The Hardest Cut by Jamie Bennett (book club recommendations .TXT) 📕

nothing ever did.  Now Kristi’s gone and Case and I have to move in here with Mom.  I got a job at the car dealership working for Ryan Whitaker.  Can you believe that douche will be my boss?”

That was unfortunate.  “It’s good that you’ll have steady money coming in.  And I’ll help you with Case.”  The poor little guy.  “This will work out.”

He looked at me.  “Thanks, Gaby.  I’m sorry.”  Anthony rubbed his forehead.  “I’m sorry I was all over you about everything.  I was trying to make myself out as such a big deal.  Mom always thought I was going to be somebody, you know?”  We both turned our heads to look as we heard the front door close.  “Shit, that’s her.  She’s on a real rampage.”

“Anthony, that woman took almost everything!” my mom was saying as she came into the kitchen.  “That horrible, horrible woman!  Oh, Gabriella.  You’re finally here.  I’ll need you to bring Case to school tomorrow and pick him up, too.”  She went to my brother and rubbed his back.  “You should also take him out this afternoon for ice cream, to get his mind off things,” she told me.  “Poor little boy, with that witch of a mother.”

“Oh, well, let me see how I can work all that out,” I answered.

She frowned.  “What’s there to work out?  You don’t have a job, do you?”

“I do, actually.  Remember?”

“Just babysitting,” she dismissed this.

“Well,” I said slowly, “I also have practice.  I’m auditioning for the Woodsmen football cheer squad.”  Both Anthony and my mom stared at me.  “I have been for the last few months.  I find out next week if I’ll make the team.”

“Are you serious, Gaby?” my brother asked.  “One of those women in the tiny costumes who shakes her…”  He glanced at my mom and stopped.

“You don’t know how hard I’ve worked for this,” I told him.  “All those women work hard!  No matter what we wear, we’re serious dancers.  We’re really good!”  I waited, watching my mom.  Would she be stunned?  Happy?

But she was looking at my brother.  “You can have your old room and Case can take your sister’s.  I have a few boxes of your clothes in my car, but Kristi almost cleaned out the house.  She even took the garbage cans!”

I thought of my previous plan, how I was going to tell her to turn on the TV and there I’d be, wearing the iconic orange halter top and dancing on the sidelines.  I’d thought that I would be famous and beautiful, and that she was going to be proud of me.

“I don’t know why we’re treated so poorly,” my mom said to my brother.  “It’s not fair that we’re always the ones getting our hearts broken.  First your father, and now Kristi.  Some people are so selfish, they never think of the hurt they cause.”  Now she did look at me, but it was to frown, and I got what she meant.

“That’s enough,” I heard myself say.  “That’s enough of that.”

“What?”

“I mean, I don’t want to talk anymore about me and Shep.  I made a big mistake.  A really, really bad one.  I’m sorry every day, but that’s over.  I can’t keep punishing myself forever for loving the wrong person.  I shouldn’t have done that, but he shouldn’t have either.  Or Dad, or Kristi.”

She pursed her lips.  “Your father never admitted that he’d done anything wrong.  At least you realize that about Shephard Sterling,” she told me.  “And at least his wife won in the end!”

“What do you mean?” I asked, staring at her.  “Whose wife, Shep’s?  How did she win?”

“I heard at my book club that she filed for divorce, and she’s taking everything.  He was seeing his cheap slut of a receptionist at the realty office and his wife found out.”

My mouth fell open for the second time.  “What?” I asked stupidly, and my mom went into all the gory details, how his wife had suspected him of adultery for some time but he’d been very clever (“smarter than your father” was the way my mom phrased it).  But Shep had finally messed up.  A “mistaken call” had led to his wife hearing a very vivid, very specific account of his relationship with the receptionist.

“A mistaken call,” I repeated.  “A butt dial.  He butt dialed his wife and got caught?”

My mom clearly didn’t like that language.  “It will come back to cheaters in the end.  Kristi will get what she deserves,” she assured Anthony, who just shook his head.  “Yes, she will.  Just like Shephard Smith will, and just like your father did.”

“Mom, please don’t say that.”  They both turned to me because my voice was pretty loud.  “Please don’t say things like that.  No matter how Dad acted, he didn’t deserve to have a heart attack.”  He hadn’t deserved to choke on vomit and turn blue on the kitchen floor while his nine-year-old daughter cried and tried to help him.  I hadn’t spoken, not one word, for months after it.  I had been afraid that if I opened my mouth, I’d make those same sounds, the awful gasping and gurgling as he died.

Anthony stood up and walked to sit with me on the couch.  He put his arm around me.

I looked up at him.  “Kristi is…”  I tried to think of how to phrase it.  “She’s not a nice lady, but I don’t want that to happen to her, either.  For one thing, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, and for another, she’s Case’s mother.  You can’t talk about her like Mom did to us about Dad, Anthony.”  I turned to my mom.  “You can’t say things about Kristi in front of Case, and you shouldn’t around Anthony, either.”

My mom frowned but my brother nodded.  “I’m going to take good care of Case,” he told me.

“I know,” I said.  “And I’ll help you!  Let’s get him and go down now to the dealership to do some shopping.  I have money for a car and I bet