Chapter3
Tessa sat straight up in bed as soon as she opened her eyes. She was not a morning person and had never been one before, but she couldn’t help but beam as soon as she woke up. The night before had been the best date she’d ever had. She laughed and played around the restaurant with him in a childlike bliss that she hadn’t felt in years. Most dates that she went on, she felt uncomfortable the whole time and anxious for them to end. Tessa was a homebody who would always take a night home in her pajamas over a night dancing in a restaurant with a stranger.
This time was different, however. She and Oscar had only been together on two separate occasions, but she still felt like she had known him for years. He wasn’t judgmental when Tessa was talking, even when she let something silly slip or said something totally embarrassing, Oscar would just laugh with her and pull her in closer.
Every time she would say something while they were dancing, Oscar would lean in incredibly close to make sure he got a good listen on what she was saying. She could talk for hours and never feel dumb or weird about what she said the night before. She suddenly realized, that she had been the one doing most of the talking on their date, or at least the second half.
Her mother and sister wouldn’t be too excited to hear that he didn’t disclose his full name to her just yet. She searched him all over social media, but of course, using the information she had, it wasn’t the easiest. So far, she had known that his name was Oscar, he loved art and food, and he was living in Greece while his company opened a new store.
What kind of store was he opening? Was he ashamed or embarrassed of what it was? Maybe he was a drug dealer and the store was just to launder money. Perhaps he’s lying about the entire thing and her mother and sister are right in their paranoia. No matter what the truth was, Tessa was desperate to know more about the man that was making her so happy. She couldn’t completely fault him for being a little closed off.
Though they had spent the night together the first time they met, Tessa decided to take things a little slower on their second date and only gave Oscar a passionate kiss after the date ended. Of course, there was nothing more she wanted to do than take him upstairs and relive the night they shared so many weeks ago. She really liked Oscar, however, and feared what might happen if she were to get too attached, only for him to leave her after a few dates. Both were from New York and both were staying in Greece temporarily. How much more made-for-each-other could the two possibly be?
Tessa hoped that not letting him upstairs would make things easier for her to show him that she was a little more serious about him than other guys. In the past, she’d too often dived into relationships only to get let down later. When she met someone she liked, she quickly latched on and didn’t want to let go. Of course, she had fears of abandonment since her father left her and her sister at such a young age. She tried to not let her issues with her father get in the way of her relationships, but that wasn’t always the easiest thing to control. In the past, her need to feel needed would get in the way of a developing relationship, and she would end up pushing the other person away.
She tried to develop a sense of independence, and no doubt she was brave in her own life. When it came to dating, however, Tessa tended to be a little bit more dependent. She spent so much of her time feeling alone that once she met someone she felt comfortable with, she never wanted to let them go.
She knew that this was her weakness when it came to relationships, but when it came to Oscar, she was having trouble not completely diving deep. That’s why it was hard for her to fault him for being secretive. Maybe he was just protecting himself like she was. Still, she couldn’t help but fester over who he could possibly be.
What scared her the most about it all was that she thought she might be falling in love with him. Two dates later and she was already imagining their life together! Who was this girl that replaced the cold Tessa most had known? She wasn’t the wedding bells type, but she already couldn’t picture her life if she didn’t get to see Oscar ever again.
Tessa had to stop herself and think about reality. She barely knew this man and was in a foreign country. Surely, she was just in love with the idea of them falling in love, right? When she thought things like this, his smile flashed in her head and she knew that it was more than just that. The way he investigated her so deep and hard, she knew that this was more than just a fling. At least she had hoped that was the case.
She had never been in love before. She dated a boy in high school that she thought she had fallen for, but the older she got, the more she realized that was her first unhealthy instance of codependency. She didn’t think of his smile and his eyes in her head like the way she did with Oscar’s. She didn’t normally go for guys so handsome, or maybe guys that good looking didn’t go for Tessa. It was nice to have someone that could be on the cover of a magazine as her date.
Although she could lay in bed and think about Oscar all day, Tessa decided that wasn’t the best way for her to spend her day. She pulled herself together and made her way to the kitchen, craving a hot cup of coffee to sip on her favorite balcony. She only worked part-time at the gallery and loved her days spent alone in the apartment while Maria worked every day.
She would usually put on some music, sing, and dance, or sometimes even paint to waste the day away. Today, she knew she needed to spend some time cleaning since her mom and sister would be visiting that weekend. They had never been to Greece, let alone Europe, before, and Tessa was ecstatic to show them everything about the city that she so adored.
Just as she poured herself a steaming cup of coffee, Tessa heard the buzzer for her apartment go off. Who could be there? She hadn’t invited anyone over and Maria had her own keys. She grabbed a bathrobe and ran to the front entrance.
