The ride home was a long and annoyingly loud one. Mom and her boyfriend went from singing songs from the like 70s to nursery rhymes to singing commercial themes but when we finally did pull up to my house I hopped out before she could even put the car in park.
Luckily, Dads car is in the driveway meaning he's home. The last thing I want is to have to wait in the sweaty hot car for hours waiting on his return.
"Dad!" I ring the doorbell several times before switching to knocking.
Dad opened the door. A piece of pie in his hand half eaten.
"No!Dad!" I swat his hand sending the pie flying to the porch floor.
"What the? Morris, what has gotten into you? And why are you all messy?" Dad asks
"You can't eat the pies" I say glancing behind me. Mom followed by Ethan exits the car skipping their way over to us.
"Morris?"
"Look, we will talk later" I tell him
He looks at me confused and I can't help but feel sorry for my clueless father. All he wanted was a fresh start. To see his home town again but he got this. A brainwashed pie obessed community.
I shake my head pushing past him right as Mom steps up behind me.
"Grace?" I hear him say. A hint of a smile on his voice.
I take my position upstairs peering over the railing. I get a good view of half of Moms face and Ethans. Matching smiles on both of them.
"Hi,Paul" She says
"Who's this" Dad grumbles
"This is Ethan, my fiance" Mom giggles
"Oh" Dad says sounding disappointed
"Nice to meet you" Ethan shakes hands with Dad
"So what brings you here?"
I can tell he wants them both gone now knowing he has zero chances of mending their lost relationship.
"Well, I ran into Morris at the store and he made a bit of a mess"
"Really? What type of mess?" Dad asks
"He seemed angry you know and he went into Debras Pie Shop and broke a table, stomped on her pies"
My jaw drops at my moms lie. I can't believe she's lying! I didn't stomp on Debras pies nor did I purposely break a table.
"Wait, Debras Pie shop? I thought it was--"
"Anyhoo! These actions cannot go without repercussions. Debra wants Morris to show up this Friday to help her prepare for the annual bakeoff coming up."
"What?" I say involuntarily.
"Well--" Dad starts
"And Paul" Mom cuts him off "I know how kids get when they suddenly have to move off somewhere, they get angry and all sort of mixed emotions, they even get rebellious."
"All I'm saying" Mom continues "is your kid could use some bonding with his father, so he doesn't step out of line. Just sit down and talk about how he feels about everything that's been happening. You wouldn't want your kid to end up in a juvenile center."
I rub my nose until it's red. Did she just threaten me? Tell my father how to do his job? The audacity in this woman who used to be my mother.
Dad laughs but I can tell he's angry by the way his back and muscles are flexing.
"Yeah, that kid your referring to is also your son so why don't you go talk to him and tell him how hard his move was, how hard his life was without his mother? How his dad struggled to understand why she left for another man? And surely" Dad scoffs "this can't be the same man you left me for, can it?"
Mom stays silent. Everybody goes silent. The only sound is the settling of the house.
After about a minute of silence, Dad speaks again.
"So, don't go telling me how to my job and how to raise my son since your no longer in the picture" Dad spits
"Hey, now" Ethan says
"Shut it," Dad tells Ethan "now can you both get off my property"
Out of nowhere, Mom starts laughing. She laughs and laughs until her whole body is shaking and their are tears rolling down her face.
"What's funny?" Dad grits
"You, Oh! Paul!" She giggles "I forgot about your hilarious sense of humor"
"I wasn't-"
"Oh! Dear! You are funny" She playfully shoves Dad who doesn't budge "but seriously talk to Morris"
And with that she strides out of sight taking her boyfriend with her leaving Dad baffled at the door and me baffled where I stand. She took what Dad said as a joke and threw it back in his face with laughter.
I'm fuming as I come down the steps. Dad slams the door running his hands through in hair.
"Not now, Morry" He tells me before I can open my mouth.
"But-"
"I said not now! Okay, go to your room!" He shouts
I flinch. Dad never yells at me. He rarely even gets angry but seeing him like this now scares me.
"Dad?" I take a cautious step downstairs
"I said go to your room!" He hides his face.
"No! Okay, we need to talk" I shout back
"About what?! Huh? You want me to take her advice? Sit down and talk about how your feeling? Well, how are you feeling?!"
"No" I say "I mean about this town, there's something seriously wrong here, I was just at Debras and-"
"Oh, here we go" He sniffles finally looking at me with red rimmed eyes
"I'm serious! Now, listen-"
"You'll do anything to move away from here, Morris but what you don't get is this is home now!"
"No, that's not it!" I can feel my own tears building up with my frustration
"Yes it is! You miss your friends, your old school and our old home! Right?!" He shouts
"No! I mean yes but- "
"And your mother I mean she's clearly changed but you miss when we were together? Mabye she was right." He wipes his face looking around like a lost puppy
"Dad, your a amazing father. You were there for me. Not her. You were there for me when no one esle was." I say but I sound like I'm quoting off a movie script. I mean it though. I love my dad with every ounce of love I have -except the reserved part which I'