Epilogue

Tessa Everything happened for a reason, and Carter’s exposure of my relationships made me feel sleazy for all of five seconds. Pete made me feel like the woman that I’d desired to be from the start. There wasn’t anything that could bring down the rain, and as Pete asked, for the guys to be interviewed. It made the paper even more popular as guys wanted to know what was in it for them, but we didn’t publish their names. What fun would that be? We made it into a little game, and it made the articles even more popular. There were girls who came to college, who, like me, were virgins, and they didn’t think that they were worthy. They saw the pictures of me before my men, and after, they saw that there was a difference in me: one that had resulted, all due to them.

Sometimes, we had dinners at Rich’s penthouse. All seven of us, there was no more jealously, or attitude as the guys all accepted that they were all equally important in my life. If anything, there was a mutual respect that hadn’t been in place before, and I didn’t feel cheap, if anything, I felt the complete opposite when I was with them.

There were only two people that I dreaded telling the most about where I was in life and what I’d become. I was worried that they would judge me and wouldn’t accept me as their daughter.

I’d gone home for Christmas as I’d planned to do, and I wanted them to know, for some reason, I felt brave. No more did I feel ashamed of what was going on in college. Now, it was the complete opposite as I refused to be the shell of a person that I used to be, no I wasn’t Tessa the virgin, the girl who wanted to follow in her dad’s footsteps. I was Tessa, who had seven boyfriends, one for every day of the week.

The tree was up, and everything was ready for Christmas tomorrow, but I had to tell my parents. I was dying to get it all of my chest.

“Dad, Mom, please sit down. I have something to tell you,” I said as I took a deep breath, and they were both standing and admiring the tree.

It was a now, or never moment, and I wanted to talk to Carlos. He was home for the holidays, and his dad was giving him a hard time again. He texted me earlier, and I told him that before Christmas, I had to tell my parents once and for all.

“Tessa, I’m nervous, are you ok?” Dad asked and judging by the look on his face, I could tell that he was worried about my news.

I nodded my head as I started to get nervous and wondered if this was a good idea to tell them the truth.

“It’s the Playboy mansion, isn’t it. The hair, the make-up, the clothes, you’ve decided to follow in your grandma’s footsteps. I told you, Elisa, that she missed her and has taken it into some kind of obsession.”

Mom looked at me, then him. “No way! Playboy mansion. I thought it was closed. Seriously, you think our Tessa wants to be in Playboy?”

He nodded his head, while I shook my head, this was going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be because so far Dad had his own conclusions even if they were all wrong.

“I told you that I brought it up when I dropped her at college, and she couldn’t get out of the car fast enough.”

Mom jumped up as if she'd sat on fire and suddenly felt the burn.

“Oh my God, the sexy photos on her phone. It all makes sense now.”

“Uh?” Both Dad and I said at the same time.

And then I remembered Rich asking me to take a photo of myself coming out of the shower. Some crazy fetish that he had, he liked me being wet. He said that I look hot when I came out of the shower, even though I think that I just look red and flushed.

“Why were you looking through my phone?”

“You left it in the shower, and I saw it, because that morning I was dying to pee and the plumbing in my bathroom’s all messed up, so I ran to the bathroom as soon as you came out and it was sitting next to the sink. I saw the photo before the screensaver chipped in. At the time, I thought, go, girl. My daughter’s finally engaged with her sexuality, and part of me felt proud about the idea of you taking a photo like that.” She smiled as if she was reminiscing about the day and her desperation to pee and my carelessness about leaving my naked photo in the bathroom for my mom to see.

Dad jumped out of his seat, the same way that Mom did a few seconds ago. I sat and watched my parents get hysterical about the news that I hadn’t even shared with them yet.

“You’re proud that our daughter is taking naked photos and sending them to Playboy?”

Mom said in my defense, “Yes. Do you know how bad she was after our divorce? Do you know that she went to CU was to follow in your footsteps? Finally, she was doing something for herself, so yes I am proud, what is wrong with that?”

And right there and then, I saw flashes of the divorce and leading up to it, right in front of my eyes. It was like déjà vu. Something that I’d put so far behind me was reliving itself, and I hated it and hated them for not even giving me a chance to speak. But I didn’t need them to do it. No more was I that shy nine-year-old who blamed herself for her parents breaking up. No, I wasn’t that girl anymore. The guys had helped me grow in the woman that I’d become, as I stood up and told them both to stop.

“Stop. I have seven boyfriends. I’m not into Playboy or have any intention of appearing in a magazine, or the mansion, which I’m pretty sure is closed down.”

No one spoke, but then as I sat back down, Dad said, “But you’re not sleeping with all of them, are you?”

Mom smiled. “I think that’s what she’s telling us when she says that she has seven boyfriends.”

Dad shook his head. “No, no, no this is all my fault. I’m the one that didn’t pay enough attention to you. This is me. This is what I made you become.”

I didn’t say a word as Mom hugged me and showed me that she was proud of me for telling them the truth, which was more than I could say about Dad. He walked out of the door, the same way that he did back then. I realized back then that I’d spent so long trying to appease him, but he couldn’t even accept me for the woman that I had become.

I wasn’t ashamed of my relationships with them, but I was disappointed about the fact that he hadn’t changed, and I never really saw it until now.

He told me that he was going to be a sports reporter, which he officially was, and I was disappointed but then happy for him.

He never did the same thing for me; I wished he could.

“Now, I know why all these packages came in the post, with written instructions not to put them under the tree until Christmas day,” Mom said as I sat and watched Dad drive away.

“What?”

She held a couple of them in her hands. “There were seven of these packages that came via UPS and FedEx. I just thought that it was strange, but they must be from all your men.”

I smiled, because the guys wanted to surprise me and put a smile on my face on Christmas day. I wondered if they all conspired to do this. When I left, I gave them their presents and was disappointed when they gave me nothing in return. Now, it was making sense, the reason why.

“Don't worry about your dad. Let him drive; we’ll have a great Christmas, and tonight I’m going to open up that bottle of champagne that I was holding out for tomorrow because we’ve got some catching up to do!”

I was surprised about her reaction. “Mom, you’re not ashamed of me, like Dad?”

She laughed. “Screw him. Let him go back to his apartment and go write some sports article or something. The only person that man’s ever cared about is himself. I only tolerated it, because I knew how much you loved him, and we were once married. No, my baby went to college and got her groove on. You don’t know how proud I am of you.”

She gave me a big hug as she pulled me up.

“You used to sit around and mope about that man for so many years. I tried to make you see that I was here for you. That I wanted to be a part of your world, and when you started college, new experiences, and all that, all you ever wanted was his attention, and I felt bad. I felt guilty that maybe I made you think that he was worth so much of your time and effort.”

She stopped talking to catch her breath, and then the tears started to roll down her face, and hearing Mom talk about how I used to be, made me feel sad too.

“I’m proud of my baby girl. Proud that she has grown up and is proud of who she is and all of her men. Damn! I wish that I had as much fun in college as you are having right now.”

All this time, I was worried about their reaction to this news. I realized that I knew Mom would support me, but Dad most likely wouldn’t be able to. It was such a shame, and I hoped that one day he would come back in our lives, but part of me didn’t care if he did. Not anymore. I’d wasted so many tears and nights hoping that my dad would come back to me. I had a mom that had always supported me, and I had seven boyfriends. Not one, but seven, and they were waiting for me in the New Year, and I couldn’t wait to be back in their arms. Each and every one of their arms. No more did I fear having seven boyfriends, I loved them and most of all, I loved the new me.