Page 63 of Mason Wilder
Of course it was a big deal. The doorman was supposed to screen visitors and ask for identification, not send up strangers. Any lunatic could pretend to be someone else. A chill ran down Tessa’s back as everyone’s suspicions about Kendall, including her own, filled her head. “Why are you pretending to be my mother? And why is your hair black?”
Kendall touched the back of her head. “I love how dark and shiny your hair is. I thought I’d try something different.” She walked through the apartment and took Tessa’s hands. “I’m not trying to be your mother, but it does give us that mother/daughter resemblance, doesn’t it?”
“What?” Tessa cringed and tried to pull her hands away but Kendall held them in a tight grip.
“It’s really not a foreign idea. After all, once you and Mason get married you’ll be my daughter-in-law. By that time, Mason will be calling me Mom, and, hopefully, in time, you will, as well.”
Tessa and Mason never discussed marriage, and Mason was a long way away from calling Kendall “Mom”. Tessa freed her hands and took several steps backwards. “What are you doing here, Kendall?”
“I thought we could go shopping.” Kendall glanced at the table. “I’m sorry, I see you have a beautiful dinner planned. Is that for my son?”
Although Kendall had referred to Mason as her son before, she never said it with such maternal familiarity.
“It’s all right.” Kendall said, when Tessa didn’t answer right away. “We can go shopping another time. I really just wanted to see you and ask you something.” She fussed with the back of her hair, smoothing it flat even though it was perfect. “I was thinking about not returning to London. I was thinking that maybe I could stay here.”
“Here?” Tessa’s voice rose with alarm, which made Kendall laugh.
“Not here in your flat. Not unless you want me to.”
Tessa’s eyes bulged, which made Kendall laugh even harder this time.
“I’m kidding. I don’t want to intrude. I meant that, maybe, I can get a flat in the City to be close to Mason. Or here in Long Island to be near you.”
Tessa took another step backwards. Uncomfortable went out the window twenty seconds ago and alarm took its place.Kendall was delusional or maybe she was drunk, because she wasn’t acting rational at all. Then she remembered the day on the beach and alarm turned to panic and fear. “How do you know where I live? Why were you on the boardwalk right in front of my apartment that day I was jogging on the beach?”
Kendall touched her chin with the tips of her fingers and presented a small guilty smile. “I saw you and Mason leaving his flat one day while I was in a taxi and asked the driver to catch up with you. I’m afraid we ended up following you all the way here.” She smoothed the back of her hair again. “It seemed inappropriate, so I just went back to my hotel.”
This crazy woman was spying on them. Kendall was stalking her. But she couldn’t understand why. It didn’t matter. She wanted Kendall out of her apartment and never wanted to see her again. “I think you should leave, Kendall.”
“Why? Isn’t Mason coming over? I want to see my son.”
“If you wanted to see him, why didn’t you go to his apartment? Why did you come all the way to Long Island to see me when he’s only a few blocks from your hotel?”
“Because we bonded.” She took hold of Tessa’s wrists in a death grip. “We’re like . . .”
If Kendall said “best friends”, Tessa was going to scream.
“Mother and daughter,” Kendall finished.
“Tessa ismydaughter! Get the hell away from her!”Tessa’s mom’s voice pierced the air like a dagger.
Tessa and Kendall both turned their head sharply toward the doorway. All three of Tessa’s parents were there, standing in a row, three feet inside the apartment in front of the open door as if they had been too shocked to close it behind them.
“Angel.” The word left Kendall’s mouth in a breathy sigh, and she stared at him as if she had just witnessed an apparition.
“Kendall?” Papi looked as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. “I never would have recognized you. You look so different.”
Kendall glided across the room, eyes glued on Papi as if he was the only one in her sightline, arms open ready to embrace him.
Tessa’s mom immediately intervened, taking a step between them and halting Kendall with the palm of her hand. Her narrowed eyes pinned Kendall with an irate stare. “Don’t you dare touch my husband.”
Anger lit up Kendall’s face, quickly transforming her features into an ugly sneer. “How many husbands do you need? You already had a husband. You had to have Angel, too, didn’t you?”
Confusion spun Tessa’s head in circles. Thoughts invaded her mind, whirling around like a cyclone. She recalled Kendall’s reaction to seeing Papi on the video, hoping to see him in the background again – that’s why she had obsessed with watching all those videos of Prodigy perform. Tessa eyed Kendall’s newly-dyed black hair. She remembered the mother/daughter remark. The suspicion that her dad and Kendall had an affair popped into her head. Everything cleared. Her heart plummeted and her chest caved in on itself as she realized that it wasn’t her dad who’d had an affair with Kendall. It was Papi.
Tessa squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face, sobbing so quickly the tears didn’t have time to fall down her cheeks. How could Papi betray her mom and dad? It all made sense now. The obsession Kendall had with her the moment she found out Papi was her biological father. The hatred between Kendall and her mom. While tears finally fell and coated Tessa’s cheeks, she listened to the heated conversation taking place as if she was no longer in the room.
“He never wanted you, Kendall,” Tessa’s mom said. “You followed him around everywhere. You practically stalked him. He was too nice to tell you to fuck off. Why do you think Audra and Kira were always there to intercept you?”
