“I just want you to be happy, Charlotte.”
“Happy? You want me to be happy? Then stop telling me how to live my goddamn life! And forgive me, Mom, but the last thing you seem is happy because all you care about is what my relationship status will mean for you.”
“Well forgive me for wanting to celebrate the fact that you’re no longer single. A thirty-year-old woman and you haven’t married yet? That’s not how you do things, Charlotte,” she admonishes.
And then I spew the truth. “Well you can stop celebrating, Mom, because guess what? This is all a lie!”
“What?” she gasps as other people around us do the same.
“Damien and I…”
But my thoughts are cut off as I hear a deep voice on the other side of the wall drown me out. “Listen up, you little shit. You might think you’re being the martyr here, doing things your own way and disappointing me at every turn, but the boy I raised was a winner, not someone who comes in second place and settles in his life, especially with that girl. I always made sure you were reminding her of who the superior person was, beating her at any and everything because that’s how it should be, and I won’t apologize for that. But when it comes down to it, this life you lead will lose its luster. You’ll wake up one day and regret the choices you’ve made and want to come back home and live the life you were meant to live. You’ll realize that girl is not right for you, that she will never be the woman you need. She’s too much—too independent, too driven, and too heavy for her frame. She’ll fight you at every turn, and that’s the last thing you want as a man—a woman who thinks she’s your equal when you should always be superior to your partner. And when you do realize that, I’ll be there for you because that’s what fathers do.”
My breath catches in my lungs as I begin to walk toward the shouting match between Damien and his father.
“Charlotte, where are you going?” My mother calls from behind me as I take a few steps closer to the wall that separates me from Damien and his father. And then I hear Damien speak up.
“No, fathers support their children’s decisions, even if it isn’t what they want for them. Good fathers would just want their children to be happy, even if that means living a life that was different than the one they envisioned for them. And great fathers would realize when their son finally understood how toxic their parent is and is done listening to them.” There’s a break in Damien’s speech. “And I don’t think Charlotte is the right person for me either,” he says. “I know…”
A crack the size of the Great Wall of China fissures in my heart from his words. “Fuck this,” I shout, barreling into the hallway where Damien and his dad are, my heart pounding frantically inside of my chest with anger. “Don’t worry, Mr. Shaw, I’m not going to ruin Damien’s life.”
A shocked Damien turns around to find me standing right behind him. “Charlotte? What are you doing?”
“It’s kind of hard to do that when our relationship isn’t real.” Gasps can be heard across the room. I turn my head to see my mother surrounded by a bunch of her friends, all staring in our direction.
But you know what? The truth is already out there, so I might as well lay it all out.
Let the verbal diarrhea commence.
“That’s right, Mom. I convinced Damien to be my fake boyfriend just so I wouldn’t have to deal with your incessant nagging about me still being single. But you know what? Even with a boyfriend, it wasn’t good enough for you. Then it became about when we were getting engaged, or how soon we planned on having kids.” I throw my hands up in the air. “And when it wasn’t about that, it was my weight, needing to book a Botox appointment soon, or wearing clothing more flattering for my body or in the same size you wear. Well, guess what? I’ll wear whatever I fucking want to because I’m a grown-ass woman, and I’m tired of trying to get you to see that!”
Damien’s dad snickers. “Well, isn’t this rich?”
Seething, I turn back to him. “And you,” I say, pointing a finger in his direction. “Fuck you! Fuck you and your chauvinistic ideas of a woman’s place. Fuck you and the way you speak to your son. And fuck you for thinking I’m too much! How’s this for too much?” I scream. “Telling you off in front of everyone you know so they can see what an ass you are! Telling you that you can kiss my fat ass since apparently, I’m carrying too much weight for my body that doesn’t need your approval anyway. And telling you that your blatant display of arrogance just goes to show exactly why I am superior to you—because I would never allow a man to treat me that way.”
“Tell ‘em, Char!” Penelope shouts across the room, pulling my attention to the corner where she, Noelle, and Amelia are standing. Penelope wears a proud smile, Noelle is standing there with bugged-out eyes and a slack jaw, and Amelia is chewing on her nails as they watch my eruption continue.
“Listen here you little bitch,” Damien’s father snaps as he charges toward me, pulling my attention back to him. But before I can back up a step, Damien swings his arm and punches his dad in the face. Another round of gasps echoes around the room, easy to detect since the DJ has stopped playing music at this point.
I clasp my hands over my mouth as I watch Damien shake out his hand and his father fall to the floor, clutching his hands around his nose.
And then it hits me.
I reached my breaking point, and I did it during my parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary party.
Holy shit.
As reality smacks me in the face, I see my father walking slowly toward me. “Charlotte…”
With tears building in my eyes, I take a few steps back and then turn to my father. “I’m sorry, Dad.” Feeling my emotional breakdown on the horizon, I pivot in my heels and take off down the hallway toward the door, anger and regret flooding my chest.
“Don’t apologize, Charlotte!” Penelope screams. “Women need to stop fucking apologizing for everything!”
“Hear, hear!” Another voice shouts, but I keep moving.
“Charlotte!” Damien calls after me as I shove open the doors, racing down sidewalks lined with palm trees while coming up with a plan as I briskly run to our room.
I pull my keycard from the side of my dress, tucked safely next to my boobs (where I’ve found is a great place to keep things safe that I don’t want to lose) and open the door to our suite, running toward my suitcase and throwing my things inside as I frantically move around the room.
After only a few minutes, I hear the door open, and an out-of-breath Damien appears in front of me. “Jesus Charlotte, are you okay? What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving,” I say as I move into the bathroom and gather my makeup and hair straightener.
“Where are you gonna go? Our flight isn’t until Tuesday.”
I walk back to my suitcase and throw the items in before reaching for my shoes on the floor. “I haven’t thought that far ahead. I just know that I can’t stay here.”
“Okay, then I’ll go with you,” he says, pulling my eyes to him as I freeze in place.
“What? Why would you do that?”
“I’m not going to leave you alone right now.”