30. Chapter 30
”It”s going to be fine, Daddy,” Sophia told me as I got ready for my lunch date with Aurora.
A dinner date could convey post-dinner sex pressure, so I”d asked her out to lunch.
”I don”t know, Sweetpea, she”s pretty pissed with me.” I put on my watch and looked at my daughter, who was sitting on my bed, holding a pillow on her lap.
”And the biggest, most positive thing will be that I won”t be calling you in the middle of your date.” Her blue eyes swarmed with guilt.
I sat down next to her and took her hands in mine. ”You can always call me. Just because I”m on a date with Aurora or at work or anywhere doesn”t mean that you can”t. You need me, you call.”
”I know. Dr. Ryan talked to me about the difference between calling you when I need something versus when I want to mess up your date.”
I sighed. ”Sweetpea, I don”t want you to carry this guilt around.”
”Because Mama manipulated me?”
”I”m not going to badmouth your mother in front of you,” I said emphatically. ”We can discuss this if you want in our next session with Dr. Ryan. But you have no reason to feel guilty. Whatever went wrong between Aurora and me had to do with me. I messed up, big time.”
”Because of me.” Her eyes filled with tears.
I pulled her into my arms and hugged her. ”No. Not because of you. I can be an asshole all by myself with no help at all, Sweetpea.”
She let out a watery laugh. ”Language, Daddy.”
I pulled away so I could look at her. She was gorgeous, this child of mine and I was so incredibly proud of her for owning up to her mistakes. To make amends. It was something I was learning from her.
”You”re going to be okay with Nana and Grandpa?” My parents were taking Sophia to a summer party at Hilton Head, and she was excited about it.
Neither Iris nor her parents would be there, which I think was for the best so Sophia could freely enjoy herself. During therapy, I”d discovered that it wasn”t just Iris who put pressure on Sophia to bring her parents back together; Iris”s parents, Doug, and Cindy Cook, had also been urging her to convince me to scrap the divorce.
I”d met with Doug and Cindy and told them that Sophia would not be visiting with them unsupervised from now on.
”Gabe, she”s our granddaughter,” Cindy protested.
”Who you”ve been messin” up, Cindy. Asking a kid to save her parents” marriage that”s been dead for over four years? I mean, come on.”
”This is all because you began dating that woman,” Cindy snapped. ”Iris told us how you and she were all but living together, you were a family.”
”We were never living together. We lived in separate homes.”
”That were connected,” Douglas interjected, ”Come on, Gabe. Enough is enough. Get back with Iris and reclaim your family. This is not helping anyone, especially Sophia.”
”You”re right. Living so close together is not good for Sophia, which is why I”ve put the houses on the market. Rose is looking for something for Sophia and me.”
”What about Iris?” Cindy asked.
”Iris needs to find a place too.”
Cindy and Douglas looked at one another. ”I”m assuming you”re paying for this house, son?” My former father-in-law used his condescending tone.
”No. I gave her a lumpsum, more than the prenup even required, so she”s on her own.”
”But she doesn”t have any money. You have to pay her alimony,” Cindy blurted out.
I didn”t know about Iris”s money problems, but I knew she spent easily, and it hadn”t mattered when we were together. But now, her problems were her own.
”I paid her a lumpsum in lieu of regular payments,” I explained. They knew all this. Iris knew all this, and yet I couldn”t help but feel that I was being gouged for money.
”But you have so much,” Cindy insisted.
”So do you, Cindy.” And on that note, I”d ended the conversation.
But it started to make sense to me why Iris was so persistent about getting back into the marriage. She”d probably gone through the lumpsum as she had her trust fund. How she”d gone through that much money wasn”t a surprise, considering how she spent on clothes, jewelry, and travel.
She wasn”t in love with me. I don”t think she”d ever been. She”d been in love with the Rhodes name and money, the social status that came with being Mrs. Rhodes.
”It”s all set with Harrison,” my mother told me when she and my father came to pick up Sophia.
”Thanks, Mama.” I gave her a quick hug.
”Oh, and I don”t know if Rose told you, but I had lunch with Aurora.”
I gaped at her. ”Excuse me?”
”Yes. Several days ago,” she said nonchalantly.
”Mama,” I warned.
”She bumped into Rose, and they decided to have lunch at Husk Savannah, and I joined them. She”s nice.”
”Your mother said she”s very beautiful,” my father added.
”She”s very nice.” Sophia leaned into my father, who had an arm wrapped around her.
I ran a hand through my hair. ”Christ, Mama.”
”It”s fine. It was fun. She”s smart and sharp. I liked her very much. Try to not fuck this up, okay?”
”Language, Nana,” Sophia teased.
”Honey, you are not allowed to swear, but I”m in my sixties, and I”ll say fuck if I want to.”
”But it”s not ladylike.” Sophia winked at my father.
”That”s true. Very unladylike,” my father agreed.
”You like it when I”m unladylike,” Betsy Rhodes, who didn”t have much of the South in her, said in front of her son and granddaughter.
”Eww, Nana,” Sophia protested.
”I really didn”t need that image in my head, Mama.” I kissed her cheek. Even though Rafe and I made faces when they used to (and still did) get affectionate, I absolutely adored how my parents loved each other. I”d wanted that. I”d never had it.
I called Harrison, my mother”s cook, and checked for the third time that morning that everything was set the way I wanted.
”Honest to god, Gabe, you”re pushin” it with all the nagging. So, cut it out. It”s all set. Bring your lady over, okay?”
”The champagne and—”
Harrison hung up on me. He”d known me since I was a teenager when he began to cook for my parents, and he was, in many ways, family. I”d told him what I”d wanted for my first date with Aurora, and he”d promised to deliver.