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Nodding, I sit up and climb to my feet as he braces my lower back with one hand. Shoving my window up, we climb inside leaving the rest of the world behind.
“G’morning kids,” dad chirps as he sips his coffee, and hovers over his laptop at the kitchen table.
7 a.m. on a Saturday, the morning after his wife is laid to rest, and this is what he’s doing. Working. I shouldn’t expect anything less from the great Grant Maddox. He eats, sleeps, and breathes work, but I guess that’s why he makes the big bucks. They call him the best of the best in the business world, or so I’ve heard him brag. He works for some company in a neighboring city, and they send him all over the globe to handle business arrangements for them. I couldn’t explain exactly what he does if I tried though. Honestly, I don’t really care because whatever it is, it’s more important to him than mom and I have ever been. That’s all I need to know.
“Morning daddy,” I mumble, heading for the fridge, as I pull my hair up into a high ponytail and stretch out my spine.
“Morning Mr. M,” Travis yawns, rubbing his glassy eyes.
Pulling out a leftover box of pizza from the fridge and a couple of cokes, Travis and I turn around and head for the living room.
“Wait -“ dad starts. “We have to talk, Spencer. Stay.”
Handing over the box of pizza, I kiss Travis on the cheek, “I’ll meet you in the living room, yeah?”
Nodding his head, he walks away, and I head over to the kitchen table.
“Yeah?”
“Sit,” my dad motions with an unenthused look on his face.
Eyeing him cautiously, I move to the opposite side of the table and slide a chair out, sitting down to face him, “What’s up?”
“We need to have a discussion about what’s next.”
Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I rub my hands up and down my upper arms, a nervous habit I picked up over the years.
“What do you mean?”
Clearing his throat, dad closes the lid to his laptop and pulls his glasses from his face, setting them on the table in front of him.
“You know I have to go out of town next week. I’ll be away for three months. With mom gone, I needed to enlist some help.”
Raising an eyebrow at him, I wait for him to continue.
“Uncle Evan is going to be staying here for a while.”
A knot forms in my stomach at the thought, “Uncle Evan, why?”
“I can’t very well just leave you here to fend for yourself entirely. With grams and poppy passing before you were even born, and mom-mom passing away a few years ago, Evan is the only family that’s left between your mom and I. So he’s the logical choice here.”
“I’m almost 18 dad, I can take care of myself. I took care of mom.”
He snorts, “Yeah and let that delinquent out there impregnate you before graduation? I don’t think so. And the nurses took care of your mother.”
“I love Travis, don’t you dare go there daddy. You’ve known him his entire life, he’s not a delinquent,” I snap defensively. I skip over defending myself from the low blows about taking care of mom, because I don’t think I’m prepared to open that can of worms today.
Sighing, he pinches the bridge of his nose between his eyes, “You’re right. And I’m sorry. But, he’s a teenage boy Spencer Rae. Teenage boys are all the same.”
“Dad, stop. Just stop. I’m not having this conversation with you. And as for Uncle Evan, he’s basically a stranger. Mom didn’t even talk to him. She never liked him, she never wanted me around him, and he’s her own br-“
“Enough Spencer,” he snaps, the vein in his forehead pulsating as his cheeks turn red. “This isn’t something I care to debate over. He’s our only option. Evan will be here tomorrow. Now he will still be going to work, so it’s not like he will be here 24/7, but he will be the one in charge in my absence.”
Gulping, I look down at my lap and fidget with the hem of my shirt. The look on my father’s face is the one that he gives me when he’s not playing, and I know that arguing with him is futile, so I don’t. I suck it up and push it down.
“Got it. Can I go now?”
Nodding his head, he waves me away as he slides his glasses back onto his face and lifts the lid to his laptop, going back to work.
