You Sang To Me - I'm Not Broken Hearted Trilogy, Book 3

Chapter 3 - Patrick

            An hour later than we had hoped to leave, we were finally piling into the car. Allie sat in the passenger seat beside me, and Rose was in the back seat, her arms crossed over her chest and her headphones blaring so loudly that I could hear it over the radio. I frowned at her through the rearview mirror as I pulled out of the driveway, but she didn't notice. Allie did, and she reached over to take my right hand off the steering wheel, holding it tightly in hers. I glanced at her and she gave me a comforting smile.

I hated fighting with Rose. It happened too often to keep track of, and she fought with Allie too, but it broke my heart every time. At the same time, I knew I had to come down hard on her sometimes. She was acting like Pete had when we were younger. I remembered when Pete had gotten his first tattoo with a fake ID, back when he was sixteen. I had been flabbergasted then, and I was today, when I saw a bright blue sapphire hanging from my daughters navel. My thirteen-year-old baby girl. I shook my head just thinking about it.

Glancing at her in the mirror again, it irked me how much she was like Pete. Her hair, normally curly like her mother's, was flat ironed to lay over her right eye. Her hair was as turquoise as it was this morning, but while she was locked in her room, she had apparently added some purple streaks to it. It reminded me of the time Pete had put red streaks in his hair. One thing I couldn't shake though, was the fact that she had stolen money from her brother. Pete never did that. Pete would never even think of stealing. In fact, Pete might just have her head when he finds out. Glancing at her one more time, I found her glaring right back at me, even scowling, as if she could hear me thinking about how disappointed I am in her. I glared back for a moment as I came to a stop at a red light. Eventually, she rolled her eyes and looked away.

I smirked to myself and looked at Allie, who was also glaring at me. I shrugged my shoulders as if to say, what?

She gave me a look that after twenty-one years of marriage, I knew all too well. It said, stop being an idiot. I pouted slightly and paid attention to my driving. Allie squeezed my hand affectionately, and turned to look out her window.

A few minutes later, I pulled up to Pete and Meagan's house. Saint, Declan, and Ruby were all sitting on the porch like a stereotypical group of teenagers, their cell-phones in hand, and Declan with arm around his girlfriend. I smirked at them, then got out of the car. I opened the door for my daughter, hoping that might alleviate some of the tension, but she only slammed into me and pushed past dramatically, walking right past her brother and into the house. Classy, Rose. I sighed and shook my head, walking around the car to take Allie's hand.

We walked by the kids, saying hello to Saint, and made our way into the house. Andy and Sara were the only ones not here yet, so we walked into an already crowded kitchen to find Pete, Meagan, Joe, and Marie. After everyone had hugged it out and said hello, Allie and I rejoined hands and leaned back against the counter. "Pete," I said, "Did you happen to see where Rose went when she came in?"

Pete chuckled as if he knew too much already and nodded. "Yeah, she's up in my room. She came in and said, 'Dad's being an asshole, I need a place to crash tonight,' so I sent her up there. I think she plans on staying the night."

"Nice," I sighed, looking at Allie with a frown.

"What happened this time?" Pete asked, lifting a beer bottle to his lips. As he did so, Meagan offered Marie and Allie a glass of wine.

"She got her bellybutton pierced," I deadpanned, and Pete literally spit out his beer like a fountain, all over the floor.

"Pete!" Meagan screeched, glaring at him as she set down the wine bottle to get something to clean his mess with.