Her Name Was Meloni

im sure

My eye shot over to my dad. And his face was just a miserable as mine. "A text would've been nice." I whispered to my dad.

"I have his phone. I didn't want him to warn you that I was here. I was waiting for you to call so I could surprise you on the phone. But seeing your face right now is so much better." Tyler said.

I'm actually shitting bricks right now.

"So what is this about you deciding to meet your mom and wanting me to be present?"

I visibly cringed and looked over to my dad. "Um....well...."

"Before you think about lying. Your mom came to the hospital to talk to me." He said.

"She did what?" My dad nearly shouted.

"Oh yeah. She said that she was sorry for the trouble she caused me and your father for the year but she is ready to be your mother now. And the she was hoping that I would be present for the meeting between you two to make sure that things don't escalate too much with your health. I told her I would talk to the two of you before I made a decision. So I want an explanation and I want one now." Tyler said.

I know what you're thinking. Why is my doctor so involved in my life? Well he is basically my uncle. When mom left me and dad, all of we had was each other. And when I kept getting sick and then soon becoming a permanent resident in the hospital, I saw Tyler almost every single day. He became more than my doctor. Even when they took him off my case because they thought he was getting to emotionally invested, which he kind of was, he was still there. He was one of the only support systems my dad and me had. And when mom did come around he would see the after math it put me and dad through, sometime he would even have to step in because mom would come to the hospital high or intoxicated. Though it didn't happen often when it did, Tyler would try his best to hide it from me, but nurses gossip and kids will repeat almost everything. So no matter what it always got back to me eventually.

Tyler became a second father to me and that is why we wanted to tell him everything ourselves. But noooooo,my mother just had to jump the gun.

"We were gonna tell you-" before my dad could finish the sentence Tyler gave him a lethal death glare to cut him off.

"When? Before or after she came to me. Look, would I have been on the fence about you guys meeting her, yes. But at the end of the day she is still your mother and if you want to try to mend your relationship, that is your choice. However, finding out that I am meant to be involved in this from the one person I'd rather not deal with at my place of work, is fucking foul. You told everyone else, people you have only known for a year and some change before you came to me, a man who has known you damn near since birth. Was I even supposed to know?" He asked.

"Yes. We were gonna invited you to dinner and let you know then. My mom should not have came to you. I told her i wanted to do this on my terms. We never meant for you to find out that way." I said

"We wanted to talk to you. I don't know why she came to you, especially at work. But the only reason we waited to tell you was we wanted....well to be honest we were building up the courage to do it." Dad said. And it's true.

Tyler seemed genuinely shocked. "The courage? You make it seem like I would have bit your head off for wanting a relationship with her. Is that what you think?" He asked and I could hear a hint of hurt in his voice.

"No....its just I know you don't like her and I knew you would necessarily like the idea." I said.

"Regardless of how I feel about that woman, you come first. No matter what. Don't ever feel like you need to adjust yourself for my sake. Either of you. If you want to do this I can suck back any and every feeling I have ever felt about her and be there for you. You are my family and I would do anything for you." He said looking me and my dad square in the eyes.

We nodded. We felt like kids who were properly chastised.

"We're sorry." Me and my dad said in unison.

"It's ok. I'm sorry as well, that I have made you feel like you needed to hide it from me. I will be there. However you need me to be. Whether as a doctor, a friend, or family." He said.

"So you're not mad anymore?" My dad asked.

"I wasn't mad. I was just....irritated." He said smugly.

"As soon as I walked in, you glared dagger at me." I said.

"Yeah and when you first came into the house you told me to sit like a dog and glared at me like a pup til Meloni got home." Dad said.

"That's not true. I told you your wife paid me a visit and she told me about the dinner." Tyler said.

"Yeah and that's it." Dad said with a laugh. Tyler rolled his eyes but a small smile appeared on his face.

"Fine I was a little mad. But it was mostly cause I thought you guys were gonna blindside me and she basically told me you asked everyone else but me. And she did all this while I was in the middle of a busy shift. So I might have been a little more sensitive than usual." Tyler said.

"I'll have a talk with her." Said dad, but I quickly nipped that in the butt.

"No I am. I said this was gonna be on my terms and she clearly didnt respect that. So I'll talk to her."

"You sure?" They both asked in unison.

I nodded my head.

Hell yeah I'm sure.