This time, she needed something.
Of course she did.
She explained that Blake’s parents hadn’t paid their share of the venue deposit.
They were supposedly $80,000 short.
Would I co-sign a loan?
She assured me it would basically be temporary because wedding gifts would supposedly cover everything later.
Then came the line:
“You know I’d do the same for you.”
I actually laughed.
This woman had just excluded my seven-year-old daughter because she might make the photographs less perfect.
Now she wanted me financially responsible for an $80,000 wedding loan.
I didn’t answer.
Later, Lily noticed the message on my phone.
“That’s a lot of money,” she said.
“It is.”
She went quiet.
Then she said,
“Aunt Alyssa doesn’t like me.”
That hurt.
I told her the problem wasn’t her.
“Sometimes adults make selfish choices because they’re thinking too much about themselves.”
Lily considered that for a second.
Then she said,
“Then don’t help her. Maybe she needs to learn.”
That sentence stayed with me.
For the first time in years, something started shifting inside me.
Not explosive anger.
Something quieter.
Something patient.
A few days later, Alyssa posted a picture online with Blake.
The caption read:
“Venue secured. Couldn’t have done it without family.”
Family.
I stared at that word.
Then I smiled.
I knew I was finished being manipulated.
