Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Chapter ten
Mont
“Marriage is a time-honored institution. It’s a great agreement between two people, and it doesn’t always have to involve emotions. Oftentimes, it’s best when it doesn’t. Happiness can still be achieved with an acceptable amount of risk. There are more benefits than drawbacks all around when done correctly.”
Two minutes into dinner, and I already regret bringing Connor with me. He’s one of my best friends, but he’s from a different kind of family. My parents are exceptionally normal for rich people, while his parents were the triple D kind. Distant, dysfunctional, and desensitized. They treated Connor like he was more of an object—an heir to the family fortune—than a kid. He didn’t get sent to boarding school, but he was in private schools, and he hung out with other kids who weren’t getting what they needed at home. They formed a sort of pack. I’ve met his friends from high school, and they’re all kind of emotionally detached from the world. Another good D word. They’re good at running their own empires, and they have great business sense. But emotions? They don’t do emotions.
It’s different from how I don’t do them. I do emotions. Just not well. And that’s not even true. I’m honestly great at some of them.
I feel like they’re just a different brand of being lost when compared to me. They don’t believe in love in any sort of capacity. Marriage and children? Yes. They’re on board. Just not the way I would want to be.
My parents are still in love. They have their quirks, but they respect each other, and they’ve made a thirty-five-year marriage seem like it was easy when I know it wasn’t. Connor’s parents, on the other hand? They might be married, but I know neither his mom nor his dad has been faithful to the marriage. They care a lot about what their standing in society looks like, so on the surface, they’re the perfect kind of family, but underneath, it’s all rot and sadness.
I met Connor in my first year of college, and it didn’t take long for him to confess everything. Basically, on day one, over the first beer. He just looked at me, and with that strange frankness I’ve always admired, he told me about what a fucked up childhood he had and how his family was a hot mess on the underbelly.
Usually, he doesn’t get into it with strangers, but after our crab appetizers arrived, I admitted how Evilla and I met. She and Genevieve shared a few guilty looks about that, but then they started laughing, and I joined in. Any hard feelings I had about the switch-up have been lost. I needed to learn a few things, and laughing at myself was one of them. I’ve never been able to do that. Since I then had to admit the rest of what I did, I suppose it opened up a door for Connor to expound on his theories about relationships.
The real Genevieve sits next to the window and across from me, on the same side of the booth with Evilla. This was the only booth open, and the fact that it was the same one as last time seemed a little bit funny and odd to me, but what did I really know about these things? Well, just that Evilla and I shared a look about it when we got here. Connor and I had waited outside for the women to arrive, and we all went in together and sat down.
The real Genevieve is a tall, blonde bombshell. Now that they’re together, it’s easy to see that they look nothing alike, though they’re both lovely in different ways. Alright, if I’m honest, Genevieve is pretty, and anyone could see that, but Evilla is captivating.
Genevieve snorts, and she makes a face like she’s auditioning for a role in a movie exclusively about pulling funny faces. “Jesus, that’s quite a dismal attitude.”
Connor shakes his head. “I don’t think looking at marriage like a business agreement is wrong. The marriages that involve the careful planning and assessment of two different people’s characters to determine compatibility and workability, those are the ones that last.”
I’ve had a crab cheese stick paused halfway to my mouth for the past two minutes, so I take a bite, letting the juicy crab flavors roll over my tongue. I can’t believe Connor put this out there. I always thought he didn’t want to be anything like his parents.
“I think you’re crazy if you’re getting married with that kind of attitude,” Genevieve tosses back, but he keeps it light.
She and Evilla are both wearing green. Evilla’s dress is emerald with lime green flowers all over it, and if it’s not vintage, then I’m a coconut tree. Genevieve’s is probably designer and much more modern. It’s strapless and streamlined, and when I walked in, I noticed her designer bag and heels. Evilla’s heels, however, are funky and fun in contrast. They aren’t nearly so high, and they’re bright purple like she doesn’t give two flying figs on foxes about blending in. At work, she might dress in a more understated way, but I like this wild side of her.