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She sighs. “I wish you’d meet me in person. I don’t want to do this over the phone.”
“Sorry, not going to happen.” I become dizzy, so I sit on the edge of the chair and crack my neck back and forth.
“When are you coming back to work?”
I sit up straight in the chair, preparing myself for her reaction. “I’m not. I’m done.”
“What? Kyleigh, you’re going to take over my legacy.”
I want to laugh out loud at the word legacy. I mean, yes, my mom does very well for herself. Her client list is extensive, with a long waiting list for consultations. But legacy is a bit much. “I don’t want that. I’ve decided to?—”
I almost slip up and tell her my plans, but she doesn’t deserve to know what I’m going to do with my future. Let her sweat it out since she thinks I should run all my life’s decisions through her.
“You’re not going to waste your grandfather’s money by not working, are you? That’s not who you are.”
“It doesn’t matter what I’m going to do. It’s my money. Like you said, I’m twenty-five, and it’s mine now.”
My grandfather left all the grandkids a small amount of money. It’s not like a trust fund or anything I can live off, but enough for a down payment on a modest house or a nest egg. The only stipulation he put on the money for each of us was that we wouldn’t receive it until we were twenty-five.
“But you’ll just waste it,” she says.
I thought I’d reached my limit with her weeks ago, but for some reason, her accusation that I’ll be irresponsible with the money pisses me off. The only reason I can still pay my bills is because I’m responsible and have always put a portion of my paycheck into a savings account since I started working.
“No, I won’t. I would tell you to trust me, but we both know you’ve never believed in me. You never let me forge my own path. Well, now I am, and I don’t plan on that changing. I don’t need you to micromanage me anymore.”
I hear her breathing, but she says nothing for so long that I’m ready to hang up.
“You expect me to be perfect. I’m not, Kyleigh.”
“Wrong, Mom,youexpectmeto be perfect.”
“I made a mistake.”
The heaviness in my heart lightens a little. That small piece of hope that she and Dad will fix this and everything I know in this world will be right again flickers then dies. Because I quickly remember, it won’t ever be the same. I can’t go back to the person or the life I had before walking in on my mom.
“Yes, you did.” My voice breaks.
She scoffs. “So, you’re just going to keep punishing me for it?”
“Punishing you?”
“Yes! You’re going to ostracize me out of our family. Conor doesn’t call me. Your dad moved out. And you’re quitting on me.”
My chest aches at the news that my dad has moved out. I make a mental note to call him tomorrow and see how he is.
“You did it to yourself.” A knock sounds on my apartment door, and I know it’s Rowan. “I have to go.”
“Kyleigh, we have to fix this. You always ignore your problems, but I’m your mother. You can’t just make me disappear out of your life like you’re waving a magic wand.”
I stare at the floor for a second. It hurts so much to think about losing my mother. And maybe one day down the road, I’ll be able to be around her. I’m not sure I’ll ever entirely forgive her, especially since she’s trying to defend her actions, but I’m not even close to being there right now.
“I can do whatever I want to do, Mom. That’s the great thing about being an adult. Bye.”
My thumb shakes as I click End on the screen. I try to calm my body, but my pulse is erratic, my limbs shaky, and I want to crumble to the floor and weep.
Rowan knocks again.
I shouldn’t have answered the phone when I knew he was coming here, but I think subconsciously, I was hoping I’d pick up, and my mother would tell me what a huge mistake she made, how she regrets ever hurting my dad, me. Now Rowan’s going to want to have sex, and I’m not sure I can use him to just push this away like I have every other time.
