Chapter 196 Rhonda's Fabrication
Case was on his way home from the garage when his phone began to ring. He saw that it was his mother and decided not to answer. He’d be home in a bit anyway. Whatever it was she wanted to tell him could wait until then.
He was going to have to do something about her. She was getting out of control. The thought of ending up with a strained relationship, like the one she had with his brother, made him sad. He’d already lost his dad; he didn’t want to lose her, too. But she had become so selfish lately, not thinking about what was best for anyone but herself. He couldn’t continue to put up with the way his mother was treating Andrea.
Pulling into his driveway, he took a few deep breaths and waited to get out of his car. As much as he wanted to see Andrea, he didn’t want to hear about his mother’s dramatic day. No doubt, even if she’d sat in the parlor and read a book all day, she’d have some sort of story to tell him.
When he finally gathered up the gumption to walk in, he found her in the foyer pacing, her phone in her hand. “Oh, thank God. I just tried to call you again. You will never believe what that awful Andrea did today!”
“Mom, why are you here?” Case asked, not even listening to what she’d just said. “I wish you would’ve called me first to let me know you were coming. This isn’t just my house now. Andrea lives here, too, and you need to respect that.
“So now she’s got you to sign over your property to her as well?” Rhonda asked, her eyes open so wide he could’ve served dinner on them.
“No, but she lives here as much as I do. Normally, I’d be glad to see you, but something tells me, despite your recent apology, you’re here to stir up trouble, and I’m just not in the mood for that.”
“I’m stirring up trouble? You just wait until you see what she did today! She tried to drown me!”
“She what?” Case had to bite back a smile. Was his mother actually going there? Even though Andrea had recently almost been drowned herself, she was actually going to try and convince him that his fiancée had tried to drown her?
“Yes! I have the entire incident on film!”
“On film? You mean like with one of those big video cameras from the ‘80s?”
“Case! Be serious! Look!” She thrust her phone in his face, so he took it and hit play.
The recording was his mother flailing her arms wildly and then falling in the pond, yelling at Andrea not to push her. She landed in about two inches of water but continued to scream as if she were dying, even though all she had to do was stand up. While she was certainly in no threat of drowning at anytime, she could’ve hurt her backbone falling in such shallow water. Not that he believed Andrea pushed her. Andrea wasn’t even in the shot. It sounded like her trying to ask Rhonda if she needed help, but every time Andrea began to speak, the video went quiet, as if someone with really bad editing skills tried to cut that out. It also cut and restarted a few times, as if Andrea had stepped over to help but his mom wanted it to appear as if she hadn’t attempted to help.
Case handed the phone back. “So… she pushed you into the pond?”
“Yes! She’s just awful! I bet she did all of those horrible things Sarah was accused of.”
“Where is Andrea now?” Case asked her, letting out a sigh of exhaustion.
“I don’t know. She’s probably gone into hiding somewhere. She probably knows you’ll call the police and have her arrested.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t call the police,” he muttered, hoping not to give her any ideas. “I’ll go talk to her.”
“You’d better do more than that. You’d better demand that ring back. She’s dangerous, Case! Dangerous!”
He walked past her up the stairs, wishing he could just take Andrea and head to the racetrack where he’d be driving over two hundred miles an hour inches from another car but still felt in less danger than here with his mom who seemed to have lost her mind—at least momentarily.
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