Page 17 of Alec’s Dream

“The kids—”

“If you don’t think Caleb hasn’t already cottoned on to who his father is, you’d be wrong,” Jonny told her.

Macy sagged in Alec's arms and he felt that knife as it plunged through her heart. She thought she’d been shielding her son.

“I’ll talk to you later, Jonny,” Alec told his friend and turned himself and Macy toward the house.

Alec knew all the fight had drained out of Macy when she woodenly allowed him to lead her into the house. He closed and locked the door and moved them to the couch.

She sat, gave a sad shake of her head, and stared across the room not looking at him.

Fucking shit.

Now what was he supposed to do?

7

“You should get some ice on your knuckles.”

That was what Alec said, cutting through my major freak out.

It happened, I finally lost my shit and did it in front of perfect, father-of-the-year Alec. Could my life get any worse?

Yes, yes, it could. When Doug told the kids I hit him, it would be worse. Way fucking worse. Monumentally worse when they looked at me with disappointment and disgust. Everything I’d been trying so hard to teach them about being kind—no matter what—was all for naught. And Caleb, he was at an age where he’d understand the hypocrisy. Rory would just be confused.

God, I was so stupid.

“Macy?”

“I can’t believe I did that,” I whispered.

“Did what?”

Did what? Was he crazy?

“I hit him.”

“You did. By my count, you got in five solid hits before the dickhead even registered what was going on. The only reason I pulled you off when I did was because you’d lost the element of surprise and I didn’t want to find myself in lockup for the night if he was stupid enough to try to hit you back.”

No, Alec wasn’t crazy, he was certifiable.

“Are you nuts? He’s gonna tell my kids.” Alec didn’t say anything so I continued to explain. “Just the other day I was telling Aurora to be nice to the class bully because being kind is always the better option. Then I had to explain to Caleb why it wasn’t his job to teach Larry or his brother a lesson for being jerks. Now they’re both gonna know I’m a hypocrite and a liar. And believe me, Doug’s gonna eat that up.”

“Right, I see what Jonny told you didn’t penetrate, so let me tell you again. Your son is far from stupid, he knows who his father is.”

“That doesn’t—”

“That means Caleb’s gonna wonder what pushed his sweet, kind mother to resort to physical violence. And just to add, babe, it is Caleb’s job to teach the class bully that his sister is off-limits. It is always the job of the stronger to protect the weak.”

“My daughter is not weak,” I seethed.

“No, I suspect she is not, but in that scenario, Caleb’s the big brother—older and stronger—therefore, it is his place. And if he doesn’t do it that means this Larry kid keeps picking on his sister until it festers. Leaving Aurora with two options, explode and protect herself or learn to eat shit. And that is not a lesson you want your daughter to learn.”

There you had it, parenting advice from the perfect father. Nothing like a kick to the chin when you’re already down and out.

“Is that what you think I’m teaching her, to eat shit?”

“Yes.”