“You are unbelievable.”
“No, I’m trying to make a point,” she said coldly. “Not everything is cut and dry, Kristen. Not everything is as easy as you make it seem. Sometimes things are more complicated than an outsider might judge. You should have told Jake the truth from the beginning, but you didn’t.”
“I had my reasons.”
“And, I had mine.”
“Oh, I get it,” I said, with frustration. “So, as usual, this is all about you.”
“It’s about growing up and facing harsh realities,” she continued calmly. “I didn’t tell Isabelle anything about you. I only mentioned that she should pay her grandson a visit.”
“I’m sure that’s not all you said.”
“Does it matter now?”
I felt tears of anger prick at the back of my eyes. “How can you be so cruel?”
“As I recall, you did the same thing to me a few years ago,” Mom said. “Do you remember? You tracked down Isabelle and told her about your father and me.”
I was silent for a second as tears slipped free from my eyes. “I see,” I said softly. “So this was your revenge.”
“It’s not healthy for you to be there, Kristen,” Mom said. “Believe it or not, I had your best interests at heart. You need to come home and stop chasing after Daphne’s life.”
“My decision to move here was not about that, at all,” I said. “I never intended to take Daphne’s place. I came here to help…and things happened. I fell in love with Jake and—”
“You fell in love with him?” she interrupted.
I sighed. “Yes.”
“Does he know that?”
“He did,” I said. “But now it doesn’t matter because he never wants to see me ever again.” Mom was silent for a moment, so I seized the opportunity and started talking.
“Listen… I know I was in the wrong here. I’m not going to say I didn’t make mistakes. I screwed up royally, and in a way, this was my fault. I know that. Despite what you may believe, I really was going to tell him the truth; I just needed to do it at the right time.
“Jake has been through so much, and he was just starting to be okay again. And now this happened, and he’s hurting all over again, and for what? So that you could teach me a lesson? So that you could prove your point? You don’t get it, do you? These are other people’s l
ives you’re playing with. You played with Isabelle’s and Daphne’s life, and now you’re playing with mine and Jake’s.
“I am to blame… I wasn’t upfront with Jake, and that’s on me. But my intention was honestly to help him and his son. And that’s the difference between us.”
After my little speech, Mom was quiet for so long that I thought she’d gotten cut off. “Hello?” I said. “Are you still there?”
“I’m still here,” she said quietly.
“You know, you were the only real parent I had growing up,” I said. “And because of that relationship, I thought that we’d always be in each other’s lives. But I’ve just realized something. We don’t have to be in each other’s lives. Because this relationship is not working, Mom; I don’t think it ever really worked.”
“Wait,” she said quickly, and I heard the panic in her voice. “Kristen…don’t go.”
“Why shouldn’t I go?” I asked.
“Because… I’m your mother,” she said, but her voice fell flat at the end of the sentence.
“Really?” I said. “Because you never acted like my mother… Maybe because you didn’t really want to be my mother in the first place.”
“That’s not true.”
“No?” I said. “Then why did you always act like I was just an inconvenience to you?”