“And you do?” I retorted. “Technically, I’ve known Terry for longer than you have!”
My mom opened her mouth to argue, but she was speechless. Her round cheeks were flushed. The cheerful light in her eyes had vanished.
I felt terrible that she was upset, but there was nothing I could do but tell the truth. I knew she wouldn’t take it well, but I thought she would listen to what I had to say and be devastated by the truth. Instead, she didn’t believe a word and seemed to think that I was lying because I didn’t want her to remarry.
“We even talked to Daniel’s mom. She said the same thing—he didn’t treat her right. She doesn’t want you to end up the same way.”
“You can stop right there,” my mom hissed. “I know about that woman. She divorced Terry for no reason and turned his kids against him. Now, she’s still trying to take all his money. She’s left him with nothing. You shouldn’t believe anything she’s telling you. For that matter, you shouldn’t believe what Daniel’s telling you either. He’s clearly brainwashed.”
I wanted to scream. I was so frustrated with my mom for being so naïve and dense. There was nothing that I could tell her to get her to believe me.
“Mom, why would I lie to you about something so serious?”
“I don’t know. That’s what baffles me. I thought you wanted me to be happy.”
“I do!” I exclaimed, attracting the attention of other diners around us. I lowered my voice. “I do want you to be happy. That’s why I’m telling you everything I know about Terry Malone. Don’t you see how hard this is on me? I’ve been so stressed out ever since you told me that you got married to him. It’s doing terrible things to my health. I’ve been having seizures because of it. Please, Mom. Listen to me. Kick him to the curb. Get a divorce. You can’t be with him anymore. He doesn’t love you. He’s just doing this to get back at his son.”
At this remark, she stood up from the table and pushed in her chair.
“When you’ve come to your senses,” she said coldly, “give me a call. You owe Terry and me an apology.”
“Mom, wait!” I cried, but she promptly left the restaurant and got into her car. I sat at the table for a little while longer, trying to hold in my tears. Then, before the waiter could come back to ask if we still wanted our orders, I called a cab and made my way back to Daniel’s house.
In the cab, I tried so hard to keep a straight face. I didn’t want to make the driver uncomfortable with my sobbing. Even more importantly, I didn’t want to explain my predicament to a concerned stranger.
My first instinct was to be devastated. My mother had never treated me that way in my life. I thought for sure that she would appreciate my help. I knew she would be sad but ultimately relieved that I got her out of a bad situation before it was too late.
Then, I was enraged. It wasn’t necessarily my mom’s fault that he had brainwashed her. Her only fault was that she got carried away by the romance of it all. She was just a lonely woman looking for love. Terry was the one who saw this and exploited it.
I was not going to let my mom be a victim. If she couldn’t help herself, then I sure as hell would fight for her. In return, I’d also be fighting for a chance to be with the man I loved. I wanted my health and sanity back. I wanted my mom back. I wanted my boyfriend back. No longer would I be polite and courteous and wait for my mom to believe me or for Terry to stop his evil plan. I was going to fight dirty if I had to.
When I got back to the house, Daniel was standing at the kitchen counter, opening mail.
“How’d it go?” he asked as he made a pile of bills.
“I don’t think it could have gone any worse. She doesn’t believe Terry would ever do anything wrong. She’s not speaking to me until I apologize to the both of them.”
“Oh, Ariana,” he said, dropping the envelopes on the counter. “I’m so sorry.”
He looked at me like I was a porcelain doll, about to break. I knew he was worried that I was going to have another episode.
I held up my hands. “I’m fine. If she’s not going to listen, then I’ll make her listen.”
“How?” he asked, looking defeated.
“I’ve got a plan and I’m going to need your help.”
Chapter Seventeen
Daniel
The mischievous little twinkle in her eye told me everything I needed to know. She had a brilliant idea brewing and I couldn’t wait to hear it.
“Like I said the other day, my mom is a bit of a prude. She’s easily manipulated by romance, but she hates smut of any kind. Your dad’s dirty little secret would shock and disgust her so much that she would have to leave him.”
