March 2, 2010
5:00 p.m.
Evalynne’s House

“Hey, Mom,” I greeted my mother when she walked in the door. “How was work?”
“It was alright,” she replied flatly. I sighed, wishing for a way to somehow cheer her up. But I knew that the only way to cheer her up would be to go back in time and stop my dad from ever cheating on her in the first place.
“Remember what I told you,” I said to her. “You can get through this.”
She gave me a weak smile and subtly nodded her head. “I know,” she assured me. “It’s just hard.”
“It’s hard for me too.” I pointed out. “I just try not to think about it so much.”
She bit her lip, nodding once again. “I’ll try that.” I smiled and let her go up to her room to change out of the gray pantsuit she wore to work.
When I stepped into the kitchen, about to start dinner, the phone began to ring. “I’ll get it!” I called out, although I really didn’t need to. Mom might’ve started going back to work again, but she still didn’t bother to answer the phone when it rang. She wasn’t very talkative or social these days.
“Hello,” I said, pressing the phone to my ear.
“Evalynne?” I frowned when I heard my father’s voice.
“What do you want?” I demanded, disgust boiling inside the pit of my stomach.
He sighed at the tone of my voice. “I want to have lunch with you tomorrow.”
I cackled haughtily at his request. Was he serious? Did he actually think I would agree to have lunch with him? “Why would I want to have lunch with you? So you can tell me all about how great your new life with Nina is?” My voice sounded venomous even in my own ears, but he deserved it. He had betrayed his own family, and all for some trashy s****.
It took a moment for him to respond to my comment, but when he finally did, he sounded hurt. Good. I’d hurt him just like he’d hurt me. “The reason I want to have lunch with you tomorrow is because I need to talk to you about something. Something important.”
“Well if it’s about Nina, then it’s not important to me. So if that’s what this is about then stop wasting your time and just hang up the phone.” I remarked sharply.
“What if I told you that not only is it about Nina, but it’s also about Cole too? Then would you come?” he inquired.
When he mentioned Cole’s name, my ears perked up and my heart fluttered. What he could he possibly want to tell me that had to do with both Nina and Cole? “Why can’t you just tell me now?” I asked him.
“Because I don’t want to talk about this over the phone. I’d like to tell you in person.” he informed me, and then added, “Plus I’d like to spend some time with you.”
I bit my lip, considering this. If I were to go, would my dad think that I was forgiving him for what he did? But if I didn’t go, would I ever find out about what he wanted to tell me?
Finally I sighed, coming to a conclusion. “What time?” I asked. This had to do with Cole. And if I didn’t meet to have lunch with Dad, he’s probably continue to hold what he knew over my head until I agreed. So I decided that it was best just to get this over with.
“I’ll pick you up at eleven-thirty.” he replied. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was glad that I’d agreed to come. But if he thought that this lunch would repair our relationship, he was very wrong. The damage he’d brought upon our relationship was far beyond repair.
Without another word, I hung up the phone. And as I prepared dinner, tons of different thoughts raced through my mind. What if Nina was Cole’s long-lost sister? What if she was a close friend of his family? What if she was his aunt? Or worst of all, what if she had dated Cole? My stomach churned just thinking about all of the possibilities.
And then it hit me. Why meet with my backstabbing father when I could just ask Cole? So feeling stupid for not thinking of this before, I picked the phone back up and punched in Cole’s number.
“Hello?” he said when he picked up the phone.
“Hey Cole, it’s me.” I told him.
“Evalynne?” he queried as if he wasn’t completely sure. Did he honestly have to ask? Did he honestly not recognize my voice anymore?
“Yes, it’s Evalynne.” I stated, my voice quivering a bit. If Katrina had been the one calling him, he would’ve recognized her voice right away. “I need to ask you something.”
“Sure, what is it?” he asked.
“Do you happen to know someone named Nina Porter?” I inquired. He was completely silent on the other end. “Cole?” I said. “Are you still there?”
“Is this some kind of joke?” he exploded, completely out of nowhere.
“What are you talking about?” I cried. But he totally ignored my question, continuing to rant and rave.
“Are you mad at me for breaking up with you or something? Are you trying to get back at me for going out with Katrina?” he demanded, his voice thick with rage.
“Cole, I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about.” I told him sincerely.
“Oh, don’t play stupid, Evalynne! Why else would you bring Nina up, huh? I just can’t believe you would stoop this low to get your revenge. That’s really pathetic!”
“Stop yelling!” I exclaimed. “Just calm down and tell me what you’re talking about. Because I’m extremely confused right now. I just wanted to know if you know who Nina Porter is. I’m not trying to get revenge on you.”
At this, he seemed to calm down. “So you seriously don’t know what Nina did to my family?” he asked me.
“No,” I replied, now even more confused than before. “Why? What did she do?”
“Wait, first tell me how you know her.” he told me.
“You know how my dad was cheating on my mom? Well she’s the girl he’s been having an affair with.” I informed him, my hatred for Nina clear by the tone of my voice.
“Oh. My. Gosh.” Cole uttered, pronouncing each word separately, which added to the dramatic effect of what he’d said.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“You know how my dad was cheating on my mom?” he demanded. “Well she’s the girl he had an affair with.”
My mouth literally dropped open from the shock that coursed through my body. “No way!” I shouted. Sure, I’d hated Nina before, but now…now hate was an understatement of how I felt about this woman.
“Yeah!” Cole remarked. “She’s a freakin’ homewrecker!”
“She is!” I agreed, feeling extremely energized from all of my fury.
“I seriously can’t believe this.” Cole muttered. “Oh my gosh, this means that she’s not with my dad anymore. I wonder which one of them broke it off. Oh wow, this is surprising. I was definitely not expecting this.” He paused for a moment, as if remembering something. “Wait, how did you know to ask me if I knew who she is?”
“Because my dad—” I cut off in the middle of my sentence, a gasp escaping my throat. Dad knew. He knew what she did to Cole’s family. Did this mean that he was going to break up with her? Or would he continue to be with her even though he knew what a trashy homewrecker she really was?
“Because of what?” Cole queried.
“Because my dad just called me and asked me to have lunch with him tomorrow. He told me that he needs to talk to me about something that has to do with both you and Nina.” I explained to him.
“So your dad knows what she did?” he cried.
I nodded, even though I knew he couldn’t see me do it. “Yeah, and now I’m curious as to whether or not he’s going to continue seeing her.”
“So does this mean that you’re going to have lunch with him tomorrow? Because I’d like to know just as much as you would. I want to know just how conniving this woman is. She had my dad wrapped around her finger. I really hope your dad is smart enough to dump her though.”
“Yeah, so do I.” I agreed. “And yes, I think I will have lunch with my dad tomorrow.”
“Promise to call me as soon as it’s over and tell me what happened?”
“I promise,” I assured him.
“Cool,” he said. “Ok, well I’d better go now. I’ve got to finish up this paper I’m working on. But I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Ok, bye,” I set the phone back down in the receiver and sighed. What if Dad did decide to break up with Nina? Would Mom forgive him? Would she take him back? Would he even want to come back? So many questions, yet not a single answer.
But tomorrow I would make sure to find out all the answers I needed to know.

Author's Note: Surprise! Betcha didn't see that one coming haha...so what do you think of Nina's true background?