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Seven Seats, and Not One of Them Was Mine
Novelix
Completed
When Erin is abandoned on the roadside by her husband Sean, daughter Chloe, and his childhood friend Lauren during college move-in day, she decides to reclaim her life. She sells the house her parents bought her, files for divorce, and cuts off all financial support. She soon discovers Sean's decades-long affair with Lauren and their secret son Mason. After the divorce, Sean's life unravels, Lauren leaves him, and Chloe regrets her betrayal. Erin builds a new life, finds love with Julian, and finally lives for herself.
Chapters (3)
第1章
When our daughter Chloe started college, my husband Sean and I decided to drive her to campus for move-in day.
Along the way, we also picked up Sean’s childhood friend, Lauren, and her son, Mason.
During the drive, Chloe suddenly suggested a name-that-song game. We’d hear the intro, guess the title, and whoever got the fewest right would have to take a punishment.
Once the music started, I didn’t recognize a single song.
But every time an intro played, the four of them practically shouted the answer at once.
Lauren sat in the passenger seat. She glanced at the playlist on her phone and covered her mouth with a laugh.
“Oh, it’s my personal playlist. No wonder everything sounds so familiar. This doesn’t count as cheating, does it?”
Sean answered casually, “How is that cheating? There’s nothing about you I don’t know.”
Chloe giggled. “Lauren has great taste. These are all songs people my age listen to.”
It was a seven-seater, yet I was stuck in the very back with the luggage, unable to get a word in.
Only when the game ended did Lauren finally turn around to look at me.
“Erin, you didn’t get a single one right. A bet’s a bet. You’re not going to back out, are you?”
“We’re not that far from campus anymore. How about your punishment is walking to the bus stop and taking the bus the rest of the way? Everyone agree?”
My entire body stiffened.
It was ninety-six degrees outside, and the GPS showed the nearest bus stop was eighteen miles away.
Chloe nodded.
“Agreed. Mom, you suck at this. If you lose, you take the punishment. Besides, sitting back there, all you’re doing is passing us snacks anyway.”
Sean pulled over without another word.
“You can’t stop here long. Hurry up.”
They left me on the side of the road without a cent on me.
The car pulled away immediately.
Not one of them hesitated.
I bought a train ticket home without a second thought.
Then I contacted a realtor and told them to list the house for an expedited sale.
...
The second my payment went through, I called a rideshare to the station.
We hadn’t been driving long when Sean called.
“Where are you? Chloe’s dorm still needs to be set up. Hurry over here.”
I watched the interstate signs slide past outside the window.
“I’m almost at the station.”
There was a pause on the other end.
“What did you say?”
“I said I’m not going to campus.”
Sean’s voice instantly turned cold.
“Erin, seriously? Today is Chloe’s first day of college. What kind of tantrum are you throwing now?”
“I’m not throwing a tantrum.”
He let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Unbelievable. Lauren is helping Chloe make her bed right now, while her actual mother just turns around and leaves. How do you think that makes your daughter feel?”
Noise filled the background, followed by Lauren’s gentle voice.
“Don’t worry. I’ll put the sheets on.”
Sean lowered his voice.
“I’m telling you one last time. Come back. Now.”
I hung up.
By the time I reached the station and passed through security, Chloe was calling.
She sounded furious.
“Mom, what the hell are you doing? Dad said you went home?”
“Today is my move-in day! Everyone else has their parents here, and you’re the only one missing. Do you know how embarrassing that is?”
I looked up at the departure board.
Boarding started in five minutes.
“You have Lauren with you. I thought you liked her better than me anyway.”
She didn’t see anything wrong with that.
Instead, she kept complaining.
“You’ve got some nerve saying that. Lauren’s been helping me unpack this whole time while my actual mom isn’t even here.”
“I still need to buy stuff, pay my dorm deposit, and cover my meal plan. I’m short. Send me five hundred dollars.”
For the first time in my life, I refused my daughter.
“No.”
There were two seconds of silence.
Then Chloe snapped.
“What do you mean, no? I’m in college now. Everything costs money, and you’re seriously not giving me any?”
“Your dad’s there. Ask him.”
