Letting Go

Chapter Eleven

The next few days consisted of appointments, rehearsals, dress fittings, meetings and dinners. Dad and Heather were so busy doing last minute things for the wedding that most evenings Spencer and I were left to fend for ourselves. We visited that coffee shop again and went to Lake Tahoe.

Tonight was the rehearsal dinner and I was sitting between Cara and Spencer waiting for Kevin, my dad's best man to finish his excruciatingly long speech on how Heather and dad are a match made in heaven and how he's gonna miss grabbing beers and hitting the babe pools with my dad. I should feel offended by what he was saying but honestly I would have said the same after seeing how dad and Heather are together.

"I know those were only a few words on them but those are all I have for now." 'A few?' I thought to myself. At last he was finished and now stood Cara getting ready to say her speech to the lovely couple.

"Heather, what to say about the two of you." Cara began.

"Well first off I'd like to tell all of you that I made that. You see the couple over there" she pointed to dad and Heather. What did she mean 'she made that'?

"You see 8 years ago when I was in my 3rd year of college I got Thomas as my psychology professor and as soon as I met him I knew from that moment that my sister was meant for him. I mean they had so much in common,"

What? 8 years ago? That's the year before my parents split up.
She was still speaking but I couldn't hear a thing over the sound of my heart beating. I stood up and simply ran out of the hall with tears running down my face.

How could he? First of all he cheats on my mother then he hides his girlfriend every time I come to visit. Like what the hell? I was full on chunking now. I felt an arm wrap around me and all I could do was collapse. I cried for a good ten minutes just letting him hold me. He wiped a tear that was still on my cheek with his thumb. I forgot that I had told him about my parents splitting when I was 10 - seven years ago, he must have connected the dots like I had.

"He wouldn't do that. Would he? He wouldn't cheat on my mom, tell me he didn't cheat on her." I said through my tears. Spencer looked down at me with a worried look on his face.

"I'm sorry" was all he mumbled.

Weren't boyfriends supposed to be encouraging and make you feel better? But I understand, I mean I wouldn't know what to say either. I thought that I had gotten over the divorce but now all the wounds are being reopened. I turned into his chest and cried all the water out of me. Spencer stroked my hair up and down whispering comforting lines of encouragement. I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't come with me on this trip.
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"Jen-bun there you are." I heard a voice say which obviously belonged to my dad.

"Don't Jen-Bun me." I said and stood up so I'd be in front of him.

"Jen, you don't understand." He defended.

"What exactly don't I understand dad? Please explain." I said.

Silence.

"Thought as much. You know dad all 7 years I thought that mom and I were the reason why you left but no you left because you're a man-slut or whatever you call it. You cheated on her then left her for your whore." I was shouting now.

"Don't you dare call her that" he said angrily.

I chuckled a cynical one. "Out of all the things I said, that's the one you decided to respond to." I said and stormed off with Spencer on my tail. I heard my dad calling after me but I just continued to walk.
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I sat alone on my bed trying to make sense of it all. Everything that happened today, trying to prove that my dad did have an excuse, trying to figure out how he met Heather if we lived in Ohio and she here. I missed that part in the speech when my vision blurred and the sound was just a small whisper in the distance. I wondered if I should have let my dad explain but I just didn't want to hear his side, I wanted him to tell me that I was wrong and that he hadn't divorced mom because he was in love with another woman. But I knew it was too good to be true.