Chapter 7 - A Family Divided
Back at the airport motel, chaos had fully erupted within the Burchett ranks. With their luxury vacation utterly ruined, the stress had peeled back the glossy facade of Trevor and Richard’s marriage.
""Forty years!"" Trevor was shrieking, throwing plastic hangers into her open suitcase. ""Forty years of marriage, and you bring me to a roach-infested swamp next to a shipping harbor! You couldn't even stand up to that old woman! You just stood there while her security threw us out!""
""Shut up, Trevor!"" Richard suddenly roared, slamming his fist onto the laminate dresser with such force that a plastic lamp wobbled. ""Just shut your mouth for once in your miserable life!""
The room went dead silent. Callie’s brother and sister-in-law froze in the doorway, clutching bags of fast-food takeout they had been forced to buy for lunch. Trevor stared at her husband in genuine shock; in four decades, the passive, henpecked Richard had never raised his voice at her.
""You caused this!"" Richard shouted, his face purple with fury. ""You and your sick obsession with status! Martha Vance never did anything to you! She was polite, she was quiet, and she minded her own business! But you couldn't stand the fact that Corey's mother didn't come from your stupid country club circle! You mocked her on the internet, you stole her name to get a discount you were too cheap to pay for, and then you treated her like dirt right in her own lobby!""
""Richard, how dare you—""
""No, you listen to me!"" Richard interrupted, breathing heavily. ""We are checking out. I am taking the red-eye flight back to California tonight. You can stay in this dump, you can hire private jets, you can do whatever you want. But I am done enabling your cruelty. And if Callie has any sense left in her head, she’ll apologize to that woman before she ruins her own marriage the way you've ruined ours.""
Callie stood trembling by the door, having just walked in with Corey behind her. Her father's words hit her like a physical blow. She looked at Corey, expecting him to defend her mother, expecting him to step in as he always did.
Instead, Corey looked past her. He calmly walked to the corner of the room, picked up his single duffel bag, and slung it over his shoulder.
""Where are you going?"" Callie asked, panic finally creeping into her voice. ""Corey? Where are you taking your bag?""
Corey looked at his wife, seeing her clearly for the first time without the romantic illusions he had clung to for years. ""I'm going to find my mother, Callie. And whether you come with me or get on that plane with your parents is entirely up to you. But I am never, ever going to be a part of this toxic circus again.""
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""Corey, you can't leave me here!"" Callie cried, running after him down the exterior motel walkway. ""I'm your wife! You're supposed to stand by me!""
Corey stopped at the top of the concrete stairs and turned. ""I was supposed to honor my mother, too. I failed her. But I'm not going to spend the rest of my life living as a coward just to keep your mother happy.""
