Page 79 of Life To My Flight

None of them saw me though.

Which annoyed me to no end.

I was always telling them they needed to be more aware of their surroundings than they were.

“No, she called and as soon as she heard my voice she hung back up,” Molly tittered.

I froze, stopping two tables down and listening.

“That’s funny. A year ago she did that to me, too. She’d called looking for Mikhail, and I’d told her he was gone,” Meredith said around her straw.

I’d always wondered about that.

I’d gotten two calls from Rue after I’d left her. If I’d gotten anymore, I’d probably have caved and gone back to her.

At the time, I thought it was weird that she hadn’t tried just a little bit harder to get me to come back.

Really, that’d probably been what kept me from her the most. I hadn’t felt like she tried hard enough to get me to come back.

Call me selfish, but I wanted someone to fight for me.

“She called me a few times too,” Mikayla said. “He’d actually been gone those times, though.”

I gritted my teeth.

“What the fuck gives y’all the right to think I don’t deserve to hear my own goddamned phone messages?” I snapped. “If anyone called for you, I’d have at least told you.”

They all jumped at the tone of my voice, none of them looking in the least bit guilty.

“Sorry,” they said.

They didn’t sound sorry.

“What do y’all have against Rue?” I asked as I took the empty seat at their table.

“Nothing,” they said quickly.

“Nothing? Then why does she think y’all hate her?” I asked suspiciously.

“Probably ‘cause we do,” Molly muttered.

I turned to her sharply. “Why do you?”

“We just don’t think she’s good enough for you,” Meredith answered reluctantly.

“You know,” I said. “I didn’t tell any of you who to date. When you married,” I looked at Mikayla. “I didn’t say a word about your choice of husband, even though I wanted to. Who was I to say anything if he was what you wanted?”

Mikayla had the decency to look sheepish.

“And you,” I said turning towards Meredith. “I didn’t say a word to you when you started dating that low-life. And when he left you pregnant and alone, who took care of you instead of saying ‘I told you so?’ I think it’s time y’all let me make my own decisions.”

They didn’t have anything to say about that.

“She’s a part of my life. She’s going to be mine, whether you, or her, like it or not. Time to stop acting so selfish and be happy for me,” I snapped.

They didn’t have anything to say about that, either.

“She’s going to be the mother of your nieces and nephews. She’s also going to be my wife and old lady. Try not to be so bitchy about everything and think about somebody other than yourselves,” I said as I stood.

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