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“Respect is earned.”
I felt my mouth drop open.
Because I’d been thinking the same thing.
Only, it hadn’t come from my mouth.
Nor from Joel’s.
It had come…
From my mother’s.
There were four of us at that table, but now three of us had turned to my mom and were staring at her with our mouths dropped open.
For me, it was because I’d never heard that tone from her before.
And I’d never seen her look like that before.
And I’d never watched her face change like that—never witnessed the determination that made my breath catch as it bled across her features.
“Respect is earned, John,” she sort of repeated, turning toward my dad, fixing him with a look that made me question every single thing I thought I’d known about their relationship.
It was easy to focus on my dad.
He was loud and brusque, and it wasn’t difficult to know exactly what he was thinking.
Because he was saying it.
But my mom wasn’t.
Ineverknew where she stood.
This was…
A growl rumbled up in my dad’s throat, but it didn’t have time to escape because my mom reached over, placed her hand on his, and squeezed lightly. “John.”
Joel had fallen quiet next to me, but that movement, my mom warning my dad, had him moving again, tugging me a little closer, his fingers trailing lightly over my arm. “She’s right,” he said, not looking away from my parents. “Respect is earned, and I know that I’m new in Rosie’s life, but I’ve seen in how you interact with her, how it doesn’t make her happy. And it sure as fuck doesn’t makemehappy.” A poignant pause. “So, I’m not going to let it happen.”
I don’t know what I’d expected from him taking my back.
Flipping the table and checking my dad to the ground.
Dishing out a beatdown with those enormous fists.
Getting into a shit-talking match up in the middle of Luna’s.
I certainly didn’t expect a series of phone calls and quiet but firm words.
A clear declaration.
I’m not going to let it happen.
And my mom was engaged in the conversation? Softly chastising my dad?
That was…just a total mind fuck.
That was…why couldn’t I just sit there and take it.
