Page 2 of Stealing It
Glad someone told me.
They don’t tell us anything anymore, Magnolia. Don’t feel bad. Be happy she still wants to be at home and not down at the beach getting blitzed on hunch punch.I laugh out loud and slip my phone back into my pocket.
The kitchen window is cracked, and I hear Kendall cry out in anger. Narrowing my eyes at the window, I try to see if I can glimpse her. I can’t, so I move closer. Eavesdropping is a big part of parenting once your tween blooms into a hormone filled teenager pushing adulthood. I push down the mom guilt and glide closer, trying to keep my old tennis shoes quiet on the pathway between the garage and my house.
“You’re such a liar,” Kendall shouts. “Like all men. Every one of you! All you do is lie!”
I swallow down the unease and peek in the window. Kendall isn’t on the phone, she is shouting at someone in the doorway, someone just out of view. She’s visibly upset, her face blotchy and red as she aims a finger toward the person. “You want me,” Kendall accuses, jutting her chin up. I creep around to the back of the house. Laying my hand on the doorknob, I open the door and step into the mudroom and slide off my shoes. I pad barefoot into the kitchen, walking through the saloon-style doors that separate the entrance from the house.
My heart crawls into my throat and stops completely when I see the scene in front of me. Kendall has her arms wrapped around Aidan’s neck and they are…kissing. Heads tilted, his hands on her shoulders. “Aidan,” I shout, tears stinging the corners of my eyes as the confusion turns into blazing fury. “What the hell is going on?”
Aidan pushes Kendall away, his eyes wide, and focused on mine. “Magnolia. No. No.”
I finally take a breath, unable to peel my eyes away from his face. Kendall runs out of the room, feet pounding on the stairs. “Aidan?” I repeat because I have no idea what to say. My heart splinters and it takes all of my control not to collapse on the floor in a heap of broken bits. The same bits that the man in front of me helped put back together not that long ago. Thoughts of murdering the adult man I just saw kissing my seventeen-year-old daughter flood my brain in a flash. I push those thoughts down in an attempt to deal with the situation on hand. That is not him. This is not my Aidan Mixx.
He holds out two massive palms. “That was not what it looked like. It’s not. Kendall is upset about something else.” His low voice trips, and my heart sinks. Aidan’s demeanor is wild, a side of him I’ve never seen. Obviously. “She’s confused. I promise.” Aidan shakes his head. “You can’t think that I’d do that. You can’t. Magnolia, please. Just listen to me explain for a goddamn second. Please. Ask her!” His tone is condescending. Like I’m the crazy one in this messed up equation instead of him. The man withhis lips on my daughter.
“Get out of my house,” I say, the stone wall rising around my heart in a single second. Returning to the cold, untrusting fortress it once was. “Now,” I add, taking a deep breath.
“Please. I need to explain. Don’t be ridiculous. You know me. I’d never hurt either of you,” Aidan pleads, his throat working as he swallows. His beautiful eyes turn down in the corner, his lips still wet from my daughter’s lips. Closing my eyes, I bring forth the person I have to be for Kendall.
“Get out of our life, Aidan. Get the fuck out and never come back here again. How could you?” Any explanation he could possibly give for his mouth on hers wouldn’t suffice anyway. It wouldn’t. No misunderstanding, no moment of bad judgment would explain it away.
I’m not sure how I make my legs work, but I forge forward and exit the kitchen, heading upstairs to find Kendall sobbing in her room. Aidan doesn’t follow. I hear the chimes sound as he exits through the front door and his feet stomping down the front steps.
“Kendall,” I say, shaking my head. “Tell me everything.” Wrapping my arm around her, I pull her toward me. I close my eyes and shudder when I smell Aidan’s cologne lingering on her skin. A scent I used to equate to happiness and satisfaction now makes my skin crawl.
“Mama,” she replies, her eyes reflecting a pain I know all too well, yet don’t understand at all. I’ll never be able to fully dissect deceit, I never want to know what it truly means to live inside of lies. “I’m so sorry,” she sobs.
“It’s okay, baby,” I soothe, kissing her head as she starts hissing out sentences I can’t make sense of as her jagged crying increases in volume.
I tell her again that it will be okay, but I know she’ll never be okay. I’ll never be okay. This time it was my fault. I can’t blame Paul for her collapse. This monster was inside our world because I brought him here. Because I let my guard down. I fell in love with the wrong man.
Again.
