Twisted Proposal Read Free Page A

this tool.
    “As are most things at your age. So why don’t we just try to make the best of this situation? Now, moving on, I must admit that you do favor your mother, except…” He paused.
                  “What? The eyes?”
                  “No. I was going to say hair.”
    I rolled my eyes. Anyone could see that my hair was dyed black. Heck, I had about three inches of dirty blonde roots showing. Maybe he was colorblind.
    “Can I be expecting more of this bitchy attitude?” he asked, throwing me off for a second.
    He couldn’t talk to me like that. I wasn’t some snot nose kid. “Of course, you knew my mother.” Take that .
    He seemed surprised by my coldness.
    “This isn’t how I imagined things would unfold.” He shifted his eyes to the mirror.
    Who was back there? I glared over my shoulder at the glass and back at him. “Excuse me, but you couldn’t have possibly thought I would be happy to meet you? My mother just died yesterday. She was the only person who cared a rat’s ass about me, and that wasn’t guaranteed most days. So don’t sit there and stare at me like I’m the problem. I did nothing wrong.” I picked up my cup, drained it, and then crushed the cheap material in my hand. He didn’t say anything for a minute or so.
                  “Again, I’m sincerely sorry to hear about Eve.”
                  “I’m sure. We wouldn’t be here if you had resisted temptation in the first place,” I accused, avoiding his eyes. Mom had told me stories about her sister’s adventures with married men, and sometimes I wondered if she was making up stuff. I guess so.
                  “So she told you.”
                  “Don’t play stupid with me, Stuart. It’s pretty obvious what happened. You two had a fling and I happened to be the unfortunate result. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure that out.”
                  “If I knew what I know now, I would have walked away.”
    “Yeah, well everyone says that.” 
    “Yes, but that’s because it’s true. I can assure you, neither of us meant for this to happen. We were young and stupid, but I’m glad you understand.”
    Living with mom wasn’t the best of situations, but she never once made me feel like an inconvenience like this guy did. Anger rushed through my body like a steaming tea pot. “Shut up!” I exploded, standing, flinging my chair back.
    The metal collided with the cement floor with a loud crash, causing Stuart to jump to his feet.
    “I don’t need you to tell me I’m a mistake, don’t you think I know that. Now for the last time, will you please leave me alone?” Hot tears ran down my face.
    Instead of responding, he stood up and left. I shuddered. Good riddance. I didn’t want him around anyway. I tried to stop crying as I swiped up my cup and tossed it in the trash can. That was easy enough. Now what? 
    ***
    Staring at the mom's closed hospital door, I tried to take a deep breath. How do you say goodbye? I could see her feet through the narrow side window, twitching under a thin white blanket, and I wanted to run down the hall and out of the hospital. “Get a hold of yourself, Addison,” I whispered as I grabbed the door handle.
    A numb feeling took over as I entered the walk-in closet-sized room. The walls were a putrid pink salmon color, and there was a painting of a vase of flowers that was faded and curling at the corners in its frame. The only bright thing in the room was the turquoise bed pan that sat on a gray chair next to the bed.
    My vibrant mom was gone, replaced by this drained, lifeless version. Her dark grey eyes watched as I approached. Her lips were dry and cracked. I moved the pan to the floor and slid into the chair, taking her hand, which was cold as ice.             
    “Took you long enough,” she snapped.
                  “Sorry.”
    This couldn’t be happening; she looked