothing happen. His wife probably never found out, his job wasn’t ruined. I’ve never told anyone outside of my family, and I know, showing up at Sean’s door, I won’t be able to lie to him.
I think about his mother and what she would think. Truth? I don’t know the truth anymore. I may not have been an Arrowood sibling, but I had my own saying.
“I don’t need an arrow thing like you do,” I tell Sean as I’m standing on the back of his bike.
“Say it or I’ll dump you off.”
I roll my eyes. He wouldn’t dare because I would kick his ass. I don’t care that I’m a girl, I’m not afraid of him. “You do it, and you die.”
“Why are you always so annoying?”
“Because you hate it.”
“I’m going to take the pegs off if you don’t say it, and my mom won’t give you any cookies.”
He might just do that, and I love the cookies Mrs. A makes. She puts extra chocolate chips in. “Fine,” I whine. “Forget the last arrow because only the next shot counts.”
