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I watch them walk away, Cyrus following them. I guess he decided meeting a homeless guy was going to be more fun than this conversation. I’m thinking he’s not wrong.
“You digging older chicks these days, Park?”
“Cute, Mike. Ida Sue is bound and determined to matchmake. She thinks I’m lonely. So, she’s not leaving my side.”
“She that bored?” I laugh, wishing this was over and I was alone with Violet once more.
“Nah. She won’t admit it, but she’s hiding from her daughter, Maggie.”
“What did she do to her daughter that she needed to leave town and be your shadow?” I ask, mildly interested, but mostly putting off the reason for Parker’s visit.
“Drove her out to the country and left her stranded.”
“Uh—”
“With Maggie’s ex-husband.”
“Oh shit.”
“That was two weeks ago. She says she has to go home and face the music next week. She doesn’t seem really excited about it, but I’m hoping that means she will give up on trying to get me and Faye together.”
“You should just tell Faye how you feel. If a woman that barely knows you can see it…”
“Let it go, okay Mike?” I nod, letting it go. It’s not like I really want to talk about it anyway. I don’t want to talk about anything. “Mom told me what happened,” he finally adds.
“So?”
“Fuck man, I had no idea. You have to be hurting—”
“I’m fine,” I tell him, shaking my head in disagreement.
“Bullshit. I heard how ugly it was. Damn it, Mike, why didn’t you come to me?”
“Because I really am fine,” I stress. “Listen, Dad…Arthur and I have always hated each other. It’s refreshing to know the truth as to why he despised me so much all of these years. If you want to know the truth, it’s a fucking relief to know his blood doesn’t flow in my veins. It’s me who should be feeling sorry for you.”
“Christ, our parents have always been fucked up, but I had no idea how deep it ran,” Parker hisses out under his breath.
“That’s definitely true. You want a beer?”
“Little too early for that, Mike.”
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I sigh, not really wanting one anyway. Honestly, I just wanted an excuse to break away from this conversation.
“You and I are still family, Mike. Nothing is ever going to change that,” Parker announces, staring straight at me and practically daring me to argue.
“I know that, big brother. I just have a lot of shit to work through in my head. I need time to do that.”
“You could come back to Texas with me. I’ve got a huge ass apartment. I’m not working. Time seems to be all I have.”
“School, at least for a few more months. I’m not sure what’s going to happen after graduation. Plus, Violet wouldn’t agree to leave here. She thought she was going to have to once, and the idea of leaving Rooster behind nearly killed her. I wouldn’t ask her to make that decision.”
“Your thing with this girl that serious, Mike?”
“Violet is everything to me,” I tell him, my voice going hoarse.
“Well, damn. It could just be sex, bro. I mean you’re young and there are a lot of girls—”
“I’m rich—or rather I was—I know about girls and sex, Parker. I know so much that I wish I didn’t. Violet is the real thing.”
“Mike—”
“I love her and with the exception of you, I’ve never felt that emotion before in my life. I love her and I love her in a way that I got to tell you, Park… I wouldn’t care who her brother is, nothing would keep me from her.”
I watch a cover come over his face as he locks down his emotions. I know I scored a direct hit, and maybe it was an asshole thing to do, but I can’t help it. Parker can’t lecture me on love, when he’s afraid to take the plunge himself. I know what I have in Violet and I’m never-fucking-ever giving her up.
“What can I do to help you?” he asks after a minute.
“Not a thing. Violet and I are fine.”
“What about money? Jesus, man, this place is a dive,” Parker grumbles and the way he moves his hand through his hair and rubs the back of his neck shows me how frustrated he is.
Parker is a fixer. He likes to swoop in and fix any situation. That’s who he is. The problem is, I wasn’t lying. Until this moment, I never realized it, but I really don’t have anything that needs fixing. I have Violet and we’re figuring out shit on our own. If I’m going to be really honest, this is the best I’ve felt about life… ever. I’m just having trouble reconciling the fact that people who were supposed to care the most about me, didn’t really give a shit. That along with the fact that they lied to my face for twenty years and let me think a man who hates me is my father has me messed up in the head. But I will work through that, too, and when I do, I won’t give a fuck about any of them. They aren’t my life now. Violet, and our future together, is.
