Summer's Crucible- Chapter Eight: I'm Surprised That You're Surprised

Summer had to lie low for a few weeks while she recovered. During that time, Summer's insurance plan paid the bulk of her medical care expenses. However, a sizable twenty percent of the bill fell into her lap, forcing Summer to have her credit run to set up a payment plan with the hospital for the remaining sum. This was anticipated as an uneventful task, which boiled down to a simple phone call. Yet, in actuality, this played out to have serious hiccups. The employee on the other end of the line stumbled for a moment before she said, "This is different. The payment schedule I'm trying to create for you is being declined because, according to this, you took out multiple credit cards when you were here. Including when you were under anesthesia in surgery." A very confused Summer replied, "That's not right. Something must be wrong. I've had the same credit card for the last decade, and I save it specifically for emergencies." The woman then told Summer she should follow up with her bank to find out the source of this error because she could not continue with her any further at that time due to a credit freeze from a fraud alert.

Upon further investigation, the bank flagged Summer's accounts because she was officially the victim of identity theft. Summer's name had been used on multiple credit cards, as well as a second mortgage that was taken out on Mimsy's house in Summer's name. Summer's bank was not immediately aware of these fraudulent activities because it was done through payday loans and other less-than-reputable companies that had astronomical interest rates. The authorities were then dispatched to take a statement from Summer, who, of course, explained that she had fallen out of favor with her adopted mother after an argument about Mimsy's want of extensive plastic surgery. Then there was nothing to be heard of on that front for quite some time. The dust had settled long before Summer was fully compensated for the missing funds, which made her recovery from her procedure all the more taxing.

To add insult to injury, Pat's siding and screen door installation company finally went under due to too many larger operations in the area. Poor Pat just could not compete. Pat's religious zealot son, Jon, took over the business once Pat gave up. Jon immediately put his wife on as the office manager, leaving Summer wholly unemployed. Summer heard later that the company filed for bankruptcy less than a year after she had been dismissed. This did not please Summer, who was hoping to eventually get her job back once Jon, as he was known to do, flaked out on his work. Luckily, at least Landon came through for Summer. Once all of the papers were signed, Landon's money hit her new account, which greatly helped hold her over.

It wasn't long before Summer was walking and driving without issue, despite a more rigid range of motion than she was used to. To make ends meet, Summer went back to being a restaurant manager. The hours were long, but she became accustomed to the taxing shifts in due time. In a way, Summer welcomed the change in her schedule because Heather had all but dropped out of communication now that she was living and working with Morgana at her yoga studio. Summer was glad that the business partnership between Yang and Heather had turned out to be so lucrative for them both. Still, it put Summer in a lonely place at times. This was why she was glad she was well enough to fill out her day through her employment.

It was a full three years before Mimsy had her day in court. The woman Summer had known as her mother now appeared with a completely different face and figure. According to the reports and what the District Attorney had put together, Mimsy had gotten nearly every possible plastic surgery procedure done with Dr. Wentz, as well as at a handful of other spas. In total, she had a facelift, a BBL, breast implants with a lift, a tummy tuck, many treatments of fillers, liposuction, and a rhinoplasty. The list went on and likely had omissions. Mimsy's journey to replacing herself with new parts did not start with Summer's bank account. The formerly well-funded Mimsy first went through her retirement savings. After that, she took out a new mortgage on her paid-off home before attempting to scam Heather, which was met with no success.

On the stand, Summer gave her testimony about finding out her savings had been cleared out after she was home from the hospital. Mimsy, to her credit, gave the most emotion-filled speech of the day. It was more than Summer had ever seen out of her. The judge had Mimsy step down to compose herself a few times. By Mimsy's own words, she was the victim of her generation. She had been alone for years and finally snapped out of desperation. Most damagingly Mimsy concluded by stating that she deserved Summer's money because she had taken her in when no one else would have. Thus making Mimsy a savior of sorts who was rightly entitled to Summer's adult earnings, making her a hero. Until that moment, Summer felt pity for Mimsy. However, once Mimsy revealed her true self as a person who only ever cared for Summer for her altruistic motivations of having primarily adopted Summer for attention and financial gain, which never panned out as she had hoped, Summer could see that Mimsy was not sad, but angry that she had lost her ability to dominate and control.

Mimsy was ultimately convicted. At her sentencing, she was to be incarcerated for nineteen months with the possibility of parole in eight months, and was to never again contact Summer. As Mimsy was ushered away to her life behind bars, she rebuked Summer for letting the system take her. Summer stood by watching in amazement at the person she had always given the benefit of the doubt to. Rusty, Heather, and Cecilia were there to comfort Summer.

Sadly, Landon was not, even though only he would have understood the hurt Summer was experiencing. Summer later found an old wedding announcement for Landon and Paisley online. Landon was standing at an altar, looking to the sky as if he was truly miserable, holding back tears, while the heavily pregnant Paisley smiled deliriously, looking directly at the camera. Summer realized that Landon was finally being forced into adulthood away from his security blanket of prolonged youthful antics. Summer and Landon grew up at some point after their separation. It was bittersweet, but they could no longer be the emotional support the other one would run to in times of adversity. For the first time in Summer's life, she felt truly like she was on her own.