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I showed the kid how to do a back flip and a cartwheel although when she did the backflip I spotted for her. She was grinning from ear to ear. I heard Dominick tell Skylar. “He’ll be a great Dad.” Which made me proud. I wanted to be a good dad and there were times in the past if this had happened prior to my overdose I’m not sure how well I would have responded to the situation.
Things had changed since that overdose. I had changed. My cocky, asshole selfishness was a thing of the past. My goals changed. Money and a certain lifestyle were no longer important to me. Skylar and Luke were my priorities. The pressure was gone. The need was still there to self-medicate but it was easier to battle; easier to fight and win.
I turned when I heard Nickolas and Gramps tromping through the fields with Fionn. “The kids are coming to dinner on Sunday if their mom agrees,” Gramps told me as soon as they were close enough. “I invited them.”
I laughed. “I invited them too. Skylar and I are coming as well.”
“About damn time Ronan,” Gramps told me. He hugged me to his side. “It’s about time you stopped running from your Dad.”
**
The Friday night football game, we won. I kept looking up in the stands and seeing Gramps with Maddie and Skylar. Tegan and Rhett were sitting in front of them. Maddie was talking Skylar’s ear off. She had no interest in football at eight years old. She was forced to go because her brother was afraid to leave her alone with her mother. What I didn’t understand was why Delilah didn’t come to the game to see Dom play.
I came out first. Tegan was holding Maddie because she was sleepy. I took her from him. Dom was showering then he would be out. She laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. I patted her back and held her tight. This parenting thing was becoming a natural part of me. Rhett and Tegan told us goodnight. They offered to take Gramps home. He decided to go with them while we waited for Dominick.
“Nickolas why doesn’t your mom come to Dom’s game?”
He rolled his eyes at me and made a huffing sound in his throat. “What and ruin her party night? She goes out most every Friday and Saturday night.”
“Oh,” I replied. Well that explained it. “Has she always done that?”
“Yep, as long as I can remember.”
“Is that the only nights she goes out?”
“Yeah pretty much,” he replied.
I had the feeling that although Dominick loved his mother he was getting tired of being the adult. Maddie, I wasn’t sure about. Nickolas had little respect or caring for Delilah at all. I moved closer to him holding Maddie steady against my chest. I wrapped one arm around his shoulders sensing he needed it. Nickolas turned his head into me and I knew that he was crying. I consoled him as best I could while holding his sixty-pound sister in my other arm.
“Hey man, it’s okay,” I tried to soothe him.
“It’s not,” he replied softly keeping his head down while he wiped his face. “What if something happens to her. Then what Ronan? Dominick won’t be eighteen for almost two more years. My grandparents could give two shits about us. The money is a way for her to not feel guilty after she spent years blasting my father for abandoning us. She tore my mother to the ground for the choices she made. Not that they were the greatest choices but hell what do you expect with Grandma’s mouth constantly running on and on about all of Mom’s failures.”
I squeezed his shoulders.
“Dear old dad didn’t want us the first time he left us. If she kicks out on us, he won’t want us this time either. So where does that leave us?”
“What is wrong Nickolas?” Maddie asked. She raised her head to look at him then she yawned.
“Nothing Maddie,” he grumbled. I patted her back and shushed her gently until she laid her head back on my shoulder.
We turned seeing Dom coming out with a group of guys. They wanted him to go with them to a party. He was telling them he couldn’t. Nickolas looked up at me. “He should go. We could just stay with you,” he said hopefully.
I sighed. I wanted Dominick to have a normal life too but I couldn’t make that decision for him or their mother either. When Dominick approached Nickolas told him exactly the same thing he told me. “Man, I can’t do that. Mom might actually come home. Then what? She would be panicked.”
“She doesn’t always come home?” Skylar asked.
“No. Not always,” Dom replied.
“Rarely,” Nickolas amended. “Do you want to go to the party? We could just stay at the Moore’s tonight. You go out and pretend you’re a normal teen for one night.”
Dominick gave me a hopeful look. “I don’t know Dom. I can’t make that decision for you.”
He wanted to go out with his friends. I could see it on his face. I looked at Skylar to see what she thought. “I don’t see how it would hurt one night if Dominick went out. He can leave Delilah a note at home telling her where they are.”
I nodded. “Up to you Dominick.”
“I really want to go to this party.”
