Ghost Flowers

17. Fighting Again

Later that day, Faye came to Cully's for a movie marathon sleepover. This was something they did every other week. When Michael got home from work, he brought in some pizza he had ordered ahead from Fast Track, Unity's only gas station.

He sat down next to Savana on the couch while they ate. "Hey kiddo, I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for this morning. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable."

"Oh no, it's fine! I should have knocked first." Savana shook her head. "I hope you didn't use all of my cherry blossom shampoo." She laughed.

Michael laughed too. "I just wanted to smell pretty for work. I got some compliments today."

Savana smiled and blushed. She wondered if he thought she was pretty. Then she thought about the conversation with Cully earlier. She looked at Cully and mouthed 'I'm sorry' to her.

Cully and Faye ate on the loveseat perpendicular to the couch. Cully nudged Faye and nodded to Savana and her dad.

Faye whispered, "So? They do this all the time. They're joking around." Faye took a big bite of pizza.

"I talked to Savana about it earlier. She said she'd quit doing that. Seeing my dad act like that with her makes me mad." Cully whispered. She watched as Troy carried his plate in one hand and his crutch in the other. He then carefully sat down on the other side of Savana. Cully shook her head. "Even my brother likes her."

After choosing a movie, it eventually got to a scene where a woman was in the shower. Someone was about to stab her through the curtain.

"Look! It's Savana peeking at Michael in the shower!" Faye pointed and laughed. She munched on some sour candies she had brought with her. Faye always got weird and hyper after eating them. It's all sugar.

The rest of them began laughing, except for Troy. He didn't know what was going on. Just then, Maureen walked into the living room. She was late again. Cully could tell she had been at the bar.

Maureen looked up from her phone for a second. "Oh, I see everyone is here. What's so funny?"

Cully couldn't stop the words coming out of her mouth. "Savana saw dad naked in her bathroom."

Silence. Savana couldn't look at Maureen. She felt extremely uncomfortable.

Michael was worried about what his wife would think. He stood up. "Whoa, okay, I took a shower at Gavin's before work. The door wasn't locked and Savana came in. But I had a towel around me and she walked right back out." He explained.

Maureen didn't look away from her phone. "Ah, so you stayed the night there. I hope you girls have a good night."

She walked past them all to go into their bedroom down the hallway. Michael followed her. Cully was worried. She didn't know why she blurted that out. And wouldn't her mom have known her dad was gone all night if she had been home?

The rest of them went back to watching the movie, except for Cully, who walked into the bathroom. The wall between the toilet and her parents' room was paper thin.

"How was work hun?" Michael stood in front of the door and watched Maureen change out of her work clothes.

"Stressful as always." Maureen sighed. She rechecked her phone before sitting on the bed.

"You're not mad about me staying at Gavin's, are you? I told you I was planning to spend the night with Gavin because he wanted to drink. Better than drinking and driving," Michael said.

She glared at him. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

He sat on the bed and put his hand on hers. "Honey, I'm worried about you. I know your job is stressful and you want to relax after work, but I think you should be more careful." He said calmly as he looked into her green eyes. They lost their sparkle.