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I pushed the door open and stepped inside the house.
“It’s not fair!” Oliver screamed. “You don’t get it, Mom! You just don’t!” Tears ran down his reddened face. He was standing in front of the couch in his Boy Scout uniform, facing off with Jenna, who was cradling Marley against her chest a few feet away. My daughter was whining and burying her face in Jenna’s shirt. Olivia was on the love seat, slouched over and covering her ears.
“Oliver, please calm down,” Jenna said, glancing over at me and mouthing, I’m sorry, as I stepped farther into the room after securing the door. She turned back to Oliver. “We can talk about this later when you’re not so upset.”
“No!” He stomped his foot. “No, Mom! I don’t want to talk about this later…Nothing’s going to change! I’m not going!”
“Okay, fine, you don’t have to go…Nobody is making you go, baby.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, rounding the couch and stepping up beside Jenna. I took Marley from her, holding my daughter against my chest, then looked to Oliver just as more tears rolled down his cheeks.
I’d never seen him upset before. He was always happy.
“You okay, bud?” I asked him.
Oliver looked at me. His lip started quivering a second before he slapped his hands over his face and sobbed so hard, he nearly folded in on himself. His little shoulders jerked in distress.
Jenna moved closer, reaching out for him. “Oh, baby…I’m sorry.”
“I want to go,” he whimpered. “I want to go so bad, Mom. This isn’t fair…” He sniffled, lifting his head to peer up at her. Before Jenna could touch him, he jerked back and twisted out of reach, shouting, “Stop! Just leave me alone!”
Jenna straightened up and drew her hand against her chest.
Oliver scrambled onto the love seat with his sister, lying sideways with his back to us and curling himself into a ball. He cried into the armrest while Olivia patted his hip. She was crying now too.
“I’m so sorry,” Jenna whispered, turning away from them to face me. She had tears in her eyes now.
I rubbed Marley’s back and gestured for Jenna to follow me into the kitchen. “Come on. Let’s talk.”
She glanced back at her kids. “Can we go outside?” she asked, halting me at the slider.
“Yeah, of course.” I pulled the door open and followed her onto the deck. The evening sun dipped toward the horizon.
Jenna stepped up to the railing and looked below us. Her hands curled around the wood. “I just didn’t want them hearing,” she explained when I got beside her. She offered me a sad smile.
“What happened?”
“I’m sorry he was yelling like that in your house.”
“Jenna, I don’t care. He can yell wherever he wants.” I stepped closer. “What happened? Why is he so upset?”
Marley had settled down now and was rubbing her face against my shirt. She’d be asleep soon. I could tell she was tired. I pressed my lips to her hair and patted her back, watching Jenna gaze out at the ocean.
“Oliver’s Boy Scout troop has this father/son campout every year,” she began, her voice sad and small. “It’s really cool. They do all these special bonding activities—fishing, canoeing, build your own campfire, stuff like that. For the past two years, my brother has gone with him…I didn’t want Oliver missing out. Brian offered to go again this year, but Oliver doesn’t want him to go. Apparently, the other kids have been making fun of him. They know Brian isn’t his dad.” She shook her head. “I had no idea they were doing that. I can only imagine what they said.”
“Kids can be assholes,” I offered, jaw clenching through my speech. I began to wonder what all was said to him myself. I didn’t like knowing they’d upset him.
“Oliver is pretty tough. He’s had kids picking on him before for different things, but nothing bothers him like this…This isn’t like being made fun of for wearing glasses.”
I waited, just kept watching her…I wanted to ask. I wanted to know—honestly, I had been curious about this for a while.
“Jenna.” She peered over at me. “Where is their dad?”
“Denver,” she answered. “Unless he’s moved. I wouldn’t know. We haven’t spoken in seven years.”
“He doesn’t talk to them?”
“No.” She turned her head toward the slider. “He never has.”
I stood taller. Anger pulsed through me, straining the muscles in my shoulders and neck. Her response caught me off guard. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting…a father who only checked in occasionally due to obligations or one who had passed away? Those excuses I could wrap my head around. Not this. I couldn’t understand this. Even if you weren’t on good terms with your kids’ mother…This dick never spoke to Oliver and Olivia? Not even once? Why the fuck not?
“Um, okay, long story short,” she began, looking down and away.
