Chapter 2

Watching me tap and swipe at the phone, Cornelius had no idea I was logging into his account. He thought I was just poking at the screen to vent, and his face got worse by the second.

"Layla, what's the meaning of this?"

"If you've got something to say, say it. Don't sit there in silence just to make me feel bad."

"Everyone's standing here waiting. Do you really have to make a scene until nobody's happy?"

Selina and Eustace's faces went hard too.

"So immature. Making a fuss this long over some little thing."

Eustace shook his head.

"Forget it. If you want to stand here wasting time, then waste it. Stay as long as you like."

"We've got the airport shops to browse. We're not staying here with you."

And with that, they pulled Cornelius's cousins along and headed straight for security.

They didn't spare my mother so much as a glance.

Cornelius watched them go, then looked at the phone in my hand, his face livid.

"Layla, look what you've done."

"A perfectly good trip that hasn't even started, and you've ruined it. Look at it."

"If this is going to be your attitude, then don't come. Stay home and keep your mother company!"

With that, he snatched the phone out of my hand, turned, and hurried after his parents.

My mother panicked and rushed after him.

"Cornelius, don't be angry. Don't leave Layla behind."

Hearing his name called, Cornelius turned his head.

But the second he saw it was my mother, he spun right back around.

His steps even picked up, quicker than before, as if my mother were something clinging to him he couldn't shake off.

She saw it. She stopped chasing, dropped her head, and the tears came.

"Layla, am I a burden to you?"

My eyes stung.

The disgust I felt for the Jameses only deepened.

"No. You're not a burden."

I held my mother's hand tight.

"You never were."

"And besides, all of this is their fault. Every bit of it."

"Layla..."

She wanted to say something more, some words to talk me down, but I didn't give her the chance.

This one year of marriage, and I'd already lost every last bit of faith in Cornelius.

From small things, like never putting the toilet seat down, to big ones, like lying that his father had hurt his leg and needed money for treatment, when really he'd been funding their trips around the country behind my back.

I'd already been thinking about divorcing him.

After what had happened with my mother, I was only more certain.

Cornelius was no good man.

And the Jameses were no place to stay.

"Mom, I know what I'm doing. Don't worry about me."

I said it with a smile.

"Right now, the first thing we do is buy tickets to Aspen!"

My mother froze.

"Aspen? You're not going to Miami anymore?"

I nodded.

"No."

"I only want to go to Aspen with you!"

That threw her.

"But your mother-in-law and the rest of them, won't they have something to say?"

"It doesn't matter anymore."

For the first time, I let my mother see that I was thinking about divorce.

"Mom, once we're back from Aspen, I'm divorcing Cornelius."

My mother went quiet all at once.

For a long time. Long enough that I thought the words had frightened her.

Then she pulled me into her arms.

"My Layla, you've suffered. Whatever you do, I'm behind you."