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I’d wasted my youth on my high school sweetheart, who was arguably the love of my life; he was just too poor, is all. It’s not my fault that Gigi was too stupid to hold onto her man. That bitch refused to remarry or even date as the years went by, and I knew that my husband felt a way about that.
His family and mine had turned their backs on me. I was able to buy my way back into my family’s good graces. I guess bills needing to be paid trumped their moralistic high ground, but I was never able to get his side of the family to accept me and my child, no matter how hard I tried.
I never understood how they could treat a child like that. Corbin’s children were spoiled right in our faces, always going on trips overseas with their grandparents, having shopping sprees every season, especially the little bitch.
It wasn’t fair. She had her mother’s family to spoil her; she didn’t need my husband’s as well. I’d argued time and again with Corbin about that, but he never seemed to care too much. His answer was always that I got what I wanted, and he wasn’t going to fight his family for me.
The first few years of our marriage, I had to put up with his kids in my house, taking time away from Mitzie and me, but once the last boy went away, I was finally able to breathe, and things started looking up again.
I was never able to knock the shit out of Alyssa the way I always wanted to, but at least I was able to drive a wedge between her and her father. It’s not my fault that her Dad chose my kid over her; he had the choice. I know I had worn him down, not to mention the threats I’d made against Gigi when things didn’t go my way.
But now that the kids were all grown I’m starting to see the cracks in my plan. It felt as if I had been losing ground for a while, but so much time had gone by that I didn’t think there was any danger to myself.
And then the wedding came up. I wasn’t invited, of course, and neither was Mitzie. I threatened Corbin about what would happen if he went without us, but this time, he didn’t seem too worried. I’d still insisted on going anyway, and he’d agreed once I threatened to show up anyway and make a scene at his precious daughter’s wedding.
It didn’t matter how I got my way. The outside world didn’t have to know that my marriage was a sham and had been from the beginning. I didn’t care about any of that. He had to keep up appearances after all, so he couldn’t mistreat us, but now that the kids were all grown, he didn’t seem to care as much.
I knew it was all about her, Alyssa. She was always the one he cared most about. That’s why I hate her the most. I could never kill his love for her entirely, not even when she cut him out of her life. In fact, once she did that, he seemed to try even harder, though she never seemed to care.
My poor daughter had tried her best to get him to love her the same way. I’d even cut off contact between her and her biological father as a way to make Corbin step up, and he had for a while, but now everything seems to be going haywire.
Turning up at the airport to find that my ticket had been canceled was the first blow, and then Mitzie being arrested because her name was on some list only confounded the whole situation. I still don’t know what that list was or why her name was there. They tried explaining that it was something to do with traffic tickets but what sense does that make?
I tried buying another ticket, but there was no money on my card, no money in the bank account, nothing and I had no access to Corbin’s. That’s when real panic started to kick in. That, and when my calls kept going directly to voicemail, is what really made me start to panic.
Things that I hadn’t paid attention to or given thought to in years were suddenly at the forefront of my mind. All the things I had done and should have done to secure my future were suddenly weighing heavy on me.
There was no change at home. Everything was still the same, as far as I could tell. Corbin hadn’t taken his clothes or any of his important stuff, so I knew he hadn’t run off. But the thought of him on that island playing happy family with Gigi and her kids was more than I could take.
If that wasn’t enough, now I have these fucking fleas all over my house. I’ve never seen this many fleas in one place before, and my whole body is now covered in bites from my face to my ass. I can’t even go to the pharmacy for itch cream because my card is empty, and since it’s the weekend, I have to wait until tomorrow to get to the bank and fix this.
If his kids were still here, I’d swear they were the ones responsible for all this, but there’s no way they could’ve done any of this. So, who was it? I thought of my lovers, any one of whose wife could be behind this, but if that was the case there was nothing I could do. If Corbin ever found out about my affairs, my prenup would be void, and I would get nothing.
I felt panic rise up as my head wanted to explode. I can’t even get my kid out of jail or hire a lawyer, and there’s no way to get in touch with Corbin. I don’t have any of his kids’ numbers. Not one of them had ever given me the time of day and had always treated me less than the dirt they walk on. Even when they used to stay in touch with their father, they never acknowledged me, and that all stopped once Alyssa went off to college.
That’s when I realized that he didn’t really care about Mitzie. What Alyssa did had broken him, and he’d spent the last five years trying to win her and her brothers back to no avail. I hadn’t cared then, but maybe I should’ve paid more attention.
I can see now that I had grown too comfortable. But how was I to know that his kids’ reaction to the divorce and the fact that his ex-wife never remarried or dated anyone would make him turn out this way? I should’ve made him share my bed and should’ve forced the issue when he claimed to be suffering from erectile dysfunction due to the stress of the divorce and subsequent fallout.
Maybe that had been a lie as well. Maybe he’d just been biding his time. I had no answers and no way of getting any now that he was out of the country and not answering his phone. I thought at first that it was because of his location that my calls weren’t going through, but now I’m not so sure.
I sat on the couch feeling stressed the hell out and jumped right back up when the fleas descended on me en masse. I opened my mouth to scream and scare them away and ended up with my third mouthful of the disgusting things.
GIGI
Hahaha, life is hilarious. Now, I’ve done seen and heard it all. I’m not gonna lie; I had my last child at thirty-three years old, and it took a toll on my body and mind. Life is unlike the movies, where everything is always sunshine and roses. No one ever tells you about being tired all day, every day, after having four kids.
They never talk about the wear and tear on mind, body, and soul when you try to mesh your life with someone else’s. I would never have believed that my life would derail the way it had when I hit my early forties. I had blinders on, and I’d be the first to admit I took things for granted.
I thought that love was all that was needed to survive and keep the home fires burning bright. That’s a damn lie. If you neglect that love for too long, something is going to break eventually, and the whole house of cards is going to come crashing down.
I wish I had known that when I was young and in love. I fell in love with Corbin in middle school but never had the courage until my second year in high school to let my feelings be known. It just so happened that he felt the same, and the rest, as they say, is history.
But it wasn’t, though. My fairytale lasted until about the time we brought home our first son. Then reality set in. The reality of diapers and midnight feedings, getting up the next day, and going through the motions on no sleep, only to repeat the whole thing all over again.
As a woman, the brunt of it all landed in my lap. Not that Corbin wasn’t helpful, he was. But we were young. Fresh out of college, with no real-life experience beyond frat parties and Friday night football.
Everyone wants you to follow a script, but no one ever took the time to write that shit in detail, so you’re walking blind. Go to school, graduate, get married, have kids. On paper, it looks very good, but no one seems to realize that these big life moments come with real work.
