Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 114492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“Honestly, I felt like I’d met my perfect match—my soul mate, if you will (a phrase I’ve since banished from my vocabulary). We never said ‘I love you’ to each other, because Garrett made it obvious he didn’t feel comfortable with saying ‘trite’ words like that—but that was fine with me. I knew in my heart how we both felt—so I didn’t need to hear the stupid, trite words.
“About six months into our relationship, I invited Garrett to meet my family and, much to my thrill, he said yes. I was super nervous about it because Garrett meeting my family was a pretty big deal to me, but, much to my relief, everyone in my family wound up loving him to pieces. Well, everyone except my oldest brother Colby, who despised Garrett almost instantly. ‘What the fuck is wrong with you, Kumquat?’ he said. ‘Can’t you see he’s using you?’
“I couldn’t believe my ears. I felt completely offended and hurt, like Colby was telling me I wasn’t good enough for a guy like Garrett from a fancy family with a senator-dad. ‘No, honey,’ Colby said. ‘He’s a loser—not even close to good enough for you. He’s completely full of shit.’ Well, I lost it. I told Colby I was gonna marry Garrett one day and it’s too bad he wouldn’t be invited to my wedding and until he learned to say something nice about my future husband he could just forget he had a fucking sister. (Full disclosure: I’m sort of overly dramatic sometimes when I get mad.) Colby said, ‘Don’t worry, Kumquat, I’ll be there to pick up your pieces when he breaks your heart.’
“I was pissed as hell at Colby, especially since everyone else loved Garrett the way I did. But Colby’s comments did make me wonder why Garrett never brought me home to meet his family. But Garrett just kept finding excuses, telling me his dad (the senator) was traveling, or his mom was getting a facelift or bringing school supplies to underprivileged youth in Guatemala or some other rich-person-helping-the-world thing like that—and it just never worked out.
“Finally, about eight months into our relationship, I was supposed to go to a concert with Sarah for her birthday, but she came down with the stomach flu. So I decided to use the opportunity to give Garrett a sexy surprise at his apartment.
“When Garrett opened his apartment door, I clutched my trench coat, intending to rip it open and flash him my birthday suit underneath, when I glimpsed a beautiful brunette over his shoulder inside his apartment. She was sitting at a candlelit table-for-two, a vase of red roses at its center—something Garrett had never once set up for me. Even from a distance, I could see a large, sparkling cross around her neck. And when she moved her hand to her mouth in surprise, something twinkled brightly on her finger in the candlelight.
“Instantly, every doubt and concern I’d stuffed down and reasoned away for months—and every single word Colby had said to me—came slamming into me full-force. In a flash, I knew that pretty, demure girl in Garrett’s apartment was his girlfriend—and maybe even his fiancée if I was reading that flash on her hand correctly—and I knew with every fiber of my being that he’d already said those three little ‘trite’ words to her, the ones I’d longed to hear him say to me. Motherfucker.
“When I tore out of there, sobbing, Garrett followed me, explaining to the back of my head that Maggie’s father was some lah-de-dah über-wealthy businessman who’d invented air freight or some shit like that and she was a really sweet girl from his church back home and well-connected and, he said with utmost reverence, Maggie was saving herself for marriage. At that last statement, I whirled around to face Garrett, my mouth hanging open, my heart shattering. ‘Are you calling me a slut?’ I asked. He didn’t reply, which was reply enough. ‘I thought you loved me,’ I said, wiping away the hot tears streaming down my cheeks. ‘I thought you wanted to marry me one day.’ And do you know what that motherfucker did? He chuckled at the thought of marrying me. And then he said, ‘Come on, Kat, you’re a great girl—super fun—but you’re just not marriage material.’”
I sit and stare at the screen for a minute, tears streaming down my cheeks. Man, those words from Garrett still cut me to the core. I wipe my tears and place my fingers on my keyboard again, but I can’t see well enough to type yet. I can’t believe I’m letting The Asshole get to me, even to this day. But I can’t help it. The pain of getting blindsided like that never fully goes away, I guess.
“I’ve never told anyone (except Sarah) what The Asshole said to me that night,” I finally type. “I’ve always been too embarrassed and ashamed, I guess. I didn’t even tell Colby what Garrett said. All I told him was, ‘You were right.’