Mom and Dad were married in less than a year, and six months after they graduated from college, Mom was pregnant with me. Dad’s mom, his last surviving parent, passed away a few months before I was born, leaving him the house we now live in. Dad said the decision to move to Rydeville was difficult, but finances were tight, and they had a baby on the way, so they did it even though it meant seeing Charles around.
Dad had been working for an accounting firm a couple of hours’ drive away, but once Mom passed, he was forced to resign, because he could no longer commit to the commute as a newly widowed single parent.
Jobs were thin on the ground back then, and he swallowed his pride and approached Charles Barron for work. Charles gave him a job, purely in Mom’s memory, and he spent the next twenty-two years ensuring my father was kept firmly under his thumb.
Charlie is shocked and disgusted at how his father treated mine, and I know, from talking to other colleagues at work, that it was unusual for the ex-CEO. From what Charlie has told me, his parents had an epic love, so it seems like Charles drew the longer straw, and he could’ve been more charitable. Especially when it came to my father’s stroke and subsequent paralysis when Charles’s treatment of him was particularly cruel.
But the man himself isn’t here anymore to explain why he did it or why he was still holding on to a grudge after more than twenty years.
“Demi.” Dad nudges me and I realize I’ve zoned out.
“Sorry. What were you saying?”
“Are you okay with everything I told you last week? About your mom and Charles Barron?”
“It explains a lot.” Dad nods. “And I’m glad you got the girl, Dad.”
The doorbell chimes, and Mrs. Griffin pops her head in the room a minute later. “Your young man is here, Demi. Looking rather dashing, I might add.”
“Thanks, Nora.” I kiss Dad’s papery cheek. “Love you, Dad.”
“Love you too, princess.” He smiles. “I wish your mother could be here to see what a wonderful young woman you’ve become. She’d be so proud of you.”
Tears prick my eyes. “She’d be so proud of you too.” I clasp his hand, overcome with sudden emotion. “You have showered me with love and support my entire life, made sure I always had everything I needed, and set the best example. I’m the luckiest girl in the world because I have you for my father.”
A sob from behind reminds me we’re not alone. “You two.” Mrs. Griffin sobs, patting her chest. “You get me every time.”
“Go have fun, sweetheart,” Dad says, shooing me away. “Tell Charlie hi from me.”
Charlie is waiting outside on the front path when I emerge. The beam from the porch light bathes him in a golden hue as he slowly turns around, and he literally looks like he dropped down to Earth from heaven.
How did I get so lucky to call him mine?
I suck in a breath as my gaze rakes over his gorgeous body in his sharp, fitted, black tux. His hair is neatly styled back off his face, and his jaw is freshly shaven. “Wow.” I smile broadly as I walk toward him. “You look hot.”
His eyes seem troubled as they lock on mine.
The smile instantly drops off my face. “What’s wrong? Did something happen with your mom and Lil?” Panic bubbles up my throat.
“They’re fine,” he assures me. His gaze roams over me briefly, and his tormented expression deepens. “You are absolutely breathtaking, Demi. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
I melt under his praise, but alarm bells are still ringing in my ears. I step closer, placing my palms on his firm chest. “What’s going on, babe?”
Pain flares across his face, and an anxious, fluttering feeling floods my chest cavity. “I’m so sorry, Demi, but I can’t do this anymore.”
My brows knit together as my hands fall to my sides. “What do you mean? Do what?”
He takes a step back, gesturing between us with his hand. “Us. Relationships. It’s not going to work.”
“It is working,” I protest. “I don’t understand. What’s brought all this on?”
“Today was a potent reminder of the evils of my world. You don’t belong in that world, Demi, and I was a fool to think this could work. Thankfully, I’ve come to my senses before I made things worse.”
Pain courses through me, and I’m struggling to breathe. “How can you do this to me?” I close the gap between us. “How can you do this to us?” My voice raises as anger blends with my pain. “Things are going great, and I’m prepared for tonight, and—”
A bitter laugh rips from his throat. “You are not prepared for tonight,” he hisses. “And I was clearly insane to even consider bringing you. They would devour you upon sight.”
The implication that I’m weak or naïve or unable to keep my wits about me is the final straw. “Fuck you, Charlie.”
He smirks, reminding me that asshole mask he wears is never far from the surface. “Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.” His lips curl into a sneer. “Time to buy a new one.”
I slap him across the cheek. “You were right. You don’t know how to handle intimacy or relationships. I feel sorry for you, because you will end up bitter and alone.”
He shrugs, like my words mean nothing. “See you around, Demi.”
CHAPTER 17
Demi
I crack apart on the inside as I stand rooted to the spot, watching him walk off, like he hasn’t a care in the world.
Like he hasn’t just irreparably shattered my heart and crushed my soul.
He slips into the back of the blacked-out limousine, and it glides away from the curb a few seconds later.
A sob bursts from my chest, and I hold my hand over my mouth, struggling to hold my emotion at bay. I glance all around, hoping none of the neighbors bore witness to my humiliation. Couldn’t he have decided this before I got all dolled up? It would’ve helped minimize the humiliation although nothing could dampen the pain of his rejection.
What to do? I can’t go back inside because I don’t want to upset Dad. I tap out a text to Xena, and then I tiptoe back into the house, as quiet as a mouse, and retrieve the keys to my Volvo. Then I hop in my car and drive to my bestie’s house.
Xena opens the door to me with a bottle of wine in one hand and a carton of Belgian chocolate chip ice cream in the other. “He’s a fucking bastard,” she says, stepping sideways to let me in.
An errant sob sneaks from my mouth, and my lower lip wobbles as pain presses down on my chest, making breathing difficult. “I love him,” I croak, as tears stream down my face. “And he just kicked me aside like I meant nothing to him.”
She sets the wine and ice cream down and envelops me in a hug. I fall apart in her arms, clinging to her as the floodgates open and I pour all my anguish out.
“He doesn’t deserve you, and he’s going to regret ruining the best thing to ever happen to him.” She smooths a hand up and down my back as I cry. “Let it all out, babe. Purge the devil from your soul.”
I half-laugh through my tears, but nothing can heal the cracks appearing all over my heart.
I sob into her shoulder, dampening her shirt, and she whispers comforting words as she holds me. We hug it out for a while until my tears finally dry. “I’m okay now.” I ease out of her embrace, sniffing.