Moved In

Chapter 16 : Worrying

Chapter 16

The next day...
   
Riker POV

"Can we try talking about your mom and Stormie again?" Dad asked, sitting down across from me at the kitchen table.

"I guess..." I mumbled.

"Tell me how you feel."

"Well... I just want to have mom back and have our family go back to normal. But I'm also scared."

"Why are you scared?"

"Because what if she gets drunk again? What if she throws empty beer bottles at me? I don't want you to marry her if she hasn't really changed. I don't trust her."

"Well there's always the risk that she'll get drunk. An alcoholic will always have the temptation to drink."

"That's what I'm afraid of. How will we know if she's telling the truth and how will we know if she's going to really not drink? And what happens if she does drink?"

"There's not going to be a way to know for sure, Riker. And you didn't visit her very long ago. The chances that she's sober already aren't good."

"So then what are we supposed to do? I feel like you're trying to get me to make a decision, but it's your decision. Not mine."

"I just don't want to continue with Stormie and not give your mom a chance if you really want me to."

"I want you to be with mom. But not if she's going to get drunk, and if we won't be able to know for sure, then I don't know what we're supposed to do."

"How about this? I'll give your mom a call and ask her some more questions. And then we can talk about this again and make a decision."

"Ok... I'm sorry about last night and getting upset and all that."

"Riker, it's fine. I know this is hard."

"Ok. Thank you, dad."

Later...

Rydel POV

"I just don't get why Riker won't text me back," I said, pacing the kitchen.

"Rydel, he's probably just busy," mom said.

"Ok, but I just want to know what's going on. You invited Mark and Riker over for dinner and they said they were busy. What are they doing?"

"Rydel, people are just busy sometimes."

"Did you ask them when they were free so we could have them over for dinner again?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"Mark said he would get back to me."

"What? That's like... a fake answer."

"Rydel, what's the big deal?" Rocky asked.

"You wouldn't understand," I mumbled.

I went upstairs to my bedroom. Riker was supposed to give mom's ring to his dad so he could get an engagement ring and propose to mom. And now he's too busy to come over for dinner and won't say when he's free?

"Rydel, what's going on? Why are you so upset about Mark and Riker not coming over?" Rocky asked, walking in.

"You need to swear you won't say anything."

"I swear. Now what's up?"

Rocky sat down next to me on my bed.

"Mark is thinking of proposing to mom. Riker asked me to get one of mom's rings so Mark would know what size to get. He was actually thinking of proposing for real, Rocky. We could have a dad again."

"Ok... So...?"

"So, if Mark won't come over for something as simple as dinner suddenly, I'm just worried maybe something happened and he changed his mind."

"They're probably just busy, Rydel. Seriously."

"I just don't like it."

"Rydel, you're overreacting. Seriously. They're probably just busy with something. Maybe they had a family emergency. I don't know. It's literally probably nothing."

I sighed.

"Try not to worry. If it's true that Mark really asked Riker to get one of mom's rings to know what size to get to propose, then I really don't think you should worry. If he was that serious about wanting to marry mom that he wanted one of her rings, he's probably still just as serious, but something came up. You don't just change your mind about marrying someone that fast. I mean, maybe he's planning some amazing proposal and Riker's helping him."

"Yeah... I just really want mom to marry Mark."

"Ok, well he's probably still going to. Don't worry."