She immediately complained, “You’ve always been the one who gave me spending money.”
“I’m taking everyone on my floor out to eat tonight, and I need new shoes. Eight hundred dollars a month isn’t enough.”
“That’s your problem.”
Chloe’s voice trembled with rage.
“Are you doing this to get back at me because we made you get out of the car?”
“Think whatever you want.”
I hung up and put my phone on silent.
Less than half an hour later, Chloe sent me a photo.
She stood outside her dorm, smiling brightly.
Lauren was beside her, looking down as she straightened Chloe’s collar.
Sean stood on Chloe’s other side, with Mason next to him.
The four of them looked perfectly happy together.
Like a family.
Under the picture was one sentence.
“Whatever. I’ve got someone else to be my mom.”
I stared at the picture for two seconds.
Then I deleted it without expression.
My train arrived.
第2章
The moment I got home and turned my phone back on, I saw Chloe’s newest social media post.
She had uploaded nine photos.
There were pictures inside the dorm, photos by the check-in sign, and even a picture of her student information form.
Under “Emergency Contact,” she had written Lauren’s name.
Relationship: Mother.
Most of the other pictures showed Chloe linking arms with Lauren, grinning from ear to ear, with the four of them posing together.
The caption was simple.
“First day of college. Thanks to my bonus mom for being here with me.”
The comments were already piling up.
“Your mom looks so young!”
“Your mom is gorgeous.”
“Both parents came for move-in day? That’s so sweet.”
Chloe replied, “They’ve always been so good to me.”
Not long after that, she called again.
She sounded angry from the second I answered.
“You’re seriously not sending me money?”
“No.”
She tried to hold back her temper.
“I needed money for dorm supplies today, plus the deposit. It was over three hundred dollars.”
“Dad paid for everything. He looked pissed.”
“He said you deliberately dumped all this on him and ruined everyone’s day. Happy now?”
My lips curled faintly.
“So let me get this straight. I’m your mother, so when I pay for you, that’s expected. But when your father pays, suddenly it’s a burden?”
She went silent for a few seconds.
Then Chloe sounded even more irritated.
“Lauren said she’d pick up my orientation materials tonight and come to the family orientation with me tomorrow.”
“So go home if you want. Stop acting like we can’t survive without you. I have Lauren and Dad. That’s enough!”
She hung up furiously.
Then she immediately made another pointed post.
“Last road trip before college, exploring a new city with Mom and Dad. From now on, Lauren is officially my bonus mom!”
Over the next few days, Sean and Lauren really didn’t come home.
Chloe posted travel pictures every day.
The four of them looked exactly like a happy family.
I didn’t react.
I simply urged my attorney to prepare the divorce papers and contacted the realtor to put the house on the market.
When the realtor asked for the ownership documents, I stared at my name on the deed and wondered how I could have been so foolish all these years.
When Sean and I got married, my parents knew he was just starting his career and didn’t have much money.
So they bought the house outright for me.
They wanted me to have security.
Something that was mine.
Yet for more than twenty years, I had poured everything I had into Sean and Chloe.
I gave them every resource I could.
And they used all of it to please Lauren.
Maybe in their eyes, I had never been anything more than a tool.
An unpaid maid.
I didn’t need a family like that.
A few evenings later, Sean came home.
The moment he walked through the door, his face darkened.
“Erin, you’ve really outdone yourself.”
He slammed his car keys onto the coffee table.
“On Chloe’s first day of college, you abandoned everything halfway through. You didn’t even give her spending money. You dumped the whole mess on me.”
“You used to obsess over this stuff. What’s with the attitude now?”
I watched him rage without expression.
Then I finally answered.
“You’ve ignored me for years.”
“I stopped taking care of everything for half a day, and you’re already this angry?”
Sean froze for a second before getting even angrier.
“You’re still throwing a tantrum? She’s your daughter! You missed an important moment in her life over something this petty!”
“I spent over three hundred dollars on her move-in because you refused to handle it. In the end, I had to pay!”
I smiled.
“You never complain when you spend money on Lauren.”
“But when it’s Chloe, suddenly it’s my fault?”
