I wasn’t sure what happened with Brody and me from here. I wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision. Maybe I should have welcomed him with open arms, but then I’d have been telling him it was okay to do what he did. You could love someone, but that didn’t mean you had to like what they did. I’d learned that lesson with Hut a long time ago.
I walked out of the kitchen and into the main section of the diner, ready to start my late shift of the day. I wasn’t sure how I’d get by without the afternoon nap I’d taken to having, but I’d deal.
Footsteps sounded behind me, and I turned to see Cade with his bag over his shoulder. “Hey, Cade.” I smiled, big and wide, just for him, but he didn’t even glance at me.
He knew. He definitely knew. Maybe Brody had been telling the truth when he came to my place. I swallowed down the lump building in my throat and shook my head. I couldn’t think about it right now, not when—
“Lola,” a sweet voice greeted.
My heart hammered in my chest, my palms starting to sweat. If Cade knew, then Moira did too, and now she was standing in front of me.
“Erm…”
Cade ran into my back, shoving me forward a step, but his hand cupping my elbow righted me. His gaze flicked over my face and then to the woman in front of us. “Mom?” He straightened and let me go, stepping to the side. “What are you doing here?”
“Picking you up.” She shrugged, her long lashes fluttering against her cheeks as she blinked. “I thought I’d also come and say hi to the girl who ruined my marriage.” She said it so lightly that anyone would think we were talking about the weather.
We were next to the counter, and anyone ordering food from there would be able to hear what we were saying. I didn’t want or need anyone knowing my business, because they’d take what she said at face value. The details wouldn’t matter. All they’d hear is that I was the person Brody had cheated on his wife with, and yet, I couldn’t bring myself to be sorry.
“Jesus, Mom. We talked about this.”
Moira glanced at Cade, the sweet look she had on her face disappearing in the blink of an eye. “And I told you that this has nothing to do with you. You’re a kid, just like she is. This is grown-up stuff. Go to the car.”
“Hey,” I said, not liking the way she was talking to him. He was her son, but she’d just schooled him when there was no need. “There’s no need to talk to him like that.”
She whipped her attention my way, and my body craved to take a step back. “You think you can tell me how I can talk to my son?” Her voice was getting louder and louder. “You think because my husband put his cock in you that you can take my place?”
“No, I...you…” My face was burning so much you could have fried an egg on my cheeks. People’s attention was on us, and they were all witnessing what was happening.
“Moira,” Sal’s deep voice came from behind us. “I think it’d be best if you left.”
Moira pushed her shoulders back and flipped her hair behind her. “Did you know all along, Sal? Huh? Did you know my husband was sleeping with this whore?”
Sal moved past us, slipping between me and Cade and Moira, effectively erecting a wall she couldn’t get past. “What I know is that this girl has been through enough.” He lowered his voice. “What I know is that she had no idea Brody was married.” I frowned. I hadn’t told him that. In fact, I hadn’t told him anything about Brody. “What I know is that you’re going to walk out of my diner and not come back in if you can’t be nice. These are my staff, and you don’t fuck with what’s mine.”
“How dare—”
“Just go, Mom,” Cade huffed, his breath hitting the side of my neck. “Dad’s picking me up anyway. I told you I was going to help him move into his new place.”
Moira’s nostrils flared as her chest moved on a deep inhale, and then she zoned her attention in on me over Sal’s shoulder. “You’ll pay for this. What goes around comes around, and karma is a bitch.”
I wanted to tell her I’d paid for many things over and over again in my nearly twenty years of life, but I didn’t. I kept my mouth shut and didn’t look away as she spun around and walked out of the diner.
My body swayed to the side, and my stomach churned. It wasn’t the confrontation that had me feeling like I was about to throw up all over the place, but the baby inside my stomach that only Jan knew about.
I turned and ran for the bathroom, hoping like hell it didn’t come out until I was safely over a toilet. And I just about made it, my knees hitting the cold tile as I brought up the lunch I’d eaten only an hour ago.
Tears burned a path down my cheeks, and I held on to the sides of the toilet like I’d float away if I didn’t. I’d been close enough to toilet bowls in the last few weeks to last me a lifetime, and I had a feeling it wouldn't be letting up anytime soon.
When nothing else was coming up, and all that was left was dry heaves, I flushed the toilet and leaned back against the stall door.
Everything was a mess, but there was one shining beacon within it all. Brody had been telling the truth. He really had left his wife. And as I replayed the conversation in my head, I realized he was moving into a new place too. He was doing the actions I’d said I needed to see.
“Lola?” Jan’s small voice called. “You okay, hon?”
I lifted up off the floor and flicked the lock. Her sad face came into view. “Yeah. Just throwing my guts up again.” I tried to laugh, but the sound fell flat.
“I meant about what happened out there,” Jan said, hooking her thumb behind her.