to talk to them now. I thought about not answering, but I couldn’t exactly stonewall them forever. Plus

yself and answ

ely, as it

ell

spoke firs

, D

ntly from another one of their house ph

ed. My mother tended to

He said you’re in Florida

what was coming next, and I t

uck wi

,” I said, thereby implying tha

’t w

in a ‘how’s it going?’ kind of way. Mor

eeded to

t, but you didn’t have to r

t myself just in time. “Ca – come on, the

and say ‘Florida,’ so I just st

k?” my mother asked, her

irely sure I’m

ou would think I had just sho

for, like, Christmas and visits – I’m j

this out with Rick, it’ll all blow over

I said vehemently. “And I definitely do

hinking ratio

l my decisions off a lis

ng away because of an overly emoti

emotional

y months in hell had been. A

on me, Dad

r pearls. Not that she wore pearls any other time than fancy parties –

onizingly. “Rick explained it

the unspoken

ke! He’s lying. Th

me friend of yours over Rick’s w

hat’s kind o

ing a horri

a horrible mistake if I

ady TOLD

to admit to what he was doing? R

er gasp

,” Dad sa

ts – but, dutiful daughter that I am, I course-corrected.

, and frankly unfai

, and it’s NOT unfai

ld nev

let him stay if I had hard p

ere are certain legal

about legal co

u want from

ddenly it was hard to keep myself from cryin

ter. I will ALWAY

aking my side now?”

ntly decided ‘victim mode’ wasn’t working, and had now moved on to ‘at

in a difficult pos

ise your voic

right now?” my father cut in,

ew where this was going

inheritance from your g

do what I wanted wit

ste it,” M

I can tell you this: if her money helped me escape a liar an

you’re just confuse

out how many other wo

heri

er line of attack. “What are you go

’t for

does, what

job like eve

ffed. “What, waiting tables at a

either of those t

t you have so much mor

o back to

ying for it y

new

t people was money. And he wa

about taking my side,

ng to get you

trying to bl

tor

ha

to reveal embarrassing informati

su

al distinctions even in an

trap for himself and

admitting what you’re a

U

rious consideration, even when I was in the right. “I’m not doing

sy with how it was

barrassment for our family, Katie. People talk, you know. It’s been incredibly hard o

my eyes. I could

, I still couldn’t help b

gonized over my decision, and following t

bad daughter? That wasn

had to deal with some gossip from a

tie

nging u

are!” my mot

odb

sed the ‘End Call’ butto

le, obsessively replay

to avoid hurting so many people – myself included. But I didn’t have a t

rned on the TV in the main room, but only wound up flipping nonstop through the channels

oices in my head finally got to me. I had to ge

hell didn’t want to deal with any more phone calls, so I left everything e

ds the beach. It was dark, but there were a few people out and about. Some gave me str

art at the time – an honest-to-God adult, a real man. Or at least that's what I thought at the time. I was just a naïve little girl

runk off his ass like ever

omething along the lines of “What’s your major?” or “Di

buying a house for your parents or giving money away to charity. You can’t keep whatever you spend it on, so you don’

“That’s a weird qu

ow people really quickly. I don’t

, but fluff and B.S. w

settle down, so I think I would go someplace cool. Someplace tropical, where I could learn new things, like sailing or s

s a pretty g

ld you do

ches for public speaking, get into Harvard Law for a year

that you couldn’t take it wi

l objects, like

I grumbled.

! You get to keep the kn

ome party girl who wants to have fun

education, you’d remember all your experiences, right? And, I have to

at right,”

that I’m too practical. I l

going to need a million bucks. So when

per, really incredible trips with each other? It doesn’t have to be luxurio

But I don’t go traveling

d get acquainted the

g. At the time, I just thought he didn’t know his own strength. Later I realized that it was an

college, and a handsome guy’s touch was

said. “But my fri

“So can I ca

are you takin

he year, and then stayed faithful to him while he went away to law school. We were go

turn out

during that time, none of t