Chapter 26
26
JACKSON
W hoever said therapy is hard work wasn’t kidding. I’ve had a handful of sessions and none of them have been cake walks.
I’m starting to learn more about myself and how to better handle situations without lashing out. I’m also finding ways to channel my negative emotions like jealousy and anger into more positive outlets.
I’m swimming again. I haven’t done a lot of it since high school because it was a sport I felt my parents wanted me to participate in. I remember growing to hate it so much because I’d be berated if I didn’t win.
That kind of pressure sucked all the fun out of it. But now that I’m doing it for fun, I realize how much I actually did like it. My therapist suggested I take up a new hobby as well, one that keeps my hands busy.
If someone would have told me that I’d be spending hours online looking up patterns to crochet, I would have called them crazy, but several balls of yawn later, I’m making my first blanket. It’s nothing fancy but I’m getting better at it.
Gavin teases me about it but fuck him. I actually like it. It’s a calming activity and I can’t wait to get better at it so I can make something cool for Zora.
Zora…
It’s been a tough couple months. I fight each day not to send out a P.I. to get updates on her but I manage to stop myself. She deserves some time away from me although I miss her so much I wake up with an ache in my heart that makes me clutch my chest.
I live for the day when I can see her again, but I’ve stayed away from Champion to give her the space she needs.
Until now.
Driving down the streets of what was formally Nobel Hills, I notice that a lot of the houses have changed. Some have been repainted and some appear aged and worn. This used to be the ‘rich’ section of town. But with all the new developments since I moved away, this area seems dated. The HOA had recently changed the name to Champion Hills.
I’m sure my mother has a hand in that as she’s the president of the board. One of her last grasps of power on a community where the Champion name no longer has much meaning.
The gate is open when I pull up to the house I grew up in. I haven’t set foot on this property since my sophomore year of college. Not much has changed. The lawn is still immaculate and green and the house is still large and imposing over the rest of the neighborhood.
My mother is waiting for me at the door which is strange because there had always been a butler. She always thought it was beneath her to open the door herself.
If what I’d recently learned is true, no longer having a butler tracks.
My mother appears to have not aged much until you get up close and realize she’s had so many fillers, her face barely moves. A few more surgeries she’s going to end up looking like a weird human cat hybrid.
She’s wearing a yellow silk dress and it disgusts me. Yellow is Zora’s color. On Zora she looks like a sunflower in the middle of a green field on a sunny day. On my mother, it looks like a melted slab of butter.
She always saw herself a lady of the manor, likening herself to Scarlett O’Hara. I remember my mother saying she wished she’d been born in the antebellum days. Another example of why this woman is complete trash.
The smug grin on her overly filled lips tells me all I need to know. She believes she’s won by my coming here today. I wonder how long it will take for that smile to fall.
“Jackson, I’m glad you finally decided to come to your senses and come home.’
“This meeting will be brief.” I brush past her and go inside.
The inside is exactly as I remember. This house hasn’t been redecorated in ages which is strange because my mother would remodel every other year when I was here. Every decoration was the same, even down to the 20x24 portraits of my mother lined on the wall in her younger days.
“That’s certainly no way to greet your mother, Jackson.”
I head straight to the sitting room where she used to receive guests but I don’t sit down.
“This isn’t a social visit, Mother. I wanted you to know this is the last time I will ever step foot in this house with you in it.” I take a glance around and notice there are some changes.
Some of the more expensive decorations are gone. Likely they’ve been sold off.
“I see you’ve gotten above yourself, Jackson. I’m sure you’ve had a lot of explaining to do to your shareholders.”
I shrug. “Oh, that? I was able to sooth that over and don’t even think about going to the papers about Melody Berkstram because I found the fisherman you paid off to keep silent. If you bring this up, I’ll be sure to expose your cover up.”
She narrows her gaze and purses her lips. “Jackson people will speculate and cast aspersions on your name no matter what the truth is. People talk.”