“I like it,” I said. “What do I need to do?”
“I think we have to go all out. We can’t let my mom ignore our signals. I think that we should sign your dad up for as many pornography subscriptions as we can. We’ll send them to my mom’s place. She can’t overlook it then.”
I grinned. “You’re an evil genius. This is so brilliant.”
“Thanks,” she replied, giving me a bashful smile. “I think we should send magazines and online subscriptions. Like, we should find the weirdest, grossest stuff we can legally obtain and send it to him. Send some things to his email, too.”
“Not a bad idea. We might as well go all out and ship some weird sex toys, too. Your mom wouldn’t be pleased to open a box and find a massive dildo.”
She laughed harder than she had in weeks. I was so glad her old self was shining through all the crap she had endured.
“This is going to be fun,” she said. “I can put some of the stuff on my credit card. I think it’s worth it for the cause.”
“Don’t bother,” I responded. “My dad is an idiot and gambles online using my computer. I have all his credit card information. This is really going to get him where it hurts.”
Ariana was so pleased with this plan and so relieved we were going to destroy him that she ambushed me and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“I love you!” she exclaimed, before blushing.
We had never said those words to each other before. But, that didn’t mean that I didn’t feel that way about her. I was just so surprised that she had gotten carried away in the heat of the moment like that.
“I’m sorry,” she said, getting flustered. “I didn’t mean— “
“Well, I mean it. I love you, Ariana.”
She froze. “Really?”
I laughed. “Yes, really. I’d like to keep you around for a while so let’s get to work.”
She had such a cute smile on her face when I left the room to get my laptop. When I returned to sit on the couch with her, it hadn’t faded.
It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It’s so hard to tell someone that you love them, especially for me. I wasn’t one to wear my emotions on my sleeve, so when I said those words, I truly meant it. They had been floating around my mind for a few weeks, and it just felt so right to let them out.
“Where should we start?” I asked. “I feel weird looking up porn with you sitting right here.”
“It is pretty weird, isn’t it?” she giggled. “I don’t mind—as long as you don’t like any of them more than you like me,” she teased.
“Never,” I said. “And I mean that. I don’t know if you know this, but you’re dynamite in bed.”
“You’re not so bad yourself. We’re getting distracted. What are you going
to order to the house?”
“Let’s try a nice little mix. We’ll do some Busty Blondes, Tantalizing Tentacles, and I Can’t Believe They’re Legal.”
“That’s a good start,” she said. “Can we also throw in Kinky Cartoons and Dudes on Dudes for good measure?”
“Why not? I’m not paying for it.”
We looked through a few more titles, laughing and making jokes about the subject matter. This stuff was fairly tame, but apparently the stuff my dad was into wasn’t. But, I was afraid to go searching for that stuff, just in case I got put on a government watch list.
“I can’t wait to hear what he says to my mom when she catches him with this stuff,” she said, typing her mom’s address into the order.
“He’ll probably say, ‘I buy them for the articles’ or something like that.”
“My mom is going to lose her mind. What’s next?”
“Do you think she would ever check his email?”
Ariana scoffed. “She hardly checks her email. But, it’s worth a shot. If anything, it will just piss Terry off. That’s worth it enough for me.”
“Then let’s order a few video subscriptions. The videos are much raunchier than the print stuff, anyway.”
“Should we order a few things from a sex shop too?” Ariana asked. “It’s kind of hard to ignore a bunch of boxes piling up. Plus, if they’re left by the front door, the neighbors are going to see. I hate to say it, but maybe she just needs to be a little embarrassed to get it through her head.”
“Tough love,” I agreed. “Okay, we’ll start with the alien dildo. Should we do a costume?”
“You better,” she said, leaning over me. “How about the French Maid in a size men’s extra-large?”
“I like it. Do you know what? Maybe we should order a few things for ourselves while we’re at it,” I suggested, testing the waters.
She thought about it for a second before cracking up. “How about we wait until we’re no longer stepsiblings. We’ve got enough scandal in our sex life as it is.”