Chapter 21 Nora #2
I stood off to the side, seeing this was a tense moment between them.
“Come on, Cole, let’s have some hot cocoa.”
Colson swallowed, his eyes watering. “Where is it?”
His voice cracked and my chest mirrored the sentiment.
Oliver acted like he didn’t know what his son was talking about, but even I had noticed that there was no garden out here and that patch of weird concrete seemed like the perfect place to put one.
“Where’s what?”
Colson inhaled sharply. “Where is my mother’s garden?”
I flicked my gaze over to Brock, Trevor, and Nate. They all had their heads down, but didn’t say anything.
Sherrie was the one who stood, her heels clicking along the stone as she faced Colson head-on.
“I paved over it. I sit out there now getting a tan. That spot is the perfect place to catch the sun.”
No.
She couldn’t…that was too heartbreaking, even for a twat like her.
“You let her do this?” Colson asked his father, his eyes watering.
He looked like he was waiting for his father to make this right…to fix it...as though he was a young boy looking to his dad for protection.
“Son, your mother has been gone for a long time. There wasn’t a reason to keep it.”
“Not a reason?” He scoffed and right then Haley came out, looking worried with her green eyes wide, her lips thinned.
Colson noticed her and pointed his drink at her.
“How about her? Is she reason enough? Or her?” He pointed at Sherrie. “Was the fact that you caused my mother to kill herself not enough for you?” he screamed, throwing the glass in his hand against the wall.
Tears coated my lashes, mirroring Haley’s as silence swallowed the patio.
Sherrie had her elbow tucked across her chest, her expression annoyed…even bored.
“Colson, that’s enough,” Oliver warned.
“No, it wasn’t enough then when you were fucking your secretary in our home throughout every one of our mother’s episodes.
It wasn’t enough that you had cheated on her with that whore or then, on the brink of her getting better, you pushed her over the edge by telling her you were not only marrying the very woman you cheated on her with but that you also had a child with her!
” Colson screamed, his neck bulging in rage. “None of that was enough for you?”
Sherrie spoke up, her face turning red. “She was never on the verge of getting better, Colson. You’re delusional if you think that.”
“Don’t”—he rasped in a deadly tone—“you don’t get to talk about her.”
Brock stepped in, arguing, “Cole, come on, man…chill. She was our mom too, but you’re freaking out over nothing.”
Trevor and Nate hung their heads.
“You don’t remember her garden and how that was the only thing that made her happy?” Colson asked, tears blurring his eyes.
“Son, nothing made her happy…she was depressed. In and out of mental hospitals for most of their lives…and yours. You were the only one who wrote to her, but you have to understand that the letters she wrote back to you”—Oliver shook his head—“she wasn’t in her right mind.
The image she presented to you was different from what the doctors told me.
Sherrie helped keep us together, and while I did slip up when Haley was born, I did everything I could to shield your mother from that. ”
Fuck, becoming an adult sucked because it put things that framed your entire childhood into a different perspective. Sometimes that perspective was more painful than the original image.
Colson had finally had enough; he raked his hand through his hair and walked past everyone. Haley went after him.
I was on her heels, while everyone else stayed out on the patio.
Sherrie had to know what would happen when Colson saw that garden paved over. On principle, she was a bitch for doing that without warning him.
“I need to talk to you, Cole!” Haley yelled, trailing after him as he stalked off. “Colson, pleasssseee.”
He finally spun on his heel and yelled at her.
“I know, Haley! I got all your fucking emails. Did you not get the hint? I didn’t respond to a single one. I never do. I don’t call on your birthday. I don’t answer when you call on mine. I don’t care about anything at all in your life. Why do you keep trying with me?”
Haley had tears streaming down her face as she pulled her arms in close to her chest.
“I’m your sister, Cole. Whether you want to admit that or not.” She said feebly with her lip trembling.
He lowered his face until he was her height.
“You’re a reminder of the worst day of my life. My mother literally killed herself the day she found out you existed.”
“Colson!” I ran up, grabbing Haley’s shoulders.
She was shaking, sobbing as Colson seemed to finally realize I was there witnessing all this.
He blinked and faltered back a step, then briskly walked away.
Haley wiped at her face, pulling out of my arms.
“It’s okay…can you just go check on him, please?” She hiccuped.
Her green eyes were red and irritated as I tried to gauge if she was okay.
“Are you sure?”
She laughed. “I’ve been dealing with this my entire life. I know he’s in pain because he just found out they did this. Go see if he’s okay.”
Giving her a nod, I did as she suggested and left her standing there as I went after Colson.