Page 40 of Imperfections Seduced
She covers her face with her hands and slumps back against the seat. She wipes the back of her hand across her face, the tears silently streaming down, and my heart twists inside out seeing her like this. I did this to her. I want to take her into my arms and kiss her, tell her everything is going to be okay, but I know I can’t make that promise. It’s only going to get worse from here.
She sits up and picks up her purse from the floor. I reach over to touch her, but she jerks back.
“Let me walk you to the door.”
“No. You’ve done way too much already.”
She opens the door, and a blast of cold air hits me hard. She gets out, carefully ensuring not to touch me.Turning around, hate and anger written all over her tear-stained face, she tries to compose herself before she speaks to me.
“I’m fucked, literally and figuratively. Thank you!” she hisses between clenched teeth, slamming the car door. I wait until she’s safely inside before I tell my driver to take me home.
Cat
“Catherine, didn’t you hear mecalling you?”
“Catherine!”
I’m sitting up in the couch with my legs stretched out, crossed at the ankles. I almost jump off the couch when a hand pats me on the shoulder. I look up, and my mother’s saying something to me, but I can’t hear her with my headphones on. I take them off.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I was calling you.”
“Sorry, I had my headphones on, trying to go over the lesson plan for Mrs. Smith’s kindergarten class.”
“I didn’t know you started working already!”
“I haven’t. She asked me if I could come in a few days a week so the kids and I can get used to each other. It’ll be better for them instead of her suddenly leaving to go on maternity leave.”
She leans down and gently brushes my legs off thesofa. “Darling, please don’t put your legs on the couch, sit up straight. It’s better for your back.”
“Mom, my back is just fine.”
“It won’t be if you keep sitting like that. How will you ever find a man if you look like the hunchback of Notre Dame? Honey, you’re a cute girl, but no man wants that.”
“He wouldn’t be the man for me if he’s superficial enough to only judge me by what he sees on the outside, instead of getting to know my inner beauty.”
“Please, have I not taught you anything? Men are visual creatures. If they like what they see then they might get to know you enough to find out who the real you is. Most men don’t want to know the real you. They want to look at something pretty to show off to their friends. They’re looking for a trophy, and if you come with a brain that’s a bonus.”
“Mom, I can’t believe you just said that.” I can’t believe it, because almost word for word, that’s what Isabelle said at lunch to Ava, Chloe, and me. Sometimes my mom is behind the times when it comes to her thinking about men and women. This is one subject we do not see eye to eye on. I shouldn’t have to pretend to be something I’m not to have a relationship. I should be able to be comfortable with who I am and so should he. You can only hide the real you for so long. I believe it’s better you know who I am upfront rather than later.
“Don’t look so shocked, Catherine. Think about it—most women who are highly educated, running their own business or the head of a Fortune 500 company are what? Single.”
“That’s not true.” I close my iPad and put it on the table while she keeps talking.
“You want to know why?”
I sigh and sit back and wait to hear the rest of her lifelessons on men and relationships. I’m really trying not to be sarcastic. “Why, Mom?”
“Because they want to be the man in the relationship. They want to pay for everything, tell the man what to do and how to do it. No real man wants that. As a woman, you have to know when to step back and let the man be a man.”
“How would you go about doing that?” I’m humoring her to get her to stop talking quicker; I don’t want to hear this. I’ve listened to her spout this stuff off to me for years.
“Pay attention, dear. I can teach you something about how to get a man and keep him.”
Here we go. I sit back and pretend to care about men, women, and relationships.
“Lesson one: let the man pick up the check, even if you make more than he does and you can afford to.”
