Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
“You wretched child,” Mae spits at her daughter, ignoring her husband. “I have only ever given you the best, and this is how you repay me.”
“The best?” Harper demands, completely abandoning her meal, shoving her plate away, and tossing the fork down as well. She gets to her feet, taking a deep breath and bracing her hands against the table, and I prepare myself for whatever is about to come next.
“I have been nothing more than a hindrance to your existence. I was never good enough. Never pretty enough. Never smart enough,” Harper starts, every one of her words breaking something deep inside of me. “I didn’t get as good of grades as Jonah, so I was an embarrassment. I didn’t excel in sports like Jonah did, so naturally that made me a failure. Not to mention the shame I brought upon you because I chose not to spend the rest of my life in debt and attended a normal, run-of-the-mill college and not some big Ivy League like Jonah did.”
Mae scoffs as though the thought of which college Harper attended is still a sore point, and I’ve never wanted to fling a fork across a table so badly in my life.
“I have never been good enough in your eyes,” Harper continues. “And sure, most of my life I have sat by and bitten my tongue, but I’m done, Mom. I have worked too damn hard to get where I am to allow you to continue shitting all over my successes and achievements. Yes, I work in a morgue. Yes, there are dead bodies. And yes, Mom. I perform autopsies as part of my daily routine, but I enjoy what I do. I fucking love it. I’m on track to become one of the best forensic pathologists in the state, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how the hell you aren’t proud of that.”
Tears well in Harper’s eyes, and I resist the urge to reach out to her.
“I don’t know what I have done in my life to make you despise me so much, but I am done. I am done trying to win your approval, because at the end of the day, I will never be what you want me to be.”
Mae just stares at her daughter, her eyes filled with an ugliness that tears me to shreds, and when she crosses her arms over her chest and arches a brow, I realize this shit has only just begun.
“And here we are, bringing everything back to you,” Mae sputters. “What were you hoping for? That I would fall to my knees and beg your forgiveness for being the best mother I could be? You are ungrateful, Harper-Rayn. I brought you here so that you could see how shamefully you humiliated me during our anniversary dinner party, and allow you the chance to apologize. But instead, you want to spout all this nonsense at me and claim I was a poor mother. Shame on you.”
Harper gapes at her mother, and it doesn’t go unnoticed how the twins’ heads bounce from left to right across the table, watching the showdown like a tennis match.
“Wow, Mom. You really are a piece of work,” she says, shaking her head in wonder. “You want an apology? Well, here you go. I’m sorry that I don’t want to be a damn thing like you. I’m sorry I have done everything in my power to not be your perfect little clone. I’m sorry that when forced to sit around this ridiculous table, I lashed out after you shamed my career and my achievements in front of a room full of strangers for entertainment. But most of all, I’m sorry that you have allowed yourself to become such a hateful and despicable human being.”
With that, Harper shoves away from the table, but not before reaching for the neck of a full wine bottle and taking it with her. She storms away, and just when I go to follow her, Mae puts on the waterworks, reaching for a napkin and dabbing her dry eyes.
“Oh my,” she wails as Elias hurries to her side, pulling her into his arms, his gaze locked on Harper’s ass as she storms away. “I just don’t understand how she can be so horrid. What have I ever done to deserve such treatment?”
Jonah groans from across the table, disgust in his eyes. “Knock it off, Mom. Don’t you think this routine is getting old?”
Mae whips her stare to the prodigal son. “What did you just say to me?”
“You heard me,” he says, getting to his feet and indicating for his wife to rise as well. “Harper’s right. You’ve treated her like shit since we were kids, and I was too blinded by everything I had going on to notice, but now as a father myself, I see it clear as day. You have diminished every accomplishment she has ever made, and she has every right to be hostile about it. I’m surprised she even still agrees to come to these bullshit dinners.”