Discombobulate

Chapter Thirty-Two

A few months later, she met Dad. They hit it off and two years later they were married. Grant always considered her to be the one that got away. He regretted cheating on her and always stayed away until Dad died. 

Mom used to tell this story to Denise and me when we were younger. She used to talk about two guys loving her. She joked that love triangles were awful. She liked one guy, two guys liked her, and she picked Dad.

Apparently, that's where Denise comes into the picture. Denise's second story was about a love triangle. The details are eerily close to Mom's story. Mom doesn't remember if she mentioned Grant's physical appearance to Denise.

Denise got everything about him right. His hair color, his eye color, she even knew he was on the taller side. It could be purely coincidental, just a lucky guess. 

The story kept gaining popularity. Grant bought the book and realized it had to be Susan's daughter. It didn't take him long to write Susan. They've been talking for a while, but I guess history likes to repeat itself. 

Mom's single, Grant's single. It seemed like they could try it again. Grant is grown now, surely it'd work out. It was going great up until yesterday. Mom caught him kissing someone else. They were dating up until yesterday. 

That's where the cursing came from. They were breaking up over the phone. Mom ran off and he didn't realize she was there. He called later that night to ask her on a date. She told him to, in her words, "go fuck himself." 

Grant threatened her. He threatened to sue Denise for defamation of character. I don't know if that'd work out the way he wants. It does look bad on Denise's part. 

In her story, "his" character is called Gerald and he ends up being brutally murdered by the girl. "Supposedly" some of his friends know the situation between Grant and Mom. He cheated, she left, and married someone else. It looks bad on his part. He's being teased about it.

The three character's in Denise's book seem like Mom, Dad, and Grant. I don't think she purposefully had malicious intent with the story. It's just writing. Even if the characters share traits with real people, the plot is all made up. It's not real. 

Mom won't let me ask Denise about the situation. She says we can't tell her anything until she gets home. We only have ten more days. I told her we should file a restraining order as we did with Daniel. She refuses. She says he has friends in powerful places. She swears it won't matter. That's why she's been paranoid. 

She's terrified of this man. I don't know who he is. I don't know his last name. I only know this was mom's past high school boyfriend and now ex-boyfriend. She's acting like he's going to physically hurt us or something.

He has no reason to. Maybe Denise did know this story. She spun it into a best-selling novel with twists and turns. Why is he angry? Nobody knows it's him besides a few of his friends.

We don't even know if this character is supposed to be him. He's speculating.

I don't know if we should be this paranoid. He's just some stupid guy who's cheated on my mom twice. His words seem like empty threats to me. Mom says we should keep close to the house for a few days. I think this whole situation has been blown out of proportion because of an insecure guy. 

Jennifer

Denise's heart stopped. Similar to Jennifer, she had no idea who Grant was. She didn't even know the full story behind him. 

Throughout the years, Mom mentioned she was in a love triangle. She picked her dad and that was that. Denise thought it'd be a good story idea. A love triangle went wrong.