On the Plus Side

I felt as if I’d been slapped in the face. Why would Lilly put our personal business out there for the world to know, especially her bitch of a mother? It felt wrong for her to know such delicate things about our relationship.

“I love her. I won’t leave her alone. We belong together.” I tried to stay calm and be as respectful as possible.

She was a total pain in the ass, but she was still Lilly’s mom and if I planned on spending the rest of my life with Lilly I needed to start being nicer to her mother.

“Don’t you want better than this for her?” She motioned to the dirty garage around us.

I wanted Lilly to be happy and I knew I could make her happy. I wasn’t the richest man in the world, but the one thing I knew about Lilly was she didn’t care about material things. She loved me and she wanted to be with me. We could make it work together.

“I can make her happy,” I said coolly.

“If you care about her at all, you’ll stay away from her, and if you want this house, this land, or this shack you call a business, you’ll break up with her and never find yourself in her presence again.”

This wasn’t happening! It couldn’t be happening.

Calm, cool, and respectful went straight out the fucking window.

“You bitch! Do you get off on this? Do you go around and ruin people’s lives for enjoyment? You can’t play with people like this!  I won’t do it—I can’t do it.” I threw my lug wrench across the room and it crashed into a wall before pinging to the floor.

“You’ll do it or you’ll lose everything. I’ll make sure Lilly can’t stand the sight of you. Once she finds out about you cheating on her that’s all it’ll take. Don’t think for a minute that I can’t pay of some piece of trash to lie for me.” She was beginning to calm down which meant she felt like she had the upper hand again. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to secure my daughter’s future. I’ve already got a nice young man picked out for her—he’s a lawyer. Can you compete with that?” Again she motioned to the area around the garage. “Do right by her Devin, let her go. If not, you get nothing and I’ll ruin your life.”

With those final words she turned and walked away. She wasn’t willing to even listen to my argument, and honestly, I was tired of arguing. Lilly was more important to me than the house or the business.

It was time I came clean. I was sick of having that bitch pull me around like a puppet.

I’d tell Dad and Jenny, too, since this meant we were more than likely going to lose everything. They loved Lilly as much I did, they’d understand, and as a family we’d make it work. The only difference was now I included Lilly into that situation.

She was my future, my everything, and I’d do right by her. I’d start over fresh somewhere and be the best Devin I could be for her.  Even if it meant losing her, I was going to come clean. Hopefully, she’d understand. Hopefully she’d forgive me and we could move past it and start over fresh.

I finished up all the work in the garage, and when Dad came in we quietly cleaned up some old oil and swept the place.

Once I was done, there I went inside and took the hottest shower my skin could handle. Lilly would be there soon and the possibility of my life being flipped upside down was hanging in the balance.

I knew Lilly. What I was going to tell her was going to hurt her and thinking about hurting her was making me nauseated. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was hurt her, but if I wanted to feel secure in our relationship, it needed to be done. I had to tell the truth.

“You look like you just saw a ghost. What’s on your mind?” Jenny asked as she flopped onto the couch next to me.

“Just thinking. What’s up with you?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Josh kissed me,” she blurted.

I swung my attention to her.

“Did you punch the shit out of him? Do I need to punch the shit out of him?”

I would, too. No questions asked.

“I think I like him, Dev.” She blushed prettily.

My baby sister, the tomboy, the girl who could kick the asses of every boy in her school, blushed. The room suddenly felt smaller.

“Well, I should hope so. Y’all been friends for a long time.” I played it off.

“No, I mean, like, I really like him like him. Is that OK? I mean, do you like Josh?”

Alarms went off everywhere in my mind. She was talking about dating. I knew the day would come at some point. My sister’s a pretty girl, but I was hoping it would be after college once she got out of her awkward wannabe-boy stage.