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“Don’t you dare say that to me. You know how much you and your brother and father mean to me. I expect you home next weekend. One night is all I ask. It’s not a choice, Holden. It’s a command.” She ends the call.
What the actual fuck?
She sounded just like my father.
The last place I want to go is home. What is she going to do? Drive all the way down here and come get me? I doubt it.
Screw her and her commands. I’m so over it all. I’m an adult; I don’t have to do shit.
I toss my phone down on my bed and storm to the bathroom.
Fuck! I hate everything right now.
And the one person who can make it all better no longer can.
I caveand make the trip home the following weekend. I plan out everything I want to say on the long drive. It’s time to confront my mom once and for all. Hopefully, she’ll agree to a talk with my father. Not that I want or need his approval, but it would just be nice to have it. Or maybe hear a damn apology for punching my face.
When I pull into our long driveway, my heart jumps into my throat. Why is my father’s pickup truck here? Since he’s been deployed, my mother kept it in the garage. She never drives it, claiming it’s way too big for her. So why is it in the driveway?
Maybe I’m just being paranoid.
I park and get out, grabbing the one bag I brought with me. With a deep breath, I take a look around, my first in three years, and notice not much has changed.
The front door is unlocked when I turn the knob, so I open the door and walk in. I hear voices in the living room and wonder if my mom is on the phone or has company over.
But when I stop in the doorway, I’m blindsided by who I see.
My father.
Sitting on the couch.
Laughing with my mother.
I glare directly at her. “You tricked me.”
“Oh hello, son. Come in. We were waiting for you to take you out to dinner. How was the drive?”
“No, Mom, no. You don’t get to do that.”
“Watch your tone toward your mother, young man.”
I don’t even acknowledge him, keeping my sights on my mother.
“Do what?” She feigns innocence, but she knows exactly what I’m talking about.
“To pretend you didn’t order me to come here under false pretenses. I wasn’t going to come after you commanded me like a child, but I came anyway because I felt bad. I felt bad I hadn’t been home in so long or gotten to see you. But now I wish I’d listened to my first instinct. I knew you had something up your sleeve, and I still gave you the benefit of the doubt.”
“Why are you reacting like this, son? I simply wanted you to come home for a visit.”
“You never said Dad would be here.” I talk about him like he’s not here because to me—he’s not.
“And that matters?” My father chimes in, but I ignore him still.
“I’m not spending time with you two and acting like everything is all okay. Because it’s not. And until you two want to do that, I’m all set with spending time here.”
“Boy, I swear to God, you dumb piece of shit. Speak to your mother again like that and see what happens.”
He’s up in my face now, and I can’t ignore him any longer.
