Chapter 5 #2
Her father, brothers-in-law, several uncles, cousins, and men she didn’t recognize sat on the opposite end of the large brick patio that spanned the entire length of the mansion.
On the lawn, professional caterers were grilling on huge gas grills while others placed food on tables and set up chairs around the tables that now covered a small portion of her parents’ ten-acre backyard.
It didn’t surprise her that there were no kids at the family barbecue.
To even suggest bringing a child here would have sent her mother into a snit.
A social queen her mother definitely was, a mother and grandmother?
Not even a little bit. She’d hardly been there for their childhood.
Why do it when she could pay someone else?
was her mother’s motto. Nannies and maids had raised her and her siblings until the ripe old age of ten when they’d each, in turn, were sent away to a private year-round boarding school.
From then on, it became obvious that they were only guests here.
Some might think it was a pathetic upbringing and, to a point, she would agree.
Since her parents only saw children as an accessory, they’d really had no business having them.
It would have been a horrible childhood if her grandparents hadn’t bought a house close to her school the first week and brought her to live with them.
Thanks to her grandparents, she’d had a wonderful childhood.
She loved the life her grandparents had given her, which was one of the reasons why at eighteen, she’d taken over her life and decided to pursue her own dreams instead of following in her family’s footsteps.
“Oh, Haley! There you are, dear!” her mother said cheerfully. Was she trying to smile? No, it was just Botox. Her whole face looked completely frozen in a pained grimace.
“Hello, Mother,” Haley said, giving her mother a barely-there kiss on the cheek as her mother did the same.
“Have a seat, dear!” Her mother gestured to the seat next to her.
Haley’s sisters, Martha and Rose, sent her identical smirks as they picked up their glasses and fluffed back their hair in an attempt to show off whatever new trinket their husbands, more likely husbands’ secretaries, bought for them.
“It’s so nice to see you, Haley,” Rose said with a cool smile as she displayed her diamond bracelet.
“It’s nice to see you too, Rose. How are your children?” Haley asked.
Rose gave her a rather bland look as she asked, “How would I know?”
Haley opened her mouth to point out that they were, in fact, her children but decided against it.
Martha leaned in, trying to look discreet.
The fact that she raised her voice kind of wrecked the effect.
“You poor thing! I see the diet didn’t work.
” She pouted. “Did you get dumped again?” She shook her head as if it was of no consequence and pulled out a business card that she’d probably been waiting for this moment to give her.
“Here’s the name of a great plastic surgeon who does wonders with liposuction. ”
Still smiling, Haley accepted the card. Since she’d lost a few pounds in the last couple of weeks and didn’t consider herself fat, especially since her stomach was flat, she knew that her sister was just trying to point out that Haley wasn’t stick thin like the rest of them.
Flat breasts and looking skeletal was apparently in.
Since she would never look like them or wanted to, she simply left the business card on the table.
Haley had no problem with the way that she looked.
She was comfortable with her curves. In fact, she had the same curves that her grandmother had when she was younger.
The same grandmother out cold in her wheelchair and the one that everyone here, but her, feared to piss off.
They all looked down on her for her middle-class ways, forgetting that it was her hard work and sacrifices that made the family what it was today.
“You know they can reduce those things these days,” Rose said distastefully, pulling Haley away from her thoughts.
“What things?” Haley asked, distracted by one of her cousins eying their grandmother like a vulture. She had no doubt that he was counting her breaths. Hell, the little prick was mouthing the words. These people were pathetic.
“Your breasts, dear. They’re…well, they’re so lower class. They make you look like a waitress or something,” her aunt said sympathetically.
“I think you would look great with less…curves,” Rose added.
Smile. “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
“Oh, wait, dear!” her mother said, holding up her hand. “I wanted to ask you how your little hobby was going.”
Her little hobby, meaning her job. Smile. “It’s going great. Thank you for asking. We’ll be breaking for the summer in two months. I’m thinking about traveling or renting a cabin in New Hampshire for a few weeks.”
“Honestly, dear, I don’t know why you do it. If you’re so determined to work, then you should go back to school and get a real degree in law or medicine like your father. Is it because you’re trying to meet a man?” her mother asked, sounding hopeful.
Smile. “No, I’m not looking for a man. I enjoy what I do.”
