First Love Only Love (The Life 2)

Apparently, there’s more to the story that Becky told me about Victoria being suspended for arguing in school. What did the Russo kid mean by looking for a new school? You don’t change schools over suspension. But more to the point, how many times in the past did Victoria make that snarky comment about her adoption being an improvement? Always before, she’d passed it off as a joke, but today for the first time, it sounded ugly, mean.

She’d been Gia’s closest friend, as close as sisters Adrienne had once said. I believed that, had that too been a lie? I want to run and hide, bury my head in the proverbial sand. Weak, I know, but thinking of the mess I would need to unravel if all this is true, more than a decade of lies and subterfuge is exhausting.

Hearing my former mother-in-law mentioned was jarring. I still carry a lot of guilt over the forced separation I’d caused between her and the grandchild she loved beyond reason. Though at the time, I thought I was keeping peace in my home—the home where Gia still had to grow up with a woman who wasn’t her doting mother.

I felt listless and unsettled as I drove to the closest remote spot I could find. I need to sit alone and think. Everything from this evening is like pieces to a puzzle long left unattended. Some of the pieces are broken, and still, more are missing, but a picture is starting to form, and I don’t like it.

I thought for a second of who I could turn to for answers, starting with what really happened at the school yesterday with Victoria. I didn’t doubt Becky’s version of events since the school tends to have a lot of no tolerance rules to keep the children in check, so a couple of days suspension for getting out of line in class was more than believable.

And why, if Victoria had been expelled, had those two gone shopping more than five hours away? Which brings my mind to the counterfeit money and the dead husband back from the grave, or so it would appear. And my little Gia, all grown up and looking so much like her mother, it was as if Adrienne had been there in the room with us for a brief moment in time.

My reaction I understood. It was the shock of seeing her but knowing that it wasn’t her that had thrown me for a loop. But Becky’s reaction, which I didn’t think of until now, was somewhat odd. She looked like she’d seen a ghost and not one she welcomed. She’d seemed almost fearful and had hardly looked in Gia’s direction. It was more like she couldn’t, not that she didn’t want to.

Was that guilt for the things the Russo kid was accusing her of? Was she fearful of retaliation from a ghostly spectrum whose child she’d harmed? What’s more bothersome is that neither she nor her daughter seems to care either way whether I witnessed their behavior or not. I’d given them license to do… something right under my nose; what? I both dread and need that answer.

BECKY

He took my money; how did he even know where to find it? And does this mean that he’s the one who took the counterfeit money as well? I hope the little bastard tries spending it and ends up behind bars. But no, he couldn’t have; that was gone long before he came here this evening.

The bedroom door slammed open, and a very irate Victoria stood there with a look of such rage on her face. I took a step back. “What’s the matter now?”

“Those bitches are just playing with me; look at this.” She held her phone too close to my face for me to make out anything.

“What is it? Just explain.”

“This says that the Russo twins are inviting Jessica, Amber, Lisa, and Joanie to their birthday party next weekend. They’ve invited everyone but me.”

Did she fall and crack her head? “Victoria, we don’t have time for this. We need to come up with a plan before Felix puts us out on our asses.”

“That’s not my problem; you’re the adult, act like one.” She stormed off again, and I went in search of my Xanax. I’m in no mood to deal with her right now. I need to figure out how I’m going to deal with that little snot who thinks he’s tough shit.

My legs finally gave out from all the tension I’d been holding in all evening, and I dropped back down on the bed. How could she look so much like her? I wrapped my arms around myself and rocked back and forth as I waited for the drug to kick in. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Adrienne had come back to take revenge for me moving into her life.