He turns to me and shakes his head. “Nothing.”
“Doesn’t sound like nothing.”
He drops his head down between his shoulders.
The front door opens, and Ella steps out with her hands on her hips. “And when you get in here, I want the bathroom clean and the floors mopped.” I can tell by her tone that she’s upset. She spots me and her face softens a little.
“Hi, Mitch.”
“Hey!”
AJ spins around and heads into the house. I watched him disappear before making my way to Ella.
“Everything okay?”
She shakes her head as she walks down the stairs toward me. We meet at the halfway mark.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him. I came home early today to find AJ and three random new friends on my back porch drinking beer and vaping.”
“What?” That isn’t like AJ at all.
The kid is hell-bent on being an athlete and talks about keeping his body clean. Hell, he won’t even drink Gatorade because he claims it has too much sugar.
“That doesn’t sound like him.”
Ella shakes her head. “He says he wasn’t doing it. And from what I could smell from his breath, I didn’t get a scent of alcohol or anything. But still he knows better. He shouldn’t even have had people around him doing that type of stuff. Cameron was in the house, for goodness' sakes. What would have happened if he had picked up one of those cans.”
I could tell by her voice that she was about to go into a panic attack. Her breathing increased and her hands were shaking. I placed my hands on her shoulder and pulled her into me. She came willingly. Her face pressed into my chest.
“Breathe, baby.” The endearment was out my mouth before I could catch it, but I still didn’t take it back.
“I feel like I’m losing him.”
I lean her head back, pinching her chin so she can stare up at me. “You’re not losing him. What he did was stupid, but at least he didn’t partake in the activities.”
“This time. What about—”
I cut her off. “Don’t drive yourself crazy with scenarios that didn’t happen and may never happen. As of right now, he didn’t drink or smoke.”
She lets out a breath and closes her eyes. “I don’t know how to do this alone. I feel like I’m failing them.”
“You aren’t alone. You got me and you have Drew.” That last part was bullshit, but it was only right I added him into the mix.
She scoffs and shakes her head. “I called him.”
“What did he say?”
Rolling her eyes, she looks away from me. “As always, he blamed me for it and said that I was doing a shit job of keeping the boys on track. Do you know he said that if he’d known I was going to do this bad of a job raising them, he would’ve asked for full custody. Can you believe him?”
It pisses me off how he blames her the way he does, like he wasn’t in the house with them. He had all the time in the world to parent his sons. He acts as if he were off at war while she was raising the boys. If he had a problem with her parenting, he could’ve stepped in anytime. He chose not to care.
And we all know that Drew would never have asked for full custody. He’s too selfish for that. That last line was just another manipulative scare tactic for Ella.
“He’s just talking shit. You know how he gets when things don’t go his way.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I tell myself that often, but I swear sometimes the things he says really hit their mark.” Which is why he says them.
“Don’t let it bother you. You’re doing great, Ella. AJ is a teenager, and this is the most trying time. I was hell on wheels when I was his age. My parents wanted to send me to military school a few times.”