Sitting outside the door was a large box with her name on the top. She looked around but didn’t see any delivery drivers or mailmen. She grabbed the package and headed back upstairs.
Once she opened the box, she was shocked at what she saw. Inside was one of the most gorgeous necklaces she had ever seen, along with an envelope. Inside was an invitation to another gallery charity event that weekend to attend as Oscar’s guest.
The invitation was well-crafted and formal, but Oscar still hadn’t managed to write his last name for Tessa! She was still filled with bliss at the idea of going out with him once again.
Charity events weren’t the most exciting thing for her, but she knew they were necessary. Many galleries only stay open with the help of donations brought in by events such as this, but they still made Tessa uncomfortable. They were usually just filled with wealthy people patting themselves on the back for being so generous.
They still only made donations less than the change that was in their pocket. Tessa hated to see people get congratulations for doing things that they were supposed to do. She also grew frustrated with these people for pretending to be so interested in art when most of them could barely pronounce the names of the artists.
She didn’t want to seem ungrateful, however, so of course she was going to be attending the event with Oscar. She knew that her and Oscar would have a good time together at the event since he had admitted to her on their date night that he wasn’t too into the affluent scene in Greece either. Hopefully, they could spend the night making fun of the other guests together.
She looked at the necklace that had been placed in the box as well. She tried to make it clear to Oscar that she wasn’t interested in overly glamorous things, and judging by the necklace, he got the picture. It was a delicate gold chain with a single diamond in the center. The necklace was small and would probably fit Tessa like a choker.
Although it was still probably an incredibly expensive piece of jewelry, it was perfect for Tessa. It wasn’t overly flashy, and it was just the right amount of sparkle to add to any of her outfits. She had certainly hoped at this point that Oscar wasn’t a drug dealer or else he might have bought her the necklace with blood money!
She sent a text to her mom and sister to let them know that she wouldn’t be able to hang out with them Friday night because of the charity event. Tessa wanted to call them, but it was way too late to do so in the States. They were probably heading to bed or had been asleep for a couple of hours. She knew it was wrong to leave her mom and sister without plans on a Friday night in a country they’d never been to before, but how could she turn down an invitation that was sent with a diamond necklace? She also sent a text to Oscar to let him know that she got the package and that she was extremely excited about their date.
Despite it being late, they actually responded to her text. They were always excited to hear from her so far away. Her mom was happy for her, but her sister gave her a bit of an attitude about ditching them on Friday night. Tessa didn’t care. She missed her mom and sister like crazy, but she knew she could spare a night to spend with her handsome man.
Her mom asked her for a picture of the man that’s stealing her daughter away, and luckily Tessa had one. She had snapped a few pictures of Oscar dancing from the night before. She sent the picture only to realize she accidentally sent it to Oscar! How was she going to explain sending him a picture of himself?
Luckily, he just responded with a few “haha’s” and Tessa explained she just wanted to share some pictures of the night with him. Nice save.
Tessa put down her phone and grabbed the necklace. She looked at the sink full of dirty dishes and overflowing trash. She knew she needed to clean up before her family got there, but with such a beautiful necklace, Tessa would have to find an equally gorgeous dress to match. She couldn’t show up wearing another clearance rack mini dress. She needed to make herself and Oscar look like the best-dressed people at the charity event.
She had been saving up to buy a piece in the gallery that she adored, but she decided her money was better spent on a new ensemble. She really didn’t like shopping all that much, as she’s always felt uncomfortable with her body, but Oscar had made her feel like the most beautiful girl in the world the moments that they had spent together, so she knew she wouldn’t have any trouble finding the perfect dress. She could clean when she got back, right? She threw together an outfit, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door.
*****
JoAnn picked up her phone and walked towards her daughter, Jade. She had just finished her breakfast and walked over to her daughter at the dining room table, sitting next to her.
“Did you see the picture Tessa sent of Oscar?” JoAnn asked.
“Yeah Mom, I responded to the group chat,” she responded. Jade had been living with her mom since going through a separation with her husband.
Jade had met her husband in high school and quickly fell in love. She ended up getting pregnant right after she graduated high school and decided to keep the baby. Soon after, they married. It happened so quickly, and she didn’t have much time to grow up, but her mother was still satisfied to see her with someone that made her happy. At least in the beginning.
Although she could be a little pushy when it came to her daughter’s relationships, she just wanted to see them both with someone who treated them right.
JoAnn met her husband in college and they had the picture-perfect relationship. They both studied for careers in the medical field, and their ambitions were similar. They had backgrounds just like one another as well, and many people said their personalities were so similar that they were surprised the two weren’t blood-related.
