The Reunion (Love Stories From a Small Town #5)

20. What Belonged to Me

Until I looked over the in-law suite in my mother’s backyard that evening when I got home from work, I’m not sure I understood how sad my life was.

Frozen in time as the kid who did whatever she told me to get her off my back, I still came to her house every day for dinner.

How she’d orchestrated a whole symphony of lies to keep me under her roof forever was obvious now. Shaking my head at how blind I was to it all this time, I pushed the back door open. “Hey.”

Wiping her hands on her apron, she smiled as she reached up on her toes to kiss my cheek. “You’re just in time. Everything’s still hot.”

Scoffing at the table full of food she set out, I waved her off. I was so sick of her that I’m not sure I could be in the same room with her for much longer. “Yeah. I’m not staying.”

Twisting her mouth in suspicion as she narrowed her eyes at me, she bent down to open the oven door. “What’s wrong?” She peeked over her shoulder at me as she pulled out the dinner rolls. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

My finger gun shot out at her as I pulled a glass from the cupboard. “Funny you should say that.” After filling it half full with water, I rested my hip against the counter and put it to my lips. “So, I ran into Faith Bennett at the hospital today.”

She froze momentarily before setting the baking sheet on top of the oven. “Really?” Busying herself with things that didn’t need to be done to avoid my eyes, she shrugged back at me. “Is she here visiting her father?”

After I sucked back the entire glass in a swallow, I laid it in the sink because I didn’t want to miss her face when I told her. “No. She’s going to be working with me at the hospital from now on so she can be closer to him.”

The hand she wiped her forehead with tremored as she laughed uncomfortably. “Well, wasn’t sweet of her?”

Nodding as I realized what she’d done to me all these years, I blinked at the floor between us. “Yeah, she was always completely selfless.” I’d grown accustomed to her being crazy concerning me, and I brushed it off most of the time as something every mother did. But her destroying the life I planned with Faith was something I would never forgive. “I guess you were counting on that. Weren’t you?”

The chair moved away from the island, and she slid her hip across it. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Rubbing at the scruffy stubble I’d been too busy to shave, I widened my eyes when she got the nerve to peek up at me again. “Oh, I think you do.” I bounced my head from side to side with every way she’d fucked me over. “Something about moving back to Texas? Convincing her to break up with me? Ruining my life?” My hand flipped away from my chin. “Any of that ringing a bell?”

What pissed me off the most was that little flippant eye roll as she dismissed every terrible thing she’d done. “All that girl ever wanted was to trick you into marrying her. You would have only ended up like her dad, drinking beer and playing cards with his loser friends on Friday nights or whatever people like them do.”

I worked twelve-plus hours a day just about every day of my life. But while all the other guys I went to school with went home to their families at the end of the day, I returned to nothing when the job was through. I didn’t have time to think about getting a life, much less pursue one. “You mean happy?” If Mom hadn’t chased off Faith like she did, I might never have become a doctor, true. I may have been working at the quarry with Otis and living in a trailer on the other side of town. At least I’d have Faith to lie down next to, though. “I would have been happy. Yes, you’re right, I would have been.”

Winding her arms over herself, she huffed a laugh, and it about sent me over the edge. “Dominic, you’re a doctor. Somebody important.” Like Mom had done something of value with her life other than bag my dad to bankroll it, she shook her head back at me with that snobby toss of her eyes upward. “You never would have been anything if you’d given her that ridiculous little ring I found in your underwear drawer.”

I shook my head at the backyard through the window, but when I caught the lines getting deeper on my face, I touched them in the glass and wondered how I let this happen. “My entire fucking life is a waste.”

Sliding her chair back, she pushed herself up and came beside me in the reflection. “What are you talking about? You’ve accomplished more than anyone in this town ever has.” She laid her hand on my shoulder. “You would never have done that if you’d settled for her.”

“Settled?” So angry it brought tears to my eyes, I felt my bottom lip wiggle as my fingers came to my chest. “Mom, I love Faith. Losing her tore me apart. How could you do that to me?”

I’d always be a child to her. So, like I still had all the time in the world to find someone else she would never approve of, she gave me her sympathetic smile and grabbed my hand. “That’s why they call it heartbreak. Your first love is always that way, but it’s not the end of the world.”

I bounced my finger at her as I inched toward the door. I understood nothing would ever sink in with her, and there was no point in trying to make her see how wrong she’d been. It wasn’t even a possibility to her. “Right. But most of the time, it’s not your own mother who does the breaking for you.”

Slightly growling at me, she waved her hands in front of her. “You’re being overdramatic. I did what I thought was best, and your life turned out fine.”

Standing in the space between the door and freedom, I beat my finger into my temple. “You ruined my life. Do you not get that?”

Looking the kitchen over one more time, I understood I could never set foot in it again. “This whole thing is sick, and I won’t be a part of it anymore.” It was time to escape the cage she had built around me permanently. “I’m moving out of the guest house.”

She rushed toward me, and the look on her face as she realized she’d lost control was priceless. “Dom, calm down and think about this.”

I stepped back off the concrete pad onto the walkway to get away from her. “Mom, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and it has nothing to do with Faith.” My finger circled by my ear. “No woman in her right mind would want to deal with you interfering all the time.”

Grabbing her chest like she’d done nothing wrong in her life, she frantically shook her head. “I won’t. Dominic, I would never stop you from being happy if you found the right woman.”

“You do. You have.” My finger poked at my chest. “And that’s my fault. I let it happen, but I’m done.”

The stars aligned, and the clouds parted. Or maybe it was just the rush of adrenaline pumping through me that had me running to grab a shower.

I didn’t have a clue yet what would happen or where I’d land after tonight. But I knew without a doubt I was taking back what belonged to me.