Chapter 49
“When we bought the lake house, painting every room a different color was popular, it took forever.” Calvin said, more to himself than to anyone at the table.
“One color takes time too.” Court assured him. “But then again, the walls in most of the house were painted a hideous gray, and it took two coats to cover. It took over a week.”
“You should always paint two coats no matter what you're painting over.” Marlene jumped in with her opinion.
There was silence then for a moment as the server came by and took their orders. Court took the menus and handed them to the man. It was a way to keep her hands busy. Even after being with Stephanie’s parents for a while, she was still nervous. When would she stop being nervous around them?
She knew she wouldn’t because all it would take was the right words from them to turn Stephanie away from her.
To make her leave, and then what would Court have?
Stephanie had turned into the most important thing in her life.
No longer was it her company. Nothing was more important to her than the woman beside her.
Losing her would be devastating, and Court wouldn’t recover. Wouldn’t want to.
Stephanie leaned back in her seat with a smile. “This is why I was happy you called, because I thought if you properly met Court, you’d get along with her. I know you know her, but not as the person she’s become. And not as my girlfriend.”
“We know her well enough already.” Marlene said, more to Courts left than actually to her.
Stephanie leaned towards her mom, forcing her to look at her. “No, you don’t. You assume you know her, but you don’t actually know anything about her. She didn’t go that weekend to ask for money, because she doesn’t need it.”
Marlene waved her off. “So, you say, but just because someone has a fancy car doesn’t mean she has money. I’ve known a lot of people who are in debt up to their ears and their loved ones never know it.”
“This time it does. I know for a fact that she doesn’t owe anything on that car.” Stephanie squeezed her hand back. It hadn’t been something they had actually talked about, but it probably came up when they were trying to get the loan for the house.
“Why did you invite me that weekend? I wasn’t the one who initiated contact, you were. You even went out of your way to contact Helene for my number. Why?” Court asked the question she should have asked the first time she saw him instead of thinking she needed to talk to him alone.
He rubbed his nose nervously. “I thought I was dying and wanted to see all my loved ones one last time. That included you. But the results were inaccurate, and I was okay in the end. I was lucky. It was a false positive.”
“You could have uninvited me? I almost didn’t go so many times. If you had just said you didn’t want me there, I wouldn’t have come.” Court was surprised that her voice sounded fragile. No matter what she said, Calvin’s rejection hurt her.
Even now she wished she hadn’t gone that weekend, despite finding Stephanie and that weekend being so instrumental in their getting together. It had been an emotional roller coaster she shouldn’t have gotten on. But she’d fallen deeper for Stephanie in those few short days.
“I didn’t want to disappoint you. I know I did a lot in the past, and I didn’t want to do it again.” He said sheepishly, as if he was ashamed that would be the reason.
“When did you start caring about that?” Court stopped talking because the server dropped off their orders, though everyone was too on edge to pay the food any attention.
When they were alone again, Calvin explained, “Helene insisted that my calls upset you. And when I did call, you were always too busy to talk or not interested.”
His words surprised her. “I didn’t know you even called.”
“I called you almost every month. It started weekly, but since you never wanted to talk, I backed off. I thought I was giving you the space you wanted.”
“What about when I was there? You were always at work? Couldn’t you have taken time off?”
“There was no point, Helene had made sure that you weren’t allowed close to the lake and absolutely no vacations.
She was your mom, so she made the rules.
” He twisted the napkin in his hands. “I know I should have let you move in. After you left that summer, I tried to talk to you. I called more than once, but Helene said you weren’t interested in talking to me.
Then she blocked me from even calling. I stopped. What could I do?”
“When did you try to contact her?” Marlene demanded, it seemed they hadn’t talked about those phone calls.
Sheepishly, Calvin turned to his wife. “The spring she graduated from high school. I wanted to pay for some of her college. Jay would have done that for my kids. I’d always planned on supporting Courtney in any way she needed. College or whatever she wanted.”
“You never said anything about that.” Taking his hand, Marlene sounded taken aback.
“Helene said she didn’t want my money. That she was giving her more than enough money and wouldn’t need anything from me. I left it. There was no need to push it. Our relationship wasn’t exactly great then.” He admitted, though.
“There was no money, in fact, I never lived with her again. I lived in a shelter for months. When you called, I wasn’t there, and they had no idea where I was.
It was only during my senior year of college that I found out that there was money in a college fund for me that I had access to.
A few years later, I ended up using that money to start Lady Killers.
I never told that to Mom, so please don’t.
I prefer her to think I did it all on my own. ”
“I promise I won’t. Stephanie said Helene sent you to a camp. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
This was what she’d been needing to know for so long. It seemed unreal that she could finally ask, “Yes, I wanted to know if you were in on the decision process to send me there?”
“Helene called me and said you were out of control. At the time, you had run away, and we had no idea where you were for weeks. She made it sound like it was some sort of disciplinary retreat. Until Stephanie said what kind of camp it was, I had no idea. You have to believe me, none. I would never have sent you to a place like that.” Taking her hand from the table, he held it, making her realize that he had been as faultless in the past as she was, they were just pawns to her mom.
“My being gay wasn’t an issue for you?” She had to make sure, because the woman she loved was gay and also called this man dad.
“Of course not. I don’t care one way or the other. But I do see how Helene used me to punish you and used you to punish me, and in the process, turned us against each other.”
“I can see that now, too.” Stephanie glared at her mom, who was suddenly very concerned about her salad’s lettuce placement.
“Can you ever forgive me for my part in what happened?” He begged.
“It’s all in the past now. We can only look towards the future.” Saying the words for the first time, she believed them. She wanted to stop letting the past control her. Now, with Stephanie and their lives in front of them. A life she was looking forward to.
“Will you two be a part of our future?” Stephanie asked, her voice strong even as she knew this might be the last time she saw her parents.
“We’d like to. It would give me a chance to do right by Jay.”
“Jay died when I was three, so I don’t know what it’s like to have a father. I don’t need anyone in that role in my life.” Court jumped in with.
“You don’t want me in your life? In Stephanie’s life?” Calvin said, sounding defeated.
Court took his hand. “We want you in our lives, but from today on I’m just Stephanie’s girlfriend.”
“I can live with that.” Marlene said far more quickly than Calvin’s nod of agreement.
“Can you be happy for us, because we are happy together? She's the one, the amazing, wonderful one. I'm so glad I found her,” Stephanie told them, and Court loved her even more for saying the words to her parents.
“I’m glad I found you too, Stephanie. My life is completely different, in a good way, from what it was. And I owe that all to you.”