On the Sidelines

Chapter 26 Tanner

It took a week but finally I was able to sign the paperwork saying I'm the new tenet. Evie and I settled on the second apartment we looked at and I can start to move in at the end of the week. Perfect timing really.

The school year is about to end and the summer training starts a week from Monday.

I have three finals left until my junior year of college is finished and Evie has two until her freshman year is done.

Actually, according to the time, in about fifteen minutes she'll just have one left, creative writing.

I want to wait for her to come home but if I do that I'll be late for my final and if I'm late, I can't take it.

I'm slipping my shoes on, keys in hand when my phone buzzes in my back pocket. Fishing it out I see Jensen's name flashing across my screen with an incoming call. My lips pull into a smile, I missed this. Random calls just to catch up. He's been doing it again. We started these after Mia passed as a way to help calm the pain.

We would talk about things during the day that made us happy, things that made us sad, things that surprised us, so on and so forth.

I click the green button to answer the call, putting it on speaker phone so I can tie my shoes.

"What's up old man?"

"Watch it boy, I may be getting older but I can still beat you in wrestling any day." A chuckle slips past.

He could, he used to wrestle from junior high until his sophomore year of college when someone used an illegal move on him and gave him the injury that took him out of the sport.

"I'm sure but I can't imagine Evelyn would be happy with either of us if we did."

"Are you kidding? That girl would be front row cheering me on."

"You! Nah, she's my girl so she'd be cheering for me."

We go back and forth until I climb into my truck and my phone connects to my Bluetooth.

"I hate to cut this short but if this call is just to catch up then I'll have to call you back later. I'm about to leave to go take a final." My seatbelt clicks as I shoulder check to make sure no one is behind me before backing out of the driveway.

"Well, there was a reason to my call. Your mother stopped by today." He lets the sentence hang in the air. I'm not surprised, mom used to go to Jensen's all the time when she needed a break from my dad. They became close friends while Mia and I were dating.

"Okay?"

"She talking about leaving your father." Also not surprising, long overdue in my opinion. "She hasn't fully decided yet but I wanted to give you a heads up."

Something isn't making since. "Why did you call and not her?" The line goes silent as I pull onto the main road.

"Your mother fears you father may have bugged her phone. They haven't been getting along recently and she's sent some texts to friends and a few phone calls have been exchanged while your father was out of the house. The other day he cornered her and questioned why she would tell her friends lies about him while he quoted her private conversations."

Well, that's fucking new. I know my father isn't a good man but going that far is extreme, even for him.

"There's one more thing."

I release a sigh, gearing up for whatever has him sounding so reserved. "Hit me."

"The police were called to their home over the weekend on a domestic disturbance. A neighbor called about yelling. When the police arrived, your mom didn't say it, but it was fairly obvious your father had gotten physical. The police report states fresh bruises but without a statement from your mother, they don't have a case."