Chapter 25 Remington #2
I give her my best smile and hold out the small bouquet of daisies. Ann’s eyes go wide, and she takes a visible step back, a hand going to her chest. “Wh-what’s this?” she asks me, genuine surprise and a flicker of real emotion taking over her face.
Maybe we are getting somewhere after all.
“I can’t show up to dinner empty-handed, my mother would never forgive me,” I tell her. “And I know how much Lainey loves it when I bring her flowers, so I thought that you might enjoy these.” I hold them out to her, kindly.
Ann looks at them for so long I am not sure she is going to take them.
“Mom?” Lainey prompts.
“Yes, well that was very nice of you. Very unnecessary, and a waste of your much needed money, but thank you. They will look fine in the kitchen.” She rushes to the cupboard, looking for a suitable vase.
Lainey looks at me with pain in her gorgeous blue eyes.
I know this is not going the way she wants it to.
I know she is worried her mom’s behavior is going to change my opinion of her, but it doesn’t.
It just makes me feel even more deeply for her, seeing what she has overcome.
Seeing how she decided to be a different person than the examples she was given.
Sitting down to our meal doesn’t improve the mood.
Ann keeps giving me uneasy glances from her seat at the head of the table.
The conversation is awkward, stilted. She glares at my tattoos as if they are going to jump from my skin to hers, permanently marring her.
It feels especially irritating to me knowing she is judging not only my ink but my own artwork—not that she knows that, not that it would matter.
“I cannot understand why you would do that to your hair, Lainey. It was so long and pretty.” Ann slices into her food and her daughter at the same time. Lainey is sad, uncomfortable, and the confidence she radiates daily is completely absent in the presence of this woman.
“I think that she looks stunning, no matter what she chooses to do to her hair,” I insist, cutting Lainey’s mother off before she can keep jabbing at her.
“So, Remerton,” Ann says directing her attention where I want it, and I try to not roll my eyes. “What do you do for work?”
“Well, Ann, my name is actually Rem-ing-ton,” I correct her. I live in the South. I am not the first or last man with the name Remington. And I specifically told her to call me Rem, like everyone else. She is just being rude on purpose at this point.
“Of course.” She smirks at me. “My mistake.” She scoops a bite of overly salted veggie mix into her mouth.
“No problem, I usually have to meet people a few times before I get their names to stick, too.” I look across the table to Lainey, her cheeks pink with second-hand embarrassment, and wink at her. “I am a firefighter for the Fox Grove fire department,” I say answering her mom’s original question.
“Hmmm.” Ann looks to Lainey and then back to me. “Is that all?” she asks.
Lainey drops her fork with a clatter, gasps, and harshly whispers, “Mother!”
“What, Lainey? A lot of men kind of dabble in it, do that as a volunteer thing, not a career. I can’t imagine it provides a suitable livelihood.” She glances over at me and back at her daughter, as if she is going to exclude me from this conversation.
“Actually, I have been a full-time firefighter in Fox Grove since I graduated college with my degree in fire science.” Ann sucks in a tiny breath and reaches for her wine, wine we did not bring.
“Yeah, it probably shocks you that I actually went to college and got a degree, but I did. I also am a fully certified EMT as well. I love my job, and my livelihood, as you say, suits me just fine, Ann.” I level her with a hard stare, all of my warmth and friendly effort is obviously wasted on her, and I am done playing nice.
Ignoring me completely, she turns to Lainey. “Darling, do you really think this is a good idea?”
“What is a good idea, Mom?” Lainey asks, a cold steel hardening her eyes.
“Being with, with a man that has a job like that?” she hisses. “It is dangerous, first of all. And it makes him untrustworthy, unreliable!” Her voice grows with each point she’s trying to make.
“Remington is exactly the kind of man I should be with. He makes me happy, Mother! There is nobody that is as thoughtful or compassionate. He is the best man I know.” Lainey looks at me, eyes shining with tears.
Scoffing, her mother tosses her cloth napkin on the table next to her bland chicken.
“That means nothing. This is new, he’s manipulating you, showing you what he wants you to see and then the rug will be yanked out, Lainey.
Plus, everyone knows that the men in emergency services or the military are all cheaters. ”
“The fuck!” I exclaim, not able to hold it in.
Lainey abruptly stands up, points a shaky finger at her mom and says, “How dare you? How dare you,” repeating herself with more confidence.
“You don’t know the first thing about Remington.
He is a hero. A man that sacrifices himself for others every single day, and I could not be more proud to be with him.
” Her words make my chest ache, and my heart pounds.
“He is a man that I happen to be crazy about, and I was excited to introduce you to him. All you have done from the second we got here was judge him, and I am done, Mom. Done!”
She rounds the table to where I’m seated. I stand up and take her shaking hand.
“Lainey, we need to discuss this. I’m sorry, but a firefighter? That is not the life I want for my daughter. He is not good enough for you.” Ann’s glare is aimed at both of us now.
“I am a grown woman, and you don’t get a vote. There’s nobody better for me than this man right here, and if you can’t accept that then you don’t accept me. I will not let you treat me like shit an—” Lainey is cut off with Ann’s anger.
“I have never mistreated you a day in your life, Lainey! I’m your mother. How could you say that?” She looks at Lainey like she is talking crazy, then looks to me and rolls her eyes, as if I am going to suddenly switch sides. Get fucked, lady.
“You have made me second-guess myself my whole life. You have gaslit me into thinking that I am not enough as a person, as a daughter, as a partner in my other relationships. You are a terrible example of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ If I was in a miserable relationship, like what you had with Dad, but the person had a fancy title or big bank account you’d rather me be with them?
You’re finally free from Dad, and you still let him control you.
I thought it was all him, but clearly you’ve had a big impact in the hurt that was caused.
I refuse to let you damage any more pieces of my life .
. .” Lainey looks up at me, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.
I nod at her, squeezing her hand hoping to give her a little more strength to finish what she needs to say.
“I especially won’t sit here and let you insult and disparage the person in my life that means the most to me.
If you cannot love and support me like a mother, a loving and kind mother, then I don’t have room for you in my life right now. ”
We leave her mom gaping after us at the dining table, looking like Lainey’s words kicked her right in the gut. I hope they made a deep impact because I know that finally saying them out loud like that sure as hell will have left Lainey with wounds that won’t heal easily.