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“That is very sweet Mrs. Sommers.” Roe replied smiling at her, that was definitely a fake smile.
“Oh no dear, call me Elaine. We are about to be family.”
“Family.” She repeated that word as if it was a foreign term in her vocabulary.
It was the oddest thing, the girl that I grew up with was definitely not the same one sitting right here next to me. This version of her looked like she had been through a lot and was exhausted. She looked like she needed a break or something even if it were for mere minutes. I watched her again, she was so different.
A little after Mr. and Mrs. Sommers left, we all decided to lounge out and watch a movie. As Jared and I searched for a movie, Essy asked Roe to follow her into the room so she could show her something. They were taking quite a while, so I volunteered to go find them so that we could get this movie started. As I approached, I heard a hushed, yet harsh tone and the voice was identified as Essy’s.
“I want you to remember something Roe, Mr. and Mrs. Sommers are not your family, they are mine. Don’t come here with your pity story and try to take them from me too. Just stay for the wedding and then go your way.”
“I wasn’t trying to get any pity Essy.”
“You were, and you know it. You’re the same manipulative brat I left back in Athens. What’s your issue? Must you go everywhere begging for people to feel bad for you?”
“What are you talking about Estelle? I didn’t ask for anyone to feel bad for me. I came here to just celebrate your union with the man that you love. I don’t want anything else from you. You haven’t spoken to me in seven years, do you know how much can change in seven years Essy?” She shook her head angrily wiping at the tear that slipped out of her eyelid.
Estelle huffed and flipped her hair back.
“I don’t care what’s been happening in your life Roe just do this and be on your way. Just go back to that house of misery and rot there.”
Roe threw her head back and chuckled bitterly.
“I’ll do this for you because this is what daddy would’ve wanted and for your information, there is no house for me to rot in.” She angrily spat.
“So where have you been staying then?”
“Like you care Essy. Just know that once the wedding is over, I’ll go back to the shelter that gave me more of a home than you will ever give me.”
“Shelter?” Estelle questioned but Roe was already walking away towards the door.
I stepped back when she fully opened the door and she gasped at my presence. I caught the vulnerable look in her eye before she bolted out of the house. Shelter? Did Roe just say she had been living in a shelter for the past seven years? I marched right after her wanting to hear an explanation to what she just admitted to. I caught up with her in the foyer as she looked over at something on her cell. I reached up behind her and saw her pull up maps to navigate how to get back to where she was staying. I spied some more to see the address and my eyes widened. She was staying an hour away from here and it would take her twenty minutes to walk to the nearest bus station? Was Monroe nuts?
I snatched her outdated phone out of her hands.
“You don’t need this.”
She spun around to face me so fast that I was surprised she landed correctly on her feet.
“Excuse me, can I please have my phone back?” She asked politely.
I shook my head.
“No. You are not walking twenty minutes to the bus station. I’ll take you to wherever you're staying.”
“No that’s okay. I can make it all on my own. Phone please?” She narrowed her eyes at me. I recognized that look, if I wasn’t careful, she was going to rip me a new one sooner rather than later.
“No, Roe. Let me help you, I’ll take you home.”
I made a mistake. One domino effect mistake that was going to be the fall of all the rest of the dominoes that were stacked up.
“You do not get to take me home Dominic Harley. You do not get to help me. I can figure it all out on my own as I’ve been doing for years. I don’t need none of y’all especially you! You are the last person that I want to ever see on this earth!” The last part she yelled so loud that I was sure all of New York heard her.
I looked at her angry that she was yelling at me and for stirring emotions that were dormant for so long until her. I took a step towards her and she took one back.
“Can you yell a bit louder, I don’t think the whole of New York heard you.” I said sarcastically while gritting my teeth. No one had ever yelled at me besides my late mother.
Roe huffed and stomped her little foot like she was going to charge at me, but then she did the last thing that I would have expected. She turned on her heel and walked out the door with no phone on her person. She was more than mad at me. I had hurt my Monroe more than anyone else had hurt her. I saw it in her eyes right before she turned.
