Page 105 of By Rude Strength

“Okay, okay!” Deborah grimaced. “She won’t come in! I’ll just leave her in the car like a darn pet. Ugh, this is just disgraceful. She’s been so worried about you since you lost your job, you know—”

“You told her that?”

“Yes! Lord, I don’t know what has gotten into you!”

“You came to my house uninvited, woke me up very early, and then tried to convince me to letKatie, the girl who tortured me for years, into my home.”

Deborah laughed and waved her hand. “Oh, she didn’t torture you. Please, sweetie. You’re so dramatic—”

“And now this is me, dramatically shutting the door.”

“Lawrence!” Deborah barked. “Why are you acting like this?”

“I could explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.” LA swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Mom, but I don’t really have anything to say to you.”

“What are you talking about?” Deborah chuckled and it sounded cruel. “You always have plenty to say. You’re always whining and complaining and—”

“You can leave.” LA took a deep breath. “Have fun at the wedding. Hope Carter and Katie have a lifetime of happiness and I never see either of them ever again.”

“You’re going.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, of course you are.” Deborah frowned. “I’ve told everyone you’re coming. I don’t understand why you’re being so hostile.”

“Right.” LA’s temper bubbled up. “No idea at all why I might be upset. No fucking clue—”

“Language!”

“—why I might be bothered.” LA drank more coffee. “Not a single thought. Not a one.”

Deborah pursed her lips. “I know you two had your little spat in school. It’s childish of you to still hold a grudge. She wants to apologize! I thought you’d be happy.”

LA’s heart ached. “I’d be a lot happier to have a mother who was more concerned about my comfort and fucking sanity—”

“Language!”

“—than some stupid fucking wedding!” LA raised his voice to make sure Deborah heard him. “It’s like you don’t even care, just as long as I show up!”

Deborah looked as if she’d been physically struck and she took a step back. “You don’t think I care about you…?”

“No.” LA squeezed the handle of his coffee mug so hard that he was afraid it was going to crack. “I know you don’t. You might think you do, but right now you’re more worried about the damn wedding than my feelings. I have had enough—”

“After everything I’ve done for you?” Deborah’s eyes filled with tears. “After how hard I worked to take care of you and raise you? This is how you’re going to repay me? I loved you. I treasured you! I—”

LA tensed. “You mean until I stopped being perfect.”

“I sacrificed so much for you—”

“Until I wasn’t your perfect little kid like Carter!” LA shouted, a lifetime of grief raising his voice to a shout. He threw his coffee mug on the floor and it instantly shattered. “Until I wasn’t what you fucking wanted! Because I had my own ideas about what to do with my life! Because I didn’t want the shit you wanted! Because I didn’t want to beyou!”

“Right! You’d rather be an ungrateful brat with no respectable future.” Deborah’s eyes flashed and she bared her teeth as she seethed. “You’d rather be adisappointment!”

“Oh, there she is!” LA snarled right back. “That’s the woman who treasured me, right? Come on. Admit it. Just fucking admit it. You care more about this stupid fucking wedding than me. You care more about what your friends think, what people at church are going to say, what you can post on fucking Facebook to get some likes because you’re just that pathetic. I’m not the disappointment.Youare.”

Deborah slapped him.

LA fumed silently, his cheek throbbing.