I woke up to the sound of voices coming from downstairs. I recognized all three of them instantly: Mom, Dad, and Nina.
I hopped out of bed, hurriedly yanking off my flannel pajama pants and pulling on some jeans. I slipped a t-shirt on over my white camisole and walked out of my room, heading downstairs to find out why Dad and Nina were over.
“Well she’s just as much his daughter as she is yours.” I heard Nina say as I made my way down the stairs.
“That doesn’t matter!” Mom shot back. “She’s eighteen years old, so she can make her own decisions. And I’m pretty sure that she wants nothing to do with either of you two!”
I knew immediately that they were talking about me. And Mom was absolutely correct. I didn’t want anything to do with Nina or my dad. They had both betrayed my family. They weren’t good people, and I no longer wanted them to be a part of my life.
“Mom’s right.” I declared, stepping into the living room where all three of them could see me. I glanced at Dad, my eyes cold and distant. He wasn’t the same man anymore. When I looked at him, I no longer saw the loving father that had once been there for me. Now all I saw was a monster.
“Evalynne, please don’t do this.” Dad begged, his eyes filled with desperation. “I’m so sorry that I hurt you, and I love you so much. You’re my only daughter.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and turned away from him, choosing to just ignore his pathetic pleas. I wasn’t his anymore. He had brought this upon himself.
“Evalynne, I know you don’t like me very much, and I know that you probably don’t want to listen to what I have to say.” Nina said to me. “But please just hear me out. Your father loves you very much, and we’d both really appreciate it if you’d at least come by our place to visit every once in awhile.”
“You two are moving in together?” I exploded, turning back around to look her in the eye. My entire body was trembling with rage. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t fair. Dad had been Mom’s Mr. Right. He couldn’t just leave her and go move in with another woman. He should be on his knees, begging her for forgiveness right now. He should be telling her that she was the only one he loved, and that it was a mistake for him to have cheated. He sure as hell shouldn’t be moving in with freakin’ Nina!
“We’re not just moving in together.” Dad told me. “We’re going to get married.”
My eyes went wide with shock and my mouth dropped open, forming into the shape of an O. I looked down at Nina’s right hand, only to see a giant, sparkly rock on her ring finger. This ring looked very expensive. More expensive than Mom’s wedding ring. And that made me so angry. How could Dad be so heartless? How could he have bought Nina a better ring than the one he bought for Mom?
“We’d really love it if you came to the wedding.” Nina said, giving me a weak smile. It took all the self-control that I had not to smack that grin right off her face.
“I’d rather die than go to your wedding.” I remarked, my voice flat and enraged.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tear trickle down Mom’s face. And without a word, she walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Dad and Nina.
“That’s awful for you to say!” Nina cried. “I work in hospital. I work at a place where people die every single day. Don’t you realize how severe death is? You shouldn’t joke about it like that.”
“I wasn’t joking.” I retorted, deadpanning her bitterly.
Her wide brown eyes got even wider, something I didn’t even think was possible, and she took a small step back. I could tell that she was appalled at how furious and hateful my words were. But I meant every single one of them. I would honestly rather be dead than have to see my dad marry some witch.
“You might not be happy that I’m marrying your dad, but that doesn’t mean you have to be rude to me.” Nina snapped. “I will not sit here and listen to all of these cruel things that you’re saying to us. You’re father and I are in love, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.” she said, getting all up in my face.
Dad looked away from me, as if he were too ashamed of his soon-to-be-wife to even look me directly in the eye. Didn’t he get it? Nina was a rude, coldhearted, spiteful witch. Was that really the kind of person he wanted to marry? Apparently it was.
“You’re right.” I said to her, my voice even. “I can’t change the fact that you and my dad love each other. In fact, you’re actually pretty perfect for each other. Dad always had a thing for tacky skanks.”
“Oh really?” Nina shot back. “That must be why he married your mother.”
Even Dad’s mouth dropped open at that remark. My hate for this lady just increased immensely. How dare she say that about my mom! She had no right to say that! My mom wasn’t the one who went around having affairs with married men who were twice her age!
“Get out of my house.” I ordered through clenched teeth.
