Page 66 of Only for the Week
“Enough.”
“Then no. But I will be. I’m used to this by now.”
“Doesn’t make it okay, J. Come on.”
“Where we going?”
“Where do you wanna go?”
“My room.”
“Then that’s where we’re going.”
I follow her to her room without pretense. There’s no checking over our shoulders to see if anyone’s watching. There’s no waiting fifteen minutes before heading to her room. We’re just two people enjoying each other’s company, not giving a fuck what anyone has to say about it.
Chapter Eleven
Janelle
Ilatch my hands together, hoping that will stop them from fidgeting. The shaking in my hands stops but my knee starts bouncing in their place, rattling the table in the restaurant where I’m waiting for my parents.
I could’ve done this lunch with just my mom, but I wanted my dad to pay witness to it so there was no chance my mom could misconstrue the story to him later. This conversation with her is long overdue and after the way she spoke to me yesterday, it can’t wait a second longer.
My mom and dad step into the hotel restaurant, scanning the crowd for me. My dad sends me one of his megawatt smiles when he sees me waving them over. I can’t bring myself to look at my mom just yet.
“Hi, my nugget. You look beautiful.” He engulfs me in one of those bear hugs he’s famous for and I melt into it, needing all the warmth I can get.
“Hi, Daddy. Thank you.”
“I wasn’t expecting your invite today, Janelle. Everything okay?” my mom asks as she sits down. Leave it up to her to jump right in.
Let’s do this.
“Actually, no. Everything’s not okay.”
She perks up in surprise, shifting her body closer to me. “What’s wrong, baby? Tell your mama how she can help.”
“I’m glad you’re feeling so helpful because my issue is with you.”
She gasps while my dad doesn’t look all that surprised to hear these words from me. He knows I’ve been toeing the line with his wife for as long as I can remember. “With me? How so?”
“Mom, what kind of daughter do you think I am?”
Our server arrives at that moment to take our drink orders. I want nothing more than to order a neat tequila but I want to stay clearheaded for this conversation, so I opt to stick with water.
The moment our server walks away my mom lasers in on me. “What kind of question is that?”
“One I’d like you to answer.”
She lifts her hands in exasperation, but I remain still, not willing to give an inch. The moment I do, she’ll pounce. “Well, I don’t know how I’m supposed to answer that.”
“Okay, well, yesterday you told me that you didn’t raise me to be selfish, but you also didn’t raise me to be the type of daughter who would make a move on my sister’s fiancé and yet that’s exactly how you treated me.”
“Wait, what? Run that by me again,” my dad interrupts.
My mom ignores him and presses on. “Sweetie, I wasn’t implying that you would do that.”
My face remains deadpan while I ignore my mom and turn to my dad. “Your wife implied I was a whore who can’t be trusted around Arnold because he’s so irresistible I must want to hop on his dick at any moment.”
