Page 134 of Love Unavoidable
Chapter 37
Sadie
Tenley texts to let me know she’s on her way to pick me up. I set my bag by the front door and make us both a cup of coffee to go.
“Going somewhere?” Mama is dressed in her robe and slippers, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.
“Ethan is hurt, I’m going to San Soloman.”
“Ethan?”
“Mama.” I sigh. “You know who he is. The man I’m seeing. The one I’ve been staying with.” I add creamer to both cups of coffee and stir. How can she continue to pretend she knows nothing about this side of my life?
“You will do no such thing.”
I rear my head. “I’m not a child anymore, Mama. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“My roof, my rules.”
“Well, then I guess I won’t be under your roof any longer.”
“What are you talking about, Sadie Ann?”
I shrug. “I’ll move out.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“I don’t want to argue with you about this, Mama—”
“I’m not arguing, Sadie Ann. I’m telling. You aren’t thinking clearly.”
“I think I am. I’ve known from the beginning that I wanted Ethan. The only times I’ve been confused is after I’ve talked to you. And I knew for a long time that I didn’t love Aaron, but you kept telling me how we belonged together, and I believed you—”
“That’s because I know what’s best for you.”
“And you thinkI don’t?”
“No, Sadie Ann, I don’t.”
“Wow, Mama, thanks a lot.”
“Sadie, you can barely follow a recipe, let alone decide your future.”
“Mama, sometimes you can be cruel, you know that?”
“I’m a realist, Sadie. I don’t have my head stuck in the clouds. Don’t fault me for being honest with you. If you do this, if you go to him, I guarantee you won’t be happy. He will hurt you.”
“Maybe he will, Mama, but I’m willing to risk it.”
“Then you’re dumber than I thought.”
Sigh. I can’t win with her.
“Mama, I love you, because you’re my mother. But I don’t like you. I don’t know why you have to be so mean. Why can’t you just be happy for me?”
“What is it with you and happiness, Sadie? It’s childish. People aren’t happy. They justare.”
“Maybe, I want more than that,” I say. Tenley’s car horn sounds from the front of the house. I cap the coffee cups and head for the door.
