“Holy shit, you’re still doing this.” Paris stares at her in disbelief. “Bending the truth to make it fit what you want it to be. I heard you and Charles, okay? I heard you fighting with him in the other room. You accused him of using you to get to me. And you were right about that, because that’s exactly what he did, because that’s what men like Charles do. And then I heard him laugh and say that you were ugly when you were jealous, and that you’d never be together because you had no class.”
Ruby’s eyes narrow, her cheeks turning pink. “That is not what he said.”
“Oh, Mama,” Paris says, which will be the last time she’ll ever call this woman by that name. “I’ve always envied your ability to deny any reality that doesn’t serve you. Allow me to jog your memory.”
She takes a long sip of the terrible coffee. Then she takes them both back to the night she thought she’d never have to revisit again.
* * *
Joey was in a dead sleep when Charles got into bed beside her. Though she often couldn’t fall asleep when she knew he was nearby, he’d seemed so preoccupied with her mother all evening that it had felt safe this time.
It was her own fault for assuming. It made no difference to Charles that this was his house, his family home, and that his daughter’s bedroom was on the other side of the wall. There were no boundaries with men like him. They were only built one way.
She felt a hand on her stomach, and woke all the way up. Her eyes flew open, but there was nothing to see, because the room was dark. Instinctively, she tried to scuttle to the other side of the bed, but he got on top of her and pinned her down with his body weight.
“Shhhhh,” Charles whispered, his breath acidic from the red wine and cheese he’d been eating earlier. “Just relax. Your mom can be a lot of fun, but I’ve missed you, Joey.”
She wriggled violently underneath him, but like the last time—like every time—it was useless. He was bigger, smarter, and more powerful than she could ever hope to be. It was never a fair fight. All she could do now was close her eyes, remain still, and allow the darkness to take over.
She didn’t know how much time had passed—it could have been one minute, or ten—but she heard the swoosh of the door opening, and then all the lights in the room flicked on. The mattress bounced with the sudden absence of Charles’s weight as he quickly rolled off her, his feet landing on the floor with a heavy thump.
Joey opened her eyes and blinked at the bright room. Her mother was standing in the guest bedroom doorway, her eyes darting from Charles to Joey and then back to Charles again. She looked furious. Joey sat up, the bedsheets falling away, and was relieved to see that she was still dressed.
“What the fuck were you doing?” Ruby’s voice was hoarse. Her eyes were focused with laser precision on the man now stumbling around the bedroom, adjusting his clothes. It was amazing to Joey that her mother would even bother to ask a question she already knew the answer to. “Were you touching my daughter?”
“No, darling, no,” Charles said. His face was bright red. “I got up because I thought I heard a noise, but I’ve had too much to drink. I seem to have ended up in the wrong bedroom.” He forced a laugh.
Ruby turned to her daughter. “Joey? Is that true?”
Joey couldn’t bring herself to answer. Instead, she stared at Ruby, willing her mother to hear her anyway. And now you know, Mama. You saw it with your own eyes. Please make it stop.
Ruby turned to Charles. “You asshole sonofabitch. Am I really not enough for you?”
“Now, Ruby—”
“Don’t you dare Now, Ruby me,” she hissed. “She’s thirteen. Were you trying to fuck her?”
Charles stepped forward and hit her.
Ruby staggered backward, her head smacking the doorframe. Joey could see a red welt forming on the side of her mother’s face.
“Ah, shit,” Charles said in disgust. “Look, this is all a misunderstanding, okay? Let’s all calm down. There’s no reason to be upset. Right, Joey? Tell your mom everything’s fine. And then we’ll all go back to bed. In the morning, I’ll make breakfast and take you girls out shopping. How does that sound?”
“We’ll talk in the bedroom,” Ruby snapped, turning on her heel, and Charles followed her out.
A minute later, Joey heard them arguing, the two of them hurling vicious insults at one another. Ruby called Charles a sick fuck. Charles called Ruby a jealous, gold-digging bitch. The irony was, they were both right.