Chapter 24
Candy
“Hey mom, I didn't know that you were going to be here.”
“Well I would've called and told you, but you haven't been calling me back lately. Have you been that busy?”
I told her that I had been busy with work probably, but she didn't want to hear about my job. She never did. She didn't understand why I went to college and got a degree, because mom could never understand why I’d gotten a job to begin with. She always used to tell me with a face like the one I had, I would never have to work. I wanted to work though, so she didn't quite get that.
“You know that you can't spend your whole life working Candy. You are getting older now and you have to make some decisions if you want to have a family.”
I was just getting home from work and I had a feeling that she had timed it just right. I don't know where she got the information, but there really was no telling with her. Cynthia had a way of getting what she wanted, no matter the cost and I was trying to figure out what her angle was.
She walked in after me and made a comment about the fact that I was living here by myself. I didn’t want to get into it, but like always, I didn’t have much of a choice. She had always been the type of mom that would butt into my life and there was nothing that I could really do about it.
“I just don’t like you staying here. If you’re not going to go back home with Jax, then you should come stay with me and your father. You know that you always have a place to stay with us.”
I thanked her, but there was no way. I just had to find the way to say hell no politely. I wasn’t sure how yet, but I knew that it would come to me.
“Are you listening to me?”
“I just got off work mom. Just give me a minute. I don’t want to argue with you, but I’ve had a very long day and I really don’t want to talk about Jax.”
“What about talking about your current husband?”
“Colt? What about him?”
“Well how about the fact that he is richer than a frickin Titan?”
“How do you know about that?”
My mom looked at me a little surprised and asked me how I knew.
“I thought you said you didn't know much about him?”
“Well, I mean, I really don't. I just know that he's a lawyer and he's pretty high up there.”
“The man is in the top ten entrepreneurs in the city. He doesn't work for the company, he and his father made it what it is. I think you were swindled into thinking he had less than he did. He is a multi-millionaire on his own, not including his family money.”
I'm not going to say that I wasn't shocked, but at the same time, I really didn't care. My mom's eyes are huge, and I could see that she was already counting the money in her head, but it wasn't something that I was too worried about. The last thing that I was worried about was somebody else's money.
“I don't see what that has to do with anything.”
“Well, you know that I was going to take the divorce papers over to the lawyer, right?”
“Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. Have the papers been filed yet? I haven’t heard anything from Charlie.”
“That is what I came over here to talk to you about.”
I was getting a bad feeling again and this time I knew it was because of my mom. She had done something, I just knew it. Most of the time, she was pretty predictable, but sometimes she would surprise me still. I had a feeling that this was going to be bad.
“What is there to talk about? You were just supposed to drop it off at the lawyers and that was it. I thought that he was going to file it so that it would be over with by now. What’s taking so long?”
“Well when you didn't marry Jax, and you moved out, I didn't think that you were in that big of a rush. So, I had the lawyers look into him and find out what kind of person he was. You know, so that you could have the best legal representation.”
It didn't sound like she was worried about his personality at all. It sounded like she was far more worried about what was in his bank account.
“What kind of person he is? It doesn't really matter, that's the whole point of getting divorced. I'm cutting ties with him anyways, so I don't understand why any of this matter. You shouldn’t have done that.”
“It matters because you are walking away with nothing. That man is richer than a lot of people that I know, and you have a right to half of it. There is no prenup, and lawyers have assured me that you should fight for what is yours.”
I just sort of shook my head and told her that she was crazy.
“I don't deserve anything. We were married for several years, but I've only seen him twice in all of that time. I didn't even know I was married a week ago before all that, so why in the world would I try to take his money?”
“You just don't think child. You are getting older and if you're not going to marry Jax, what are you going to do? You seem to think that money just grows on trees.”
“No, you seem to think that I have to have a man to survive. I am not you in that way and I never have been. I am going to do just fine, whether I find a man to spend it with me or not. You are the one that needs to come to this in your own head, not me.”
It wasn't the first time that I said something like that to her, but it had been a while. Once I started dating Jax, I didn't want him to see how dysfunctional we were, so I tried to get along with her as best as I could. That meant a lot of tongue biting and I was getting sick of it. The last thing that I wanted to do was keep it up. That's why I had moved into my own place, so I wouldn’t have to have these conversations and arguments anymore. And if I did, it would be when I went to my mom’s house prepared for it, not when I came home trying to get on with my life.
“I can't believe you're talking to me like this. I am your mother.”
“I know, but you went way out of bounds. You said that you were just going to drop the paperwork off, now you are talking about something else altogether different. This is not what I want in any way shape or form and I will not allow it to happen. I just want a divorce, and he can keep everything. That is the way it's going to be.”
My mom acted like she understood, but I wasn't sure if she did. She didn't look like she was innocent, she never did, and I had to wonder why she was going with it so easily. It looked like she was bubbling over inside and wanted to say something. I just wasn't sure what it was.
“So, promise me that you're going to let this alone.”
She was begrudging about it, but she finally promise that she would. I wasn't sure if I believe her or not, but I was hoping that she had finally gotten the point.
She stayed around a little while longer, having a glass of wine and asking me about Jax. I swear that she just didn't get things. She went from one man that I didn’t want to talk about, to another man that I didn't want to talk about it. It was all just too confusing, and mom couldn't seem to see that I just needed some time alone.
When she left I was finally able to breathe again, and I felt like I had just survived world war one. That's how she was.
Checking my messages, I made sure that there weren't any emails I had to read and respond to you right away before I went to bed. The art gallery was getting busier by the day and even though my family didn't seem to care much about my job, I loved it. I just had to figure out a way not to let them ruin it.
She had asked lot of questions about Jax that I really didn't have the answer for. We had broken up about a month ago. But he was still around, trying to get me to talk to him. I was just to the point I didn't know what to say anymore and like my mom, I was avoiding him as much as possible. I just felt like I had let everybody down, and he didn't even know the worst part. I had kept my infidelities from him so that it wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t know if that was for me, or for him.
I went to bed that night and like every other night, it was awful. I thought about Colt too much and I how I felt about him was the reason that I had pulled back from Jax.
If I had really love Jax then I never would have fallen for my husband. It was strange to think that he was still my husband and I was starting to wonder if there was some reason for that. Maybe there was some cosmic reasons that I didn't understand yet.
When I woke up the next morning, I picked up my phone and I wanted to call him. I hadn't talked to Colt since I left Vegas, but I ended up getting a call from work about a delivery that was already at the place and the thought was pushed from my head until the next night.
I kept procrastinating calling him because I didn't know how to handle it. If it was all cosmic and it was all meant to be, then maybe I should just let it play out. Either that, or I was a big chicken.