Her mother’s answer was a frown. Well, it looked like she was trying to frown.
Actually, everyone at the table was frowning now.
They couldn’t understand why she wanted to work since none of them had ever worked a day in their lives.
Personally, she thought they were rather spoiled and she was wondering why she came here in the first place.
Then she remembered. She came here for Grandma.
She couldn’t leave Grandma to these vultures and it didn’t hurt that Grandma threatened to take her over her knee and spank her if she didn’t come.
“Sweetheart!” her father said, smiling hugely as he leaned over and kissed her on both cheeks. Smile. “Happy birthday, sweetheart. I’m sorry it’s a couple of weeks late,” he said sheepishly.
“Thank you, Dad,” she said, taking the birthday card.
Smile. Her birthday had been five months ago.
Yes, her entire family had forgotten, well, except Grandma, of course.
She’d called at five in the morning, waking Haley up on her birthday, demanding that Haley knock some sense into her parents.
Haley calmed her down and thanked her for the gift she’d sent the day before.
The next day, she’d visited Grandma and took her out for lunch.
Her old nannies sent her birthday cards and gifts as well.
Her friends had made her a birthday dinner and they’d gone out to celebrate.
“I can’t believe my little baby is twenty-five already!” he said.
“I know.” She couldn’t believe it either since she was twenty-seven, but hey, if he wanted to make her younger, who was she to argue?
“She’s twenty-seven, you fool!” Grandma said. “She turned twenty-seven in December. How I raised fools is beyond me,” Grandma grumbled.
Smile. “Thanks, Dad. It’s fine.”
His smile wavered, and for the first time in her life, he truly looked ashamed.
“I’m going to call you later this week,” he said firmly.
“Dad, it’s okay,” she said, letting him off the hook.
“No, it’s not,” he said before he forced the fake smile to return and turned around to respond to someone calling his name.
“Honestly, Haley. There’s no need to create such drama over nonsense,” her mother said, shaking her head in disgust. Everyone sent her mother pitying looks and eye rolls at Haley as if it was her fault for simply existing.
Smile. “Sorry, if you’ll excuse me,” Haley said, taking her card with her and shoved it in her purse. She walked over and sat down next to her grandmother.
“I don’t know why you put up with them,” Grandma said on a huff.
“It’s fine.”
“The hell it is!”
For the first time since she’d arrived, Haley felt her lips pull up into a real smile.
“Deborah, what are we having today?” Grandma demanded of Haley’s mother, her least favorite daughter-in-law.
Her mother smiled. Well, tried to smile. “We’re having salmon with broiled spinach leaves, a nonfat mock potato salad, and some nonfat sugarless flourless soy French delicacies that are simply to die for.”
Grandma’s eyes narrowed dangerously as her hand went for the cane, forcing Haley to discreetly wrestle it away from her.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Grandma snapped as Haley put the cane next to her chair and out of Grandma’s reach. Grumbling, she rubbed the back of her hand. Damn, Grandma had a firm grip.
“Behave,” Haley hissed, making Grandma smile. Out of all the children and grandchildren, Haley was the only one who treated Grandma like the devious pain in the butt that she was and not an unwanted responsibility they got stuck with.
Grandma turned her attention back to Deborah. “I want a burger, a hot dog, and some real potato salad.”
“Mother dearest, we simply don’t have that here!” Haley’s mother said as if the very idea of having such basic food items in her house was unheard of.
Grandma glared at her for a moment longer before returning her attention to Haley. “You?”
“Me, what?”
“You have those things in your house, don’t you?”
Haley nodded. In fact, her freezer and pantry were filled to the brim with staples for barbecues since she loved barbecue food. It probably had something to do with Grandma raising her.
“Good,” Grandma said firmly as she gestured to Chris, her helper. He’d just turned fifty, but he still worked hard to take care of Grandma. “Let’s go, Chris.”
Chris nodded as he obediently walked over and began pushing Grandma toward the pathway that would take them to the driveway. Without looking back, Grandma said, “Let’s go, Haley!”
Haley stood. “Go where?”
“To your house. Where else? Now come along before they try to crash our party.”
Haley hid her smile as she obediently followed her grandmother out the door. No wonder she absolutely adored this woman.