“Maybe,” her mother leaned her hip against the counter.
“Mom’s don’t usually share their sexual pasts with their daughters but in this case, I know what it means to leave, and I can guide you through it.”
“The guy you were engaged to with the whack-a-doodle mom, you lived with him?”
“Yes. He actually lived in his own apartment, and I moved in with him. What he didn’t tell me was how his lease was coming to an end within weeks of the wedding and how he and his mother discussed in great length how he and I should move back home to help her take care of the house. She went on and on about how she was going to be the best grandma because she was going to be there all the time and forget a super close bond with her babies. Her babies. I’d stopped taking my birth control ahead of the wedding because we’d been talking about starting a family as soon as we were married. Then I found out he basically wanted to give the kids to his mother to raise. Man, I dodged a bullet.”
“You really dodged a bullet.” She giggled as she continued eating her breakfast. “You stopped the pill and got pregnant with me.”
“Yup. No regrets. Not a single one.”
“I love you, Mama.”
“I know, sweetheart. So, let’s get our things together. We’re going to go take all of your clothes. All of your toiletries. All of your shoes and things which you want. The rest you leave for him to deal with. He is the one who ruined everything so he can sort through the memories. You get to start fresh with a clean slate. He can be the one to take the photos off the wall, figure out what to do with the wedding rings, sort out what to do with the Hers hand towels. He fucked up. He can clean it up. You take the things most important to you. That’s it. That’s all. The rest you can buy again, considering you’re a millionaire now.”
She looked at mother wide-eyed, “can you imagine?”
“Yes. His parents have a lot of money as well and they’re exceedingly kind to me. They wanted a live-in housekeeper because there are times they come home at two in the morning from a gala or something and want snacks and I do it because they are so good to me. The bonuses they give me for craziness like this makes it worth it. I have no complaints. Sandra is really good to me, and Mr. Perez is as well.”
“You don’t call him by his first name?”
“I wouldn’t disrespect her this way. I live in their home. I would hate to make things informal or casual with her husband. It seems wrong.”
“You’re a good woman, Mama.”
“I know. Unlike your husband’s mistress, I don’t screw over or stab other women in the back.” going to go take all of your clothes. All of your toiletries. All of your shoes and things which you want. The rest you leave for him to deal with. He is the one who ruined everything so he can sort through the memories. You get to start fresh with a clean slate. He can be the one to take the photos off the wall, figure out what to do with the wedding rings, sort out what to do with the Hers hand towels. He fucked up. He can clean it up. You take the things most important to you. That’s it. That’s all. The rest you can buy again, considering you’re a millionaire now.”
She looked at mother wide-eyed, “can you imagine?”
“Yes. His parents have a lot of money as well and they’re exceedingly kind to me. They wanted a live-in housekeeper because there are times they come home at two in the morning from a gala or something and want snacks and I do it because they are so good to me. The bonuses they give me for craziness like this makes it worth it. I have no complaints. Sandra is really good to me, and Mr. Perez is as well.”
“You don’t call him by his first name?”
“I wouldn’t disrespect her this way. I live in their home. I would hate to make things informal or casual with her husband. It seems wrong.”
“You’re a good woman, Mama.”
“I know. Unlike your husband’s mistress, I don’t screw over or stab other women in the back.”
“Ouch,” she rose from her feet and then froze when there was a knock on the door.
Both she and her mother looked at each other nervously and her mother tiptoed to the door. Nobody should know where she was. Her mother looked through the peep hole and then a smile flitted over her face, and she pulled it open, “good morning, Benicio.”
“Good morning, Maeve. I’m here to drive Juniper and yourself to the other apartment.” He smiled at Juniper over her mother’s shoulder, “good morning Juniper. How are you feeling this morning?” Concern tinged the question.
“Better than I expected I would but still pretty cru
“Well, let’s fix that then.”
“Don’t you need to be at work?”
“We figure with all of us there it will take an hour, ninety minutes maximum to throw everything into totes and bring it back here. Plenty of time for my other activities.” He held out his hand to Juniper. “Come on, sunshine. Let’s go bring your grandmother’s throw blanket where it belongs.”
“Thanks Benicio.”
“My friends call me Beni,” he winked at her as she took his hand.
It was a lot harder than she’d thought it would be. Despite her mother, Beni and Adil, keeping her on task and forcing her to keep going, every single thing she touched seemed to hold a memory connected to it.
“Your bathrobe?” her mother held it up.
“No. I don’t want it.” Too many memories of Kyst pulling the tie at the waist to get her naked and plunging into her no matter what room of their apartment they were in, tainted the garment.
When her mother reached for a drawer, Juniper slapped her hand over it and pushed it shut again.
“We don’t need anything from that drawer, Mama.”
The words made two male heads turn in her direction and her mother’s eyebrows raise.
“As you said, there are things in this house he can deal with and part of it, is that drawer.” She looked at her mom, “why don’t you get all my stuff out of the bathroom. I’ll handle the bedroom.”
“Good idea.” Her mother made a face and disappeared quickly.
She went to the nightstand and pulled out a novel she’d been reading and closed it shut before turning to find Adil trying to open the drawer her mother touched earlier while Beni was holding it shut.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to know what’s in here. Is it the role-playing stuff?” Adil asked with his eyes bright with delight. “You should take one thing from here. Like his favorite one thing and so when he’s forced to go through it, he’ll realize it’s missing, and you’ll be using it with someone new.”
“That’s the dumbest idea I ever heard,” Beni grumbled. “All it’s going to do is remind her of him when she has to deal with it later.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.