Serendipitous

8.

"Hey, are you okay?" A concerned Andrea asks me, I wipe my eyes as I nod my head.

"I'm fine..." I sniffle as I turn around to go to my tent. As I lay there my heart begins to pound quickly as my worry set in. Would my mom really tell my dad about Shane and I? Shane didn't say anything after I had confessed that I love him... Does that mean he doesn't love me back? My thoughts are interrupted when my tent is unzipped, I see my mom.

"Molly, we need to talk."

"You can't be serious"

"Now."

I climb out of my tent as my eyes frantically search around for Shane but I don't see him which causes my heart to sink. As I follow my mom to the quarry we go to a secluded area where no one will be able to hear us. I look over to see Andrea and a few other women washing clothes before I turn my attention back to my mom.

"Molly I know you think you love him, but you don't know what love is. Baby, he manipulated you. He doesn't love you, and you don't love him." Her tone is harsh. As I stare at her, I begin feeling more upset by the minute no thanks to her words.

"How can you say that to me?" I ask in disbelief at her iced exterior, my voice begins to break. "You completely demonized him, and made him out to be some monster. You have no idea what happened between Shane and I, he was there for me when you weren't. Not that it's any if your business, but I came onto him, not the other way around."

"How long has this been going on for? Weeks, months, years?" She questions while looking at me shaking her head. If I knew any better, I'd say she's trying to audition for a scene from Days Of Our Lives right now.

"It doesn't even matter. Definitely not years. But you can't keep me away from him, you can't. You or dad." I'm deciding to stand my ground with her, besides, the world has ended. What can she really do? My mom scoffs while narrowing her gaze, her brown eyes studying my face.

"My God, he really did manipulate you. I'm protecting you from him! For crying out loud, Molly, don't you realize what you two have done? The line he has crossed?!" She shouts at me, I stare at her in silence angrily. If she would listen for once in her life then maybe she would stop saying the first accusation that comes out of her mouth, and listen to the truth.

"Would you stop saying that? You don't know anything, you know absolutely nothing about what I have with Shane. He would never hurt me the way you're twisting all of this to be!" My mom shakes her head at me as she turns around to walk away.

"Your dad is coming back and believe me, I'm going to tell him. Take it up with him if you think he's going to let this go." She says while walking away leaving me standing alone by the lake. I wipe a few tears from my eyes as I turn to see that she's gone and out of sight. As I sigh a shaky breath, there is no point in going after her and trying to continue that shipwreck of a conversation. I'll just cool off for now until I can figure out how to talk to her once she's back on her head. I decide to help Andrea, Jacqui, Amy, and Carol with washing the clothes. While Carol hands me a washboard I sit down beside Jacqui as they begin making small talk while I quietly listen and clean clothes.

"I do miss my Maytag." Carol says while scrubbing the clothes, I smile softly at her trying to ignore the pain in my chest and distract myself from what may come later.

"I miss my Benz, my Sat Nav." I hear Andrea say.

"I miss my coffeemaker with that dual drip filter and built-in grinder, honey." Jacqui says as I try to remember the delicious taste of coffee.

"My computer... and texting." Amy says softly.

"I miss my vibrator." Andrea chimes in as we all turn to look at her and laugh, a small chuckle leaves my lips.