Page 128 of Your Coffin or Mine
“It’s fine, truly.” I’ve already spent the last hour reassuring her she looks beautiful and that, no, I’m not going to murder her because Chad is in her wedding. It isn’tmywedding, and the only thing Chad can make me feel now is annoyance.
“Look!”
I squint when her phone brightness blinds me as she shoves it into my face.Oh.I glance down at my name and realize Chad’s followers and mine are verbally sparring across the internet. Isuppose I should have seen it coming when she asked for a group photo.
The media might hate me for ruining their girl-next-door fantasy of mine and Chad’s wedding, but after my stay in Romania, I can’t find it in me to care what anyone thinks.I shouldn’t have come.
A glass is pushed into my hand, and I look up at Bernadette.
“You’re not smiling. Smile or the photos will look like shit,” she says, baring all her teeth obnoxiously. She settles into one of the white-covered seats next to me to wait. “I can’t believe I shaved my snatch for this. The spanx are killing me.”
Laughter bubbles up from my chest, and I have to fight to keep from spraying wine on myself.
“Burnie,” I choke out, setting my glass down on a nearby table as I cough.
“They’re ridiculous.” She shrugs and goes back to eyeing the women, who are now posing like Charlie’s Angels. She cringes like they’re lepers and it’s contagious, but she’s not wrong. If anything, all of this just goes to show how superficial social media can be.
“Hey, Aubrey?” a male voice calls out into the room.
At the sound, the women collectively gasp, and heads turn to the door. I inwardly groan when I get a look at Chad, standing just inside the room.
“Want me to get rid of him?” Burnie murmurs.
I wave her off. “No. It’s fine. I need some air anyway.” I get up to leave and Chad’s smarmy face locks onto me over the flittering women as I make my way to the doorway. His brown hair is upswept and styled like he does for big events, the boyish grin on his face making my stomach somersault with nausea. I roll my eyes and push past him. “Go away, Chad.”
“Aubrey, please,” he sighs out from behind me.
The women begin to whisper. Just what I need.
I turn around in the beige-colored hallway to tell him off, but someone pulls me in for a hug from behind, knocking the breath from my lungs. My mother’s familiar scent washes over me and I relax. “Mom?”
She pulls back and smiles. “My god that girl is ridiculous,” she says, wrinkling her nose up and glancing to where Erica stands with the bridal party, still typing on her phone. “You would think someone would be more concerned about getting married on their wedding day. You look nice.”
Her eyes float over me from head to toe as she holds me by the arms. I take in her classically cut maroon cocktail dress and bright eyes, her hair a shade darker than my own and clipped back with tiny flowers. She looks different.
Her brows come together, a look of concern clear on her face. “I just wanted to check on you and make sure you’re alright.”
“Hello, Mrs. Townsend, I was hoping to have a chat with your daughter,” Chad says over her shoulder.
“Chad, could you please find a way to get lost? I think we’d appreciate that,” my mother says in a soft tone, as if she’s inviting him to dinner.
His jaw drops, and my eyes fly open. I turn around to see Burnie standing just behind me, equally stumped.
“What the fuck?” Burnie mouths at me.
“Aubrey is going to marry whoever she wants, when she wants, so I think it’s best you give up. I’m not going to push for her father’s business schemes anymore.”
I have no idea what’s going on. My mother, who has not stood up for herself once in the last ten years that I have seen, going against my father? I never thought I’d see the day.
He looks at me, as if waiting for me to say otherwise.
A smile curls my glossy lips. “Seriously, Chad. Fuck off.”
He huffs, turns to leave, and stomps like a child down the hallway.
“Mom?” I ask, spinning in her arms.
Her eyes shine, and she hugs me. She whispers so no one else can hear, “Since the first time I caught your father in his office with his assistant, who I like to call Barbie Karen, I’ve been slowly buying up all the shares of his little company. I plan to leave him, and have for a while.” She pulls back, her manicured nails lightly digging into my shoulders. “I’m sorry I haven’t been the best mother. After you left and refused to speak to us, I decided I don’t want us to be like this anymore. I miss when we were close.”