“You are so shameless. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why you had to have complete control over me. I mean at one point, your face could still move so I’m sure you could have snagged another rich old man and moved on with your life. But I’ve done some digging and you’ve been hiding a big secret haven’t you. One that when exposed, will cause you to lose everything.”
She rolls her eyes and waves her hand dismissively as if I’d said something nonsensical. “I don’t have any secrets. Unlike you. You were holed up on the other side of town with that black girl. I mean if you prefer darkies, the very least you could have done was not choose a fat one.”
I have never hit a woman, but I swear in this moment it took the will of a thousand saints in the middle of a brothel to hold back from punching my own mother in the face. I remember a few of the techniques I’ve learned in therapy calm me down before reacting.
I close my eyes and take several calming breaths and mentally count to ten.
“You know I’m right, Jackson,” she taunts when I don’t answer right away.
Once I reach ten, I start again.
When I finally open my eyes, her arms are crossed over her chest and her lips are slightly tilted into a menacing grin.
“That just cost you the year I was going to give you. You now have 90 days.”
Her eyes narrow. “What are you talking about?”
“Like I was saying, I always wondered why you never remarried and why having me under your thumb was so important. Champion is an okay town and you like being the queen bee here but someone like you is always looking to move upward. After Dad died, you were upset about something but you never told me what. But after that you became even more controlling. I couldn’t breathe a certain way without your permission. And looking back you weren’t upset about Dad’s death because that would actually require that you have a heart.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m sure you have a point, Jackson. I’m getting bored with all this posturing.”
“You were upset about the will weren’t you? I never looked into the will because I was just a kid. And by the time I graduated high school I wanted as little to do with you as possible so I let things be. Until recently when you fucked with me for the last time. You were fucking Dad’s partner weren’t you? You had him cover up what was in the will otherwise he was obligated to tell me when I turned 18.”
For the first time since my arrival her self-assurance seemed to crumble. Her eyes widen and her mouth gaps open.
I know then I’ve got this bitch exactly where I want her.
“Well, I…I never…what kind of woman do you think I am?”
“I think you’re a desperate unscrupulous succubus but that’s beside the point. You made me think the trust was the only thing Dad left to me and I bet if you could have found your way around it, you would have kept it from me. He left the house to me and everything in it along with a yearly stipend for its upkeep which you’ve been siphoning off. That money was in a trust for me which you should have had no access to.”
“Dad left you a trust that you would only have access to as long as you remained unmarried. Once you marry again, whatever is left would go to me. The trust is set up to disperse a stipend to you annually. Most people can live a comfortable life with what you’ve been given. But it won’t continue to sustain the lavish lifestyle you were accustomed to while Dad was alive. So you’ve been supplementing it with the household funds. That’s why there’s no servants and the Ming vase you used to showcase in the hallway is no longer there.”
“I earned that money. Every bit of it. Howard, was an old fool to set up his will like that.”
“Well, at least you know it’s pointless to pretend you’ve done nothing wrong. If my dad’s old partner Greg wasn’t retired, I’d go after his law license, but I can still sue you for misappropriation of funds. But I won’t as long as you leave this house and disappear from my life for good. You can keep your trust, but if you try to cause any trouble for me or Zora so help me you’ll wish you never gave birth to me.”
“I already do! How can you treat your own mother like this? And over some black bitch!” She screams.
I take an even deeper breath.
“You now have 30 days.”
“I don’t want our paths to cross ever again. And if we do see each other again, hopefully you’ll be six feet under.”
As I exit the house, she runs after me. “Where am I supposed to go?”
“Frankly Mother, I don’t give a damn.”
I contemplate whether to head to the airport or go back to my condo for the night. I don’t have to be back at my office until Thursday for a board meeting and anything else I can do remotely.
But if I don’t leave town, I’ll be tempted to go by Zora’s house.
God, I miss that woman. She still consumes my every thought, but I’ve thrown myself in to my work and hobbies to fill the void.
I take the exit for the airport and I think about her. What’s she doing? Is she seeing anyone?
I’m so deep in thought, I’m startled when the computer through my speaker announces, “Incoming phone call from Zora.”