AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thanks, man, appreciate it.”
They’ve been together for two years now, and from what mom tells me, they’re going strong.
Mom, of course, asks about dad as we eat. I don’t know why. Nothing good ever comes out of our conversations with him.
“You know how it is. We never see eye to eye,” I tell them. I don’t want to upset mom or Kate by saying we had a spat, and I told my dad to go fuck himself right after his bimbo of the week showed up wearing hardly anything.
It makes me sick, the whole damn thing.
“That’s putting it mildly,” Kate scoffs.
I think she got over the fact he wanted nothing to do with her or mom years ago. She just accepted that she would never have a relationship with him. It’s completely his loss, but I still feel bad for her. He has that out of sight, out of mind, kind of attitude.
“He isn’t the easiest person in the world,” Mom agrees.
“He has been particularly insistent on the business side of things lately,” I say absently. Mom glances at me.
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“We’ve been fighting about it forever,” I go on. “Every conversation is about me following in his damned footsteps, taking over his stupid company.” Not to mention the convo I overheard when he was talking to Carson and some shit about me turning thirty—that was weird and we never got to the bottom of it. “It’s like he has to have me there, even though he doesn’t want me there.” My family knows this, but not to the extent that it’s been lately. I don’t want to worry them about my problems with my father.
“Nothing he ever does makes much sense,” Kate says. “I gave up trying to understand him long ago.”
I see Kenny place his hand over hers and give it a squeeze. It can’t be easy when he never bothers with his daughter. He rarely bothers with me, but since we’re in the same city, we are sometimes forced together.
I feel bad for her. She doesn’t have any good memories of time spent with dad. I can’t say I have many fond memories, either.
Mom looks decidedly uncomfortable talking about this, even though she always brings it up.
“Your Father is on his own schedule in life. He always has been,” mom says, passing me the bread basket.
I tuck into my stew and try to shrug it off. I don’t want to put a damper on this trip talking about things I can’t change right now. And even thinking about that man called ‘my father’ will do that.
“Well, that’s true. So, let’s change the subject. How are you two coping with working together?” I ask Kenny instead.
Kenny shuffles a little. I can tell he’s nervous around me. Good, I want him to be. It should keep him on his toes to do right by my sister.
We’ve only met a couple of times, and yeah, I gave him a not-so-subtle warning when I first met him. I don’t care if Kate is old enough to look after herself. She’s still my baby sister, no matter how old she is.
“We’re going great,” Kenny says. “I guess we work in different parts of the center a lot, so we aren’t in each other pockets all day.”
“What he’s saying is he doesn’t want to get under my wheels.” Kate laughs.
I smile and give her a wink across the table.
I know it’s been hard for her dating with her disability. Even if she is a gorgeous woman with everything going for her, she hasn’t found too many guys out there willing and able to be okay with her being in a wheelchair.
Looking at her now, I can see she’s happy. And Kenny is a great guy.
“I’m glad everything is going well,” I tell her later when Kenny and mom are cleaning up in the kitchen. “You seem happy.”
“I’m very happy.” Kate smiles. “I think I’ve finally found a keeper. Maybe Mom won’t worry about me so much.”
“I don’t think she’ll ever stop worrying about you.”
She laughs. “Maybe you’re right.”
“You know what she’s like.”
