Forever and Always His

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

                I went home later that night, sitting across the dinner table from my mother. I pushed my vegetables around my plate- not because I wasn’t fond of them, but because I had no appetite. After Cassandra’s confession back at the café, I didn’t have a sudden urge to eat. I was still trying to process everything she said to me in my mind. A part of me wanted to not believe her because it was almost unbelievable that Katie would go to such extremes just to torture me. But then again, Cassandra has tricked me into getting to know her so well that I knew she was telling the truth.

                “Honey,” my mother interrupted my thoughts, making me snap back into reality, “do you not like your dinner? You’ve barely ate. You’ve been pushing around the peas for the past ten minutes.”

                I gave her a weak smile, before bringing the fork full of green peas up to my lips. “There’s no problem.” I assured, taking a bite out of my food as I pushed the peas down my throat with a forceful gulp. “See?”

                My mother gave me a long stare, before putting her fork down. She crossed her arms on the wooden dinner table, licking her lips. “Riley, what’s been going on?” she asked gently, reaching over the table to hold my left hand. “Is there something wrong?”

                I felt my heart pinching against my chest, as I gave her an unsteady smile. “No, mom.” I lied right through my teeth, unable to look my own mother in the eyes. “Nothing’s wrong.”

                My mother sighed, before giving my palms a tight squeeze. She gave me that knowing look- the look a mother gives to a daughter when they know something’s gone wrong. “Riley, what happened the night of the wedding?” she asked softly. “You disappeared at the middle of the party, and then I get a call at midnight from Max’s mother telling that you stayed over at his house? You haven’t been the same since.”

                I stared down at my uneaten peas, all scattered across my dinner plate. I didn’t want to replay the scenes of the wedding night in my head- they were just too painful. I tried to distract myself by counting the number of green peas that were still on my plate. One, two, three…

                “I know something happened between you and Everett.” My mother suddenly said after I’ve counted to fifteen peas. I froze up, becoming tense in the shoulders. I took in a deep breath of air, tilting my head up just slightly to look her in the eyes. My mother gave me a sullen smile, looking relieved that I’ve finally showed some sort of emotion. “Linda called me today, telling me how Everett’s locked himself up in his room for the past few days. The boy wouldn’t talk to anyone- not even his father.”

                My heart was suddenly aching, as I scrunched my nose up in remorse. Since I knew now that Everett had nothing to do with Cassandra and Katie’s little scheme, I almost felt guilt for snapping on him so easily. I should’ve given him a chance to explain, but I was too overwhelmed at the thought of him being with Cassandra and not me.

                When I hadn’t responded to my mother, she took it as a sign that I wasn’t going to speak any time soon. She let out a sigh, before giving me one last look. “Don’t let whatever happen ruin the relationship between you and Everett, hon.” She advised. “These few months have been the happiest I’ve seen you in the past two years.”

*

                I went over to Maria’s house later that evening to spend the night. We were lounging on the back porch of the house, blankets wrapped around our bodies. We sat on the sun chairs, the cold metal of the seating under our bottoms. I shivered slightly, as I hugged myself around the blankets even tighter. I stared up at the full moon surrounded by the many glistening stars, suddenly thinking about Colette, once again.