Page 77 of Friends That Heal Us
“How could you do this to Rya?”
My face stays still and I don’t react at all. I’m not even surprised to hear this.
She glares at me, her jaw tightening as her nostrils flare. The silence between us only fuels her anger. Her eyes narrow at me as I stand here frozen. Regardless of what I say, she will not like it.
“You have nothing to say?” Her arms cross over her chest and her weight shifts to one hip in frustration.
“And what exactly do you think I did to her?” I question calmly, knowing she doesn’t affect me one bit. It used to bother me when she treated Rya like this. I hated how much control she had over her, and Rya would take it. Every time I would bring it up to her, she would flip back onto me. It was a never-ending cycle I knew I couldn’t fix.
She huffs in anger.
Like I said, it doesn’t matter what I say; she’ll be mad either way.
“Well, for one, you left her homeless, carless, and with no money. How could you do that to your wife?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “She did it to herself.”
“Oh, don’t turn this on her.” Her voice cracks as she points at me. “You’re the man of the house. You should have been providing for her. And now she’s left with nothing.”
“She’s left with nothing because she put herself in that situation.”
Her face twists in fury. “Of course you would say that because nothing is ever your fault. Maybe if you didn’t put Rya on such a low allowance, she wouldn’t have had to pull out credit cards in my name!” She screams ‘my name,’ and it echoes throughout the store.
Does this grown woman ever get embarrassed by her actions?
I snort a laugh. “Oh, I guess you finally found out about those.”
“How dare you laugh! This isn’t funny. Is this a joke to you?”
“Is that all she told you?” I ask, tilting my head in question.
“No, there’s more. She tells me everything.”
“Oh, yeah.” I lock my eyes with hers. “Did she tell you she fucked Zayn and had an affair?”
Her eyes widen, and her mouth parts open in shock.
“Yeah. I didn’t think so.”
“Well, if you had provided for her like a man should have, she wouldn’t have had to go seek a man elsewhere.” She stumbles over her own words knowing her daughter is in the wrong. But it’s her daughter, so she can never be in the wrong.
I scoff. “Really? That’s your excuse for your daughter’s behavior?”
“It’s not an excuse.”
“She slept with her best friend’s husband. She slept with her husband’s best friend. Make any of what you’re saying make sense to that.”
Her mouth opens, but no words come out.
“Yeah. That’s what I thought,” I mutter. “Your daughter had everything when she was with me. She took everything for granted, and now this is where she ended up. Someone can only put up with so much disrespect for so long.”
“You’re such a disrespectful prick.”
And once they have nothing else to say, they throw names at you.
“I’m done here,” I say, walking past her.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
