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“Oh man, I forgot your dinner, didn’t I?” I apologized. Howard blinked twice and then looked away. I knew it was utterly ridiculous, but there was something about the way he was acting that made me feel like he was judging me for hanging up on my sister. I looked at the side of his head and muttered, “Don’t judge me, mister. There’s no way in hell I’m going to join that group of lunatics for Christmas. Besides, you have no reason to be upset; you get to spend the holiday at home instead of in a cage at the vet’s!”
Howard turned and faced me. He stared at me without blinking, then mewed once and hopped down off the stool. I quickly picked up his dish and filled it with his dinner before setting it down in front of him as I muttered, “Spoiled rotten, that’s what you are.”
Chapter Nine
Blake
Saturday morning I woke up early, made breakfast, and read the newspaper before I got ready to go pick up Nina. She didn’t know it, but I’d arranged for us to spend the day with my parents. They lived just outside of Waltham, but we didn’t get to see them as often as I’d have liked.
Since they’d retired from teaching at the university, my parents had made it a point to spend several months per year traveling to the far reaches of the globe, exploring countries and cultures that they’d read about. They were active and engaged members of the global community, and as a result, were often not around for quick visits. This year, they’d decided to spend Christmas at home, so at the beginning of December they’d phoned all of the relatives living close by and told them that the party was at the Gaston home this year. I hadn’t seen what they’d done to prepare, so today I planned to bring Nina over and view the preparations.
I tuned the radio to a station playing Christmas carols as I drove over to get Nina. When I pulled into Remy’s driveway, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Ever conscious of the appropriate way to decorate, Remy had covered the outside trees in white lights and red bows. The front fence was draped with a green garland that had a red bow tied to it every two and a half feet. I knew from being married to her that she’d probably spent hours measuring out the exact distance between bows. I sighed as I put the truck in park and walked up to ring the doorbell.
“Hello, Blake,” Remy said, as she opened the door. She was wearing a fuzzy white sweater covering white leggings and had a bright red apron tied around her waist.
“Hey, Remy; you look festive,” I said, as I stepped in out of the cold and stood just inside the door. “Nina ready?”
“She’s upstairs putting her laundry away. I told her she wasn’t setting foot outside of this house until her room was spotless,” Remy said, as she turned toward the kitchen. “Come in and shut the door, will you?”
“Why don’t you just tell her to shut the door to her room and leave it alone, Rem?” I asked. I knew better than to poke the bear, but sometimes I couldn’t help but side with my daughter. Especially when it came to Remy’s obsessive need for absolute order.
“Because I won’t have my daughter living in a room that resembles a pigsty,” she sniffed, as she returned to the task of rolling out cookie dough and carefully cutting perfect shapes from it. “If you want to let her be slovenly at your house, well, that’s your choice, but I want our daughter to develop good habits that will last a lifetime.”
“Jesus Christ, Remy,” I said, shaking my head as I looked at her. “Who the hell shoved the manners stick so far up your ass?”
“Blake! I won’t have you talking to me that way in my home!” she scolded.
“Remy, I’ve known you longer than anyone but your family,” I said, watching her avoid my eyes. “You have always had goals, but you were never such a stuck-up bitch. What happened to you?”
“That’s so rude, Blake!” she shot back. “I’m just saying it like it is! What’s wrong with wanting something better for our daughter? Why is that such a bad thing?”
“It’s not bad; it’s the way you talk about her,” I said. Realizing I wasn’t helping Nina by antagonizing Remy, I changed my approach. “I don’t understand why you have to be so rigid about things. She’s a 16-year-old girl, not a Navy SEAL. Lives don’t depend on her maintaining a sterile bedroom.”
“Blake, our daughter is failing History and close to failing Math,” she said, as she stopped working and stared at me. “She lacks basic discipline and you certainly aren’t encouraging her to develop any!”
“That’s a low blow, lady,” I said angrily. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the one who showed up at the parent-teacher conference and talked with Ms. Fowler!”
“A hell of a lot of good that did! She’s still
failing!”
“Remy, it’s been less than one week! For God’s sake, ease the hell up on the kid!” I shouted, as Nina entered the kitchen holding her overnight bag.
“You think the whole neighborhood can hear you two yet?” she asked in a sarcastic tone as she threw her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. She called over her shoulder, “My room has been cleaned enough that you can eat off the floor if you want to, Mom.”
“You really need to say something to your daughter,” Remy fumed, as I followed Nina out the front door.
“Gonna congratulate her on her well-developed sense of humor,” I said, before slamming the front door. I knew I shouldn’t behave this way in front of Nina, but Remy had a way of bringing out all of my latent adolescent stubbornness.
“So, how’s it going, Punkin?” I asked, as I slid into the truck and gunned the engine.
“Dad, seriously,” she sighed, as she stared out the passenger side window.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t fight with your mom that way, but she annoys me,” I said.
“She annoys everybody,” Nina replied in a flat tone. “I hate living there.”
“I know, kiddo, but despite the fact that she annoys you, your mom really does love you,” I said through gritted teeth. I remembered how suffocated I’d felt the last few months before Remy and I separated, and while I sympathized with Nina, I was also very well aware of the custody agreement we’d worked out during the divorce and the fact that if I tried to buck it, Remy would have cause for filing for sole custody of Nina.