“Your dad needs to finish packing up the rest of his stuff first.” she replied matter-of-factly.
“Then my dad can go do that. You on the other hand, can get the hell out of here before I introduce my fist to your face.” I retorted, balling my hand into a tight fist to prove that I wasn’t kidding.
“Evalynne, you need to calm down.” Dad told me. “Nina is going to come upstairs and help me pack up my things, and you’re just going to have to deal with it.”
I stared at him for a long moment, looking straight into his eyes, searching for something…anything really, to let me know that he didn’t mean these words. But his eyes were stern and icy, letting me know that he was serious. Letting me know that he didn’t really care about how I felt about all of this.
Irately, I turned on my heel and stormed towards the front door, slipping into my black Converse and heading out into the brisk February air. Unsure of where else to go, I walked up to Will’s house and rang his doorbell.
“Hey,” he greeted me. And when he noticed the first tear rolling down my cheek, he wrapped me up into his arms without any questioning. That was exactly what I needed too. Heat radiated off of Will’s body, warming my body from the inside out. “Come on inside,” he said once we broke away from each other.
I nodded, stepping into his tastefully decorated home. “My parents just left for church, so my dad won’t intrude on us again.” he told me. I flashed him a small smile, remembering the last time I’d been over at his house. “So what’s up?” he asked me.
“My dad’s at my house right now…with Nina.” I informed him.
He cringed when I mentioned her name, “Oh,” he said distastefully.
“Yeah, I just found out that not only are they moving in together, but they’re also getting married!” I told him with mock enthusiasm. Then I sighed, another tear trickling down my face.
“Already? How long have they been with each other?” he inquired.
“I’m not sure. Only a couple of months I think.” I replied.
“Wow, that’s crazy…” He shook his head, clearly surprised at this news.
“Yeah, it definitely is.” I agreed, rolling my cerulean blue eyes.
“So why are you telling me all this?” he asked me.
The second he said that, I felt like a complete and total idiot. What was I thinking coming over here to tell him this? Of course he didn’t care about my family issues. He had his own problems to worry about.
“It’s not that I don’t want to hear it.” he told me, as if he’d just read my thoughts. “It’s just that you and Cole are together, so wouldn’t you want to tell him all of this? You know, since he’s your boyfriend,”
“Actually, we broke up.” I confessed, trying not to get all upset about it. “For good,” I added.
“For good?” he queried.
“Yeah, in fact, Cole’s going back to Michigan today. We just realized that whenever we’re together, we end up arguing. Both of us decided that it’s probably best for us to just break up.” I explained to him.
“Well to be honest, I think this was an excellent decision.” he replied.
“Why, you don’t like Cole?” I asked him with a smirk.
“Don’t even get me started,” he remarked, shaking his head. I laughed softly, already feeling more at ease just speaking with Will.
“Come on, he wasn’t all that bad.”
“Are you kidding me?” he cried. “That guy was awful! First of all, he had some serious anger management issues. Second of all, he was beyond perverted. Third of all, he had some extremely tacky lines that, for some reason that is still unclear to me, you thought were sweet. Fourth of all, he was totally ripping on your husband, which was way uncalled for. Fifth of all, he obviously isn’t very self-confident if he gets jealous of every single guy that you come in contact with. And last of all, he makes extremely overdramatic exits. This isn’t ‘All My Children’. He doesn’t have to make everything seem so melodramatic.”
“The things he said to me were totally not tacky!” I disputed.
He rolled his dark eyes, scoffing under his breath. “Whatever, I just can’t believe you bought all that crap. It was totally fake. ‘Oh Evalynne, I’m so sorry. I don’t want to hurt you. I love you, Evalynne. I should’ve never came back. I’m so selfish.’” he said, imitating Cole.
“Stop it,” I told him, trying to contain the giggle bubbling up inside of me. I punched his arm lightly, grinning from ear to ear. It was amazing how I could come to Will’s house, feeling so low and empty, like things could never possibly get better. And then I’d start talking with him, and almost instantly, I’d be happy and laughing and joking again. Will just made me so high-spirited, so alive.
And at that moment, I really wished that Cole was right. I really wished that Will liked me.