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“How could you do this to me?” Jessica sobbed to punctuate the inevitable guilt trip. “How could you just leave?”
In the past, Summer would have led with apologies to sootheher mom and avoid the drama while squashing her own feelings. Now, instead of platitudes, she said what she wanted to say. “You lied to me. Worse, the lie purposely hurt me. You could have come up with something that didn’t make me feel unwanted and unloved. You could have said he died. But no, you chose the one thing that would cut deep.”
“You kept asking and asking and it just came out. And then I couldn’t take it back. Not without explaining. I... I just couldn’t.”
“You wanted to shut me up, and, boy, did that do it.”
“I never meant to hurt you.”
The anger roiled in Summer’s gut. “You never do, but you do it anyway. Do you know how incredibly damaging it was to tell me my own father didn’t want me? Do you have any idea how that made me feel? Do you know how I’ve carried this with me all these years? Of course you don’t, because your father has your back no matter what you do. He’s there for you, no matter how terribly you behave or screw up. But you can’t do that for anyone else, not even me. Your daughter. All you think about is yourself.”
“You don’t understand how it was for me. I was only eighteen when I met your father. Eighteen, Summer! He changed my whole life when he got me pregnant.”
“He didn’t do itto you. You can’t even take responsibility for your own actions.”
Her mother huffed, then went on, as if Summer hadn’t said a thing. “I’m the one who had to endure the stares and whispers and people talking behind my back about being a pregnant teen. Do you know how it feels to have everyone talking about you, judging you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I do. They all talk behind my back about you, Mom. It’s not like you’re discreet about the many men in your life. You go from one to the next and never think about how it looks to others or how it affects me.”
“They’re just jealous that I’ve lived my life the way I want. If my relationships have failed, it’s none of their business if I try to find someone else to love me. Everyone deserves to be loved.”
“Yes, Mom. They do. I deserved to be loved by my father. I deserved to have him in my life. But you took that from me. You took away his chance to be a good father to me.”
“He wasn’t able to take care of you. He didn’t have the financial security I had to offer you.”
Summer exploded out of her seat and started pacing beside the pool. “Money or no money, he had a right to be my father. He had a right to be there to see me grow up. I had a right to see him and know him. Why? Why would you keep me from him?”
“Because I didn’t want him to take you away from me!”
Summer believed that, but called, “Bullshit. He’s a nice man. A good man. One who cares about his wife and children. He’d have wanted me to have both of you. How hard would it have been for you to let me see him a couple of weekends a month, a month or two in the summer, a holiday once in a while? Was that so much to ask? God knows you were gone more than that most of the time, so why not leave me with my dad instead of someone you paid to watch me?”
“That’s not fair, Summer. I was always there when you needed me.”
“Some of the time,” Summer qualified, because her heart wouldn’t allow her to not give her mom credit for coming through the times she did. Positive reinforcement. “It might have been nice to have a man in my life who didn’t leave and never looked back once he was done with you. None of your exes loved me like I was their child. You know what I learned about men from you? I’m not good enough for them. They leave. They’re expendable. They’re not worth the effort to make them want to stay. If they don’t work out, find a new one.”
Her mother sniffled. “Don’t be mean.”
“I learned it from you.” Summer tried to reel in her rage before she said something too terrible to take back.
“You had your grandfather. Look what he’s made you into. You practically run that company.”
“Again, Mom, not the same.”
Jessica cried softly. “I’ve made mistakes. Lots of them. My greatest hope is that you don’t make the same ones. I hope with my whole heart you find a man who loves you more than anything and spends a lifetime building a life and making memories with you.”
Funny, Summer had the same wish.
But she didn’t let her mom off the hook. “Yet you continue to try to set me up with men I have nothing in common with or even like.”
“How would you know? You never give any of them a chance.”
“In the beginning I did, but we both know how that turned out.” She’d been set up to fail.
“I only want the best for you. I’m your mother. That’s my right.”
“And Nate Weston is my father. What rights did you allow him? You took them all away by not telling him he had a daughter. Didn’t you think he’d want the best for me, too? He’s welcomed me into his home and his life without reservation. He loves me.”
“He doesn’t even know you.”
