Happy Endings

13. guest

"The only thing I'm really sure of I'm unsure of most everything."

☼

"Please don't kill me," Kellin Quinn said into his phone, not giving Vic a chance to even say hello.

He was aware of how insane it sounded, starting a call he made that way, but he believed if he let the other man speak first he would forget what to say. Not that he knew what to say in the first place ('please don't kill me' was definitely not the word choice he practiced) but his brain filter stopped working there for a second.

And with good reason, after the early morning he had.

Everything was meant to go smoothly. He had set a last meeting with Vic at a cafe, the same one they went to for their second session. They were both free on Saturday morning so it worked perfectly. And they agreed to be there at around 10. Penny would stay over at Tay's until lunchtime or until they finished up. They wouldn't take too long anyway. It was a simple plan.

The downfall started when Tay called while Kellin was already driving to her place. Or maybe it started before that when Penny threw a tantrum because she wanted to stay at home playing with her dolls instead of going to her auntie's like they agreed on the night before. It took Kellin at least twenty minutes to calm her down and several more to get her changed and into the car with the dolls. She was pouty and angry that things didn't go her way, Kellin didn't say anything to her because she had to learn to listen to orders when needed.

Then Tay called and everything turned worse because something came up at her workplace. And she needed to be there, and it was an emergency, and she was so sorry, and she would make it up to him. And of course, Kellin understood. He couldn't be mad. Still, he felt like those were enough bad signs for the morning.

He parked on a random street and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He considered his options and unfortunately realized that he didn't have many. His mom was away at a weekend retreat and he wouldn't want to bother his friends so early on a Saturday. He had no one he trusted enough to watch her for a couple of hours. 

And yeah, he could take Penny to the cafe and hopefully get a children's seat and pray to God that she wouldn't make another fuss and distract his meeting with Vic. But he also knew that was all easier said than done. His daughter was already so upset, he wouldn't want to make it worse by changing up their destination and day plan. She would be happy to see Vic, but he didn't want to confuse her further. They wouldn't be able to focus at all.

So Kellin sighed to himself and started the car back again and drove back home. There was no other option but to reschedule. Perhaps the next day they could meet again and Tay would have some free time. It would be embarrassing to tell Vic about it, but he had to deal. When he told Penny they were going back she seemed to not mind much. He knew she was happy to go back home though.

It was while he went to the kitchen to get some water that it occurred to him. A silly idea formed in his brain. He wouldn't have to reschedule anything if Vic came over and they had their meeting at the house. Silly, silly idea.

He barely had guests at home. It was more usual in the beginning, when they first moved in, that his friends and family would come and go all the time, either to check up on him, or make sure that he had enough food in the pantry, or that things weren't messy. Then when everything got considerably better, he barely wanted to have people over because it reminded him of all those pity visits, and he didn't like that it still felt forced, that the only reason anyone came over was to babysit him.