Page 74 of Inviting Trouble
“Dad? Are you with her?”
He inclined his head.
“You’rewiththis deadbeat?” Her voice rose in volume, but she didn’t care. “She abandoned her kids and you! And you just take her backnowwhen no one needs her around at all?”
“I know this must be a shock,” her dad said calmly. “Let’s go downstairs, have a cup of coffee, and talk.”
“I won’t be saying a word until she leaves,” Mad said.
“It’s okay, Joe,” Tina said. “I’ll go.”
“Stay here while I talk to Mad,” her dad said.
Tina retreated to the bathroom, quietly shutting the door behind her.
Park looked at her sympathetically. They headed downstairs and settled at the round oak kitchen table.
Her dad blew out a breath. “Coffee?”
“No, thanks,” Mad said. Park shook his head.
Her dad folded his hands on the table. “So I guess you have a lot of questions.”
“How can you bring herhereto our house?” Mad asked.
“This was her house once,” her dad said.
Mad scowled. “She has no right.”
Park spoke up. “Was that why you went to Boston for New Year’s?”
“Yes.”
Mad’s tangled emotions and the enormity of her day turned to one fiery focus—that woman did not belong here. She had no right. She seriously wanted to kick someone’s ass. Park took her hand under the table and squeezed. She took a calming breath, but it did nothing.
“So she called you after twenty-five years and suddenly wanted you back?” Mad asked.
“Her husband left her,” her dad said. “She called and wondered if we could catch up.”
“Catch up?” she asked, incredulous. “How about catching her up on the fact that she completely missed our childhood?”
“There’s no excuse,” her dad said. “She defined herself by her beauty for so long. She was Miss Connecticut, you know. But being a mom isn’t glamorous. She had severe postpartum depression. And I guess she just missed her old lifestyle.”
“Lifestyle!” Mad exclaimed. “Just dropped the family lifestyle, huh? Picked up a new better one.”
Her dad leaned close. “My kids mean everything to me. You know that. I love you to the moon and back. She loves you too—”
“That is not love,” Mad said, her voice shaking with rage.
“She was too ashamed to return,” her dad said. “She doesn’t think she deserves forgiveness.”
Mad pounded a fist on the table. “She’s right.”
A moment passed in silence while she tried to pull herself together.Deep breaths, find your calm center.
Her dad went on. “You have a right to be angry. Absolutely. But, Mad, I never stopped loving her. And I wanted to at least try to bridge the gap between you and her and your brothers too.”
How would her life have been different if her mom had taught her how to be like her? A beauty queen, like Hailey, who was so good at connecting with people. All of her insecurities came flooding back.
