Senior Year

♡ nine ♡

My mind was elsewhere as I absentmindedly pushed the pasta on my plate around. Ever since he showed up at my house, I couldn't stop thinking about why my dad was back and the sudden interest he had in my life. Whenever I though about why, an itchy feeling always crept up my back, as if my intuition was telling me he was in it for reasons other than wanting to be back in his children's lives.

"Kennedy?" Wyatt called out, waving his fork at me.

"Hmm?" I asked, looking up at him.

"You're thinking about it again, aren't you?" He asked, a frown forming over his lips.

I sighed, dropping my fork in my plate, "I just can't not think about it."

"Look Ken, your mom is talking to him and will get this all sorted out, just let her handle it," he said, grabbing my hands in his own.

"I know I should, but for some reason it just keeps creeping back into my mind!" I cried out before dropping my head down to my hands, that were still being held by Wyatt.

"Your mom will be home soon and then you'll have an answer, okay? For right now please eat some food." Wyatt begged me. I knew whenever I was worried, he worried for me and it really wasn't a good situation for either of us.

"I can do that," I nodded, letting go of his hands and picking my fork back up.

My dad had reached out to my mom about a week after his encounter with me and my mom had agreed to meet with him. She was out meeting with him as Wyatt and I spoke and I was so nervous to see what he was really doing in town. As much as I wanted to be excited that my dad was back like they would be in the movies, I knew this was real life and not all dad's came back just because they wanted to.

"Hey," Wyatt whispered, noticing I hadn't actually lifted my fork from my plate, "Eat, I'm going to go get Noah." He informed me before getting up and heading out of the kitchen.

I sighed before twirling pasta on my fork and pulling it off with my teeth. I finished the rest of the food on my plate before getting off the stool I was sitting on and heading to the sink. I dumped my dishes into the sink just as Wyatt reentered the room with Noah, who was sleeping per usual.

"Better?" Wyatt asked.

I nodded as I wrapped my arms around his waist, "Better."

"Maybe we should take a mental health day tomorrow? It's a Friday, do we won't be doing much in school anyway," Wyatt suggested running one hand along the side of my spine.

"Yes please," I mumbled, lightly rubbing my nose against Noah's soft baby cheek.

I then heard the front door open and my mother's voice range out, "Kennedy! Grayson! We need to talk!"

"That is my cue to go hang out upstairs with little man," Wyatt said before heading down the kitchen hallway.

"Hi Wyatt, is Kennedy in the kitchen?" My mom asked him.

"Yeah, I figured I'll just hang out upstairs with Noah," He informed her before heading up the stairs. I heard a second pair of footsteps heading down the stairs that belonged to Grayson.

Mom walked into the fridge and put her leftover food into the fridge. She pulled me into a side hug before whispering, "Let's go talk in the living room." I nodded and followed her into the living room where Grayson was already sitting on the couch. I sat down next to him and grabbed his hand in mine for reassurance. I had a really bad feeling about what my mom was about to tell us, but having Gray there made it feel ten times easier.

Mom sighed as she sat down on the coffee table the sat across from the couch. She wrung her fingers together, clearly trying to collect her thoughts.

"So, I know you two do not know your father very well," She paused, "Hell, you don't know him at all aside from the occasional story I would tell you about him, and let's just say those only showed the quote on quote glamorous side of him."

She sighed and looked up at the both of us, "Let's just say, your father left me in the dust fifteen years ago with young twins because he was promised a world full of money by a woman who he had been seeing behind my back."

"How come you never told us that, Mom?" Grayson asked.

"Honestly hon, it's because I didn't want to tarnish your image of him without you getting the chance to know him yourself. But after tonight, I really don't care because he showed me his true nasty colors and that scumbag has no right to be in your lives," She answered.

"Anyways, we sat down to dinner and after he got a few drinks in him, he started talking, not only did he start talking, but he asked started signing," she smiled, holding up signed divorce papers she had been trying to get for fifteen years.

"Mom, that's great," I told her, excited that she would finally be able to have the burden of still being married to my horrible father lifted off of her shoulders.

"But that's about the only good news I can give you two tonight," she sighed before grabbing mine and Grayson's free hands. "Your father told me the real reason why he's back in town and it's not at all what I expected."

"What is it?" I asked.

"It turns out that your grandmother passed away about two years ago and your grandfather just last month. As you know, your father is an only child, and you were their only grandchildren, despite not knowing them as well as we all would have wished. After your grandfather passed away, they did a reading of the will. Your father expected it to be a breeze, everything would go to him and that would be the end of the story, but your grandparents had different thoughts."

Mom pulled a piece of paper out from her pocket and started reading it, "With our passing, we ask that all of our assets and property be sold and the money be divided evenly in half between our two grandchildren, Grayson River Harden and Kennedy Rose Harden."

"Pardon my language, but holy shit," Grayson mumbled, clearly in shock.

"They didn't leave Dad anything?" I asked, sitting in pure disbelief. Our grandparents hardly even knew us because of our estrangement with our father. We had met them maybe a handful of times, but definitely not enough for us to be given all of their money.

"They were furious at him for up and leaving a wife and two kids with no warning and no support. And apparently they hadn't been on speaking terms with your father for a large portion of that fifteen years, until they could no longer care for themselves," Mom informed both of us.

"How much money did they have?" Grayson asked, still trying to process all of the information that had just been thrown our way.

"I don't know the details, all I know is that I have the name and number of your grandparents lawyer who is in charge of the overseeing of the will, and we have to set up a meeting with them as soon as possible," She informed us.

I thought for a moment, "Wait, but that doesn't explain why Dad is here. There's no way he just wanted to deliver this news to us."

"Unfortunately not sweetheart," Mom started, "the reason why he is here is because he would like to take both of you to court to fight for the money he believes is rightfully his."

My face fell into my hands as I let out a loud groan, "I'm really going to need that mental health day now."

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Ahh I am so sorry it has been so long since I updated! Your girl is just so tired and hasn't had a lot of inspiration to write :( I will try to update more, but cannot guarantee anything. I hope you all enjoy this update!! Love you!

xx - Sidney