Moved In

Chapter 4 : Vacation

Chapter 4

A week later...  

Riker POV

Everything happened so fast, and before I knew it, I was in a hotel room with my dad. We were officially on vacation with Stormie's family. Dad wouldn't tell me what they had planned. Apparently he and Stormie wanted everything on this vacation to be a surprise. But I don't really like surprises. So I wasn't thrilled.

"Riker, I'm going out for a few hours this evening. If you need anything, Stormie is across the hall. I'll bring you dinner when I get back, ok?" Dad said.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise. Don't ask questions. For now, just relax. Maybe take a nap. We have a lot of plans for tomorrow."

"Ok..."

Dad left. I was alone in the hotel room. We had basically driven here in almost silence because I wasn't particularly happy about being on this mystery vacation. And now dad's leaving me and won't tell me why.

But whatever. It's fine. I found the piece of paper with my mom's phone number on it this morning right before we left. So I can take this time while dad's not here to call her. And hopefully he doesn't find out about it, otherwise he'll be mad at me.

I unzipped my suitcase and found the piece of paper with mom's phone number on it. I took out my phone and sat down on my bed. I'm more nervous about this than I thought I'd be. Like I know she's my mom, but I haven't seen her or spoken to her in so many years. I just feel kind of awkward about it. Is she going to think it's weird that I called her?

Guess there's only one way to find out.

I slowly dialed her number, put it on speaker, and took a deep breath as I listened to it ringing.

"Hello?"

My heart started racing.

"Mom? It's me, Riker."

"Riker?"

"Yeah."

"Why are you calling me?"

"I just... I just wanted to talk, I guess. And see you."

"Riker, I live in Florida now. That's very far away from Colorado."

"I know. Could I come visit? Like maybe just for a weekend or something? I just wanted to see you again and talk."

"Does your dad know you called me?"

"No..."

"Riker, I think you need to talk to your dad about this."

"But why? Can't I come see you? You're my mom."

"I know. But when we got divorced, we made a legal agreement that your dad would take care of you. So you really need to talk to him about this, Riker."

"If he says it's ok, then could I come visit?"

"We'll talk about this another time, Riker, once you've talked to your dad about it."

"Fine... But do you have another way I could talk to you? Like an email or something?"

"I'll text it to you."

"Ok. I'll talk to my dad about it and ask him if I can visit and I'll email you about what he says."

"Ok, Riker."

"Promise we can talk again soon?"

"I promise. But talk to your dad first."

"I will."

"Ok. Bye, Riker."

"Bye, mom."

She hung up and I sighed. I don't know if this went better or worse than I expected because I didn't really even know what to expect. I'm annoyed I have to talk to dad about it because I know he won't be happy I went behind his back and called mom. But I was worried mom wouldn't even pick up the phone. And she did, so I feel like I have a chance at getting to see her in Florida.

I found the remote to the TV and just decided to watch something until dad came back. I wonder what he's even doing anyway. Maybe something to prepare for tomorrow? He literally wouldn't tell me anything about this vacation. I wonder if Stormie told any of her kids anything about it or if she's keeping it all a secret for them too.

Rydel had given me her number, so I decided to text her and ask her if she had any idea what we were doing tomorrow.

"Hey, it's Riker. Do you know what our parents have planned for tomorrow?"

"I have no idea. Mom won't tell me. Did you go with my brothers?"

"Go where?"

"To the hockey game."

"What hockey game?"

"Your dad took my brothers to a hockey game tonight. He didn't take you with them?"

"No."

My stomach hurt. Why didn't he take me with him? Why is he taking Rydel's brothers to a hockey game without me? Am I being punished or something?

I sighed and just decided to watch TV until dad got back. I can ask him questions then.