“She’s your daughter too. You just never wanted to pay because you knew I’d always cover it.”
His expression stiffened.
“Why are you dragging Lauren into this again? Do you have any idea how much she’s done for you these past few days?”
“She ran around doing everything because you, Chloe’s actual mother, refused to show up. And she didn’t complain once.”
I looked at him.
“Of course she didn’t.”
“She practically looks like the woman of this house now, doesn’t she?”
Sean’s face turned livid.
“You’re impossible.”
I didn’t bother arguing anymore.
Instead, I pulled up a transaction record and shoved it in front of him.
It was dated yesterday.
Fifty thousand dollars had been transferred to Lauren.
Memo: College preparation.
“Explain this.”
Sean looked at the transaction.
His brows snapped together.
第3章
But he didn’t deny it.
“Yeah, I sent Lauren money. So what?”
My gaze went completely cold.
Sean sat down on the couch as if he had every right in the world.
“Lauren raised her son alone. We’ve known each other since we were kids. Of course I should help her when I can.”
“You helped her with my money?”
“We’re married. Do we really need to draw lines like that?”
I stared at him without speaking.
Sean only grew more confident.
“Besides, Mason is starting college too. He needs a laptop, a phone, spending money. None of that is free.”
“The kids are close. We can’t let one of them have everything while the other has nothing.”
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
“Our daughter started college, and you expected me to pay for everything before dumping me on the side of the road.”
“But someone else’s son starts college, and you send him fifty grand in advance.”
“Sean, you’re incredible.”
His face darkened.
“Stop making it sound so ugly. At the end of the day, you’re still bitter about what happened during move-in.”
He tugged irritably at his collar.
“Lauren would never act like this. She has Mason to worry about, but she still stayed with Chloe the entire time.”
“You couldn’t even handle losing a stupid game with your own daughter. How could you ever compare to Lauren?”
His phone rang.
Sean glanced down and answered immediately, his voice softening.
“Hey, Lauren?”
I stood there silently.
I couldn’t hear what she said, but Sean frowned.
“More money? Didn’t we just buy all the orientation stuff?”
After a pause, his voice lowered.
“Chloe wants to buy coffee for everyone on her floor? Fine. Cover it for now. I’ll send you the money later.”
He hung up looking even more irritated than before.
Then he turned on me.
“All the other girls in the dorm bought coffee for everyone. You’re the only mother who wouldn’t give her daughter money, so Lauren had to cover it.”
I looked at him.
“I already told you. You’re her father, and Lauren is the mother she chose.”
“Of course you should pay for her. The only reason you don’t want to is because both of you got too comfortable spending my money.”
Sean finally exploded.
“What’s the point of saying this now? Chloe just started college. Everything costs money!”
“You’re her mother, and you don’t care about her at all.”
I gave him a faint smile.
“I cared about her for years.”
“I don’t want to anymore.”
Sean stared at me as if he were seeing me for the first time.
After several seconds, he gritted out, “Fine. Let me tell you something.”
“Chloe has Lauren as her bonus mom at school now. Even if you regret this, it’s too late.”
My fingers paused.
Sean stared at me, his voice full of mockery.
“You know what Chloe said?”
“She said Lauren is a better mother than you.”
He finished speaking and waited, clearly expecting me to be hurt.
Instead, I only felt disgusted.
Whatever feelings I still had left vanished.
“Let’s get divorced.”
The living room went silent.
Sean stared at me for a long moment as if he thought he had misheard.
“What did you say?”
“Erin, who exactly are you trying to threaten over something this stupid?”
His expression darkened.
“Think carefully. What are you going to do after a divorce? You’re not young anymore. Stop making trouble.”
I didn’t even look up.
“This isn’t about today.”
“It’s about years.”
“Pick a day and sign the papers. If you refuse, I’ll have my attorney handle it.”
Sean stared at me, then suddenly sneered.
“Fine. Divorce me.”
“Just don’t come crawling back when you regret it.”
“You abandoned Chloe today. Someday, she won’t even acknowledge you as her mother.”
“That’s her choice.”
Sean’s face darkened even further.
I stood and was about to walk around him when the doorbell rang.
