Beyond This Moment

1 Prologue

You are invited!

Please join us on this joyful occasion as we unite Brandy and John in holy matrimony!

When? June 20th, 2015 at 2:00 p.m.
Where? Bellevue Gardens in Seattle, WA

RSVP to Michelle

"What the heck am I looking at right now?" I slam the light pink invitation down on the kitchen counter.

My brother blinks at me a few times, giving me a few more moments to adjust to what I've just read but he's going to be very disappointed because I'm not adjusting to anything. "A wedding invitation," He finally tells me. "For dad."

"Honey, your father is getting remarried," My mom adds, just to make it that much clearer to me.

"He proposed?" I ask because obviously, I'm just not understanding the situation. I'm too shocked to fathom any of this, really. There's no way that my father would marry this lady who we've never met because she isn't part of our family and he can't just choose that she's joining our family just like that.

"Last month," My brother, Gabe, confirms.

"You've known about this for a month?" As if I couldn't get any more shocked at what's going on, he just keeps adding to it. I know that Gabe is closer to our dad than I am but that's still a huge deal and we share most things with each other so I'd expect him to tell me something like that.

"Yes but I didn't want to tell you because I knew that you'd freak out," He starts. "But it really won't be so bad. Look, you can bring a plus one so you'll bring Kellan and I'll bring Cassie and you'll be fine."

"You'll have a great time, Peyton," My mom adds. She's also known for a very long time, I can tell, because if she was just finding out about this, she'd be in tears, absolutely heartbroken. I can still see the pain in her eyes but she's faking it for my and Gabe's benefit. He broke her heart into a million pieces and now he's rubbing her face in it. Bastard. "And what's a better way to start your summer vacation than a road trip to Seattle?"

"A road trip?" I echo, wondering how this continues to get worse and worse every time that one of them opens their mouth. "We're in New Hampshire."

"All flights are already booked... summer is a busy time," She tells me. "Nothing to Portland either."

"I'm sure we can find something," I say stubbornly. Although I love my boyfriend and my brother and I pretty much tolerate his girlfriend, I do not want to go on a cross country road trip with them to see my dad, who I haven't seen in the eight years that it's been since he left our family, ripped us off like a used and dirty Band-Aid and threw us away.

"Even if we could, I think that a road trip will be fun," Gabe adds, looking at me with an apologetic frown because he feels guilty for betraying me. Sure, a cross country road trip would be exciting if I could go with my friends and if it was for a good reason but this definitely isn't a good reason to stuff myself into a car for an entire week.

"This is bullshit," I decide, not willing to hide my anger even though I know that I should. This has to be hard enough for my mother without me making it more difficult.

"Well, I'm not going to go, I have work that entire weekend but you'll let me know how it goes. I trust that you'll be on your best behavior, right, Pey? I don't want to hear your father complaining about you giving him a hard time with this. He wants you to be happy for him," My mom starts to plead with me.

"Happy for him. Right. Why wouldn't I be happy for him? He abandoned us and then found a new family that he likes better. I'm just thrilled," I assure her sarcastically.