Despite all of this, they still couldn’t make it through. They got married a few years after graduating college, had Jade and then Tessa, and together, they made a family that most would only dream about. They did everything right, just as you’re expected to. No one could look to their life and use them as an example for what not to do. Unfortunately, this was only going to last for a moment.
There never seemed to be any problems between the two. They never fought or bickered, and they hardly disagreed about anything. They were a loving couple, though not everyone would describe their love as passionate. That might be one of the reasons why their father ended up leaving.
When Tessa was only six and Jade eight, they woke up one day to find their mother sitting quietly in the living room. She was drinking her coffee like any other morning and watched the sky after the sun had raised. Only this time, when they asked her what’s for breakfast, she didn’t respond. About thirty minutes later after the two had both taken a shower and gotten ready for school, JoAnn finally moved.
She walked into the bedroom and fell onto the bed. The girls followed her in and realized what had happened. She was holding a note that only said “I have to leave. I’m sorry.” They never saw their father again. They looked around the bedroom. He had taken a few clothes and other small items, but nothing significant.
The family photographs were still on the walls and every picture remained in the album that it had originally been placed in. He didn’t care that he had left his wife with her two young children. Tessa would never forget that day. It was the last day that she had seen her mother broken like that.
JoAnn picked herself up quickly and acted as if nothing had happened. Occasionally, she would seem a little extra stressed or flustered, but they never talked about what had happened. She was lucky enough to have a steady job as a nurse in a doctor’s office, so money was never the problem. The issue for the girls was their mother’s inability to process and grieve the loss of her husband.
The girls were in a time in their life when they needed to start to learn how to handle stressful situations and grieve so that they could process the harder moments later in life. Instead of talking about why he might have left, they just pretended like he had never existed at all.
Tessa wondered if part of this was her own fault. Neither she nor Jade ever asked about him when they were children. Though they were young when he left, they were old enough to know that something serious happened. They were certainly like their mother in the fact that none of them handled confrontation very well. It was easier to just process things internally rather than discuss them together.
Tessa could have used someone to talk to. She struggled with his leaving and played that day in her head over and over again. She couldn’t remember what she had for breakfast the day before, but Tessa would never forget every detail about that morning. She was used to waking up to the scent of breakfast cooking or coffee brewing. Her father would usually be sitting at the table, reading the morning paper. Their mom would be packing everyone’s lunches and rushing them all to eat so they could leave. That morning, the air was cold and felt like a sting when she crawled out of bed.
When she walked down the stairs, she could tell just by the way that her mom was sitting that something bad happened. Jade was always a funny girl, constantly making jokes and teasing Tessa. After that day, Jade got a lot more serious. It would be a while until her and Tessa were able to joke and tease each other again. There weren’t any smells in the house that morning. It was just stiff and dry, cold and bitter, all over that house.
Once Jade and Tessa became teenagers, they started to finally talk about their father together. For their lives leading up to their teen years, the fact that their father had left was just common knowledge. They didn’t think it was strange at all. When their friends would start to ask where their dad was or why he left, they started to realize just how messed up it all was.
What kind of person leaves three beautiful girls alone like that? Their mother hadn’t taken any action against him. Of course, he deserved to pay at least some child support, but being the independent woman she was, JoAnn didn’t want to ask for anything from him.
Once the two had graduated high school, they started to discover more and more that their mother had kept from them about their father. They had assumed he fled to a different country and started a new life. It turns out, he only lived an hour away in a small New Jersey town.
He had a new wife and two sons. JoAnn ended up having a private and easy divorce from him when the girls were teens. He had his lawyer contact her since he wanted to get remarried. Until then, they were still married. JoAnn had kept all of this from her children, but with the rise of social media, it became more difficult to avoid the truth.
Jade was the first one to look him up on Facebook. She had seen a picture of him and his new family and it completely broke her. She sent him a long and heated message and his response was to block her and Tessa completely. He did it before Tessa had the chance to see her father. Since then, Jade would sometimes make dark jokes about him, but Tessa and JoAnn would just ignore it, knowing she was only trying to cope with the pain she felt when he left.
Jade was always a pretty hot-headed girl. That’s what tends to happen when you grow up in a family full of non-confrontational people. She was pretty harsh in her judgments every once in a while, especially towards her mother and her little sister. Tessa tried to not take what she said to her too personally. If she was that mean to other people, imagine how hard she was on herself. Jade was definitely the more responsible of the two, Tessa being the empathetic one.
Despite her attempts to keep up appearances, she wound up getting pregnant accidentally once she graduated high school. She met her husband, Dominic, when they were just high school freshman. They were best friends for a while, eventually went to prom together, and dated ever since.
The night they graduated, they went to a party together, got a little too drunk, and had unprotected sex. Though Jade had big plans to travel like her younger sister, she decided she wanted to keep the baby. Starting a family was just as important to her. She longed to have the family that she did before her father left.
Once she married her husband, she realized the family she had years ago was the opposite of what she wanted. JoAnn, her husband, Tessa and Jade seemed perfect on the outside, but in reality, they were barely a family. They never talked about their issues, always internalizing their feelings. It was great because they never had any fights or screaming matches. It was awful, however, because they always felt a deep pain inside, unable to understand their emotions or what they meant between each other. Though they seemed normal and under control, they lacked the excitement and passion that came along with being an open family.
Tessa often had nightmares in which she would just scream. Her mother and her sister would be sitting straight up on a couch in front of her. She would just yell at them, screaming right in both of their faces, neither of them moving.
She would yell and yell until she didn’t have anything left to say. She would wake up, sweating all over her bed, tears streaming down her face. Every so often, she would wake up on the couch, or on her mother’s floor. She never made a peep during her dreams, but in the nightmares, she was always screaming.
In order to make sure that she didn’t end up like her mom and dad, Jade made sure to do as much communicating as possible with Dominic. Since she hadn’t really ever been taught how to properly handle her emotions, she didn’t quite know how to have a healthy and productive argument either.
She would often take things too far, pick things that should have been ignored, and dwelled on small fights for weeks at a time. Dominic wasn’t like this. He wasn’t confrontational but was at least willing to discuss things with Jade. He was a calm and understanding person, but sometimes, he didn’t respond to Jade the way she wanted him to. She wanted someone who would yell back and fight, and Dominic wasn’t there for that.
She equated strong emotions with yelling, screaming, and throwing things. The only time she saw others fight was in movies, and the drama was always heightened for this. Dominic couldn’t handle the strong emotions she would sometimes bring along. She would cut deep during arguments, and Dominic wouldn’t do the same and instead, always ended up getting hurt.
Eventually the two decided to split up after several years of marriage. They hadn’t gotten divorced yet, but so far, Jade didn’t mind her life as a single mom. Dom was there half the time to help take care of their son, Maverick. The two shared the young love and passion that people only write about in romance books, however, they seemed to burn out quick.
They were the only person each other had ever been with, and although it seemed like enough when they were together, Jade couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to be with someone else. She always pictured herself getting married later, or maybe never settling down at all. She never expected herself to be under 20 married with a child.
She certainly missed out on her party years, causing some resentment towards Tessa’s exciting lifestyle. Now she was in her mid-20’s with a school-aged child and a pending divorce. Regardless, she was happy that her sister was able to experience a life she’d probably never know.
“I feel like I recognize him from somewhere.” JoAnn knew that she had seen Oscar’s face before, but she had no idea where.
“Yeah he does look kind of familiar. He looks like a Calvin Klein model, so maybe you’ve seen him in an underwear ad,” said Jade.
“No, that’s not it. I just saw that face recently. Hold on a second.” JoAnn suddenly realized she might know where she’s seen Oscar’s face before. She walked over to her laptop that was sitting on the kitchen counter. She opened up a webpage to a celebrity gossip site that she was guilty to admit she frequented. There he was, Oscar’s crystal blue eyes on the front page of the website.
“What. The. Hell.” Jade was completely shocked. The headline stated, “Billionaire Oscar Legros Divorce from Victoria’s Secret Model Lydia Amos Only Gets Messier.”
“What do we do? How does Tessa not know this?” JoAnn was shocked.
“Do you think she does? Is she just scared to tell us?” Jade couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“I don’t understand. There’s no way Tessa would fail to tell us that she was dating a billionaire.” JoAnn was good with her money so her and her girls never really struggled. They were far from being billionaires, however.
“And the fact that he’s still married to a model. When is he planning on telling her this?” Jade was still in awe. Maybe he wasn’t ever planning on telling her. They scrolled further and read more to the story. There were rumors on both sides of infidelity, and a “close source” claimed that Oscar liked to party too hard. The article was certainly painting him as the villain, and a man that JoAnn would never want her daughter to date, no matter how many millions of dollars he had stashed away.
JoAnn struggled with this information. She knew that Tessa had the right to know who she was going out on dates with, but was it her place to tell her? She was scared what might happen if Tessa continued to fall deeper and deeper for Oscar without knowing who he truly was. She decided if she was going to reveal any of this information to Tessa, it was definitely something that needed to be done face to face. She took screenshots of the article, stashed away her laptop, and started to pack for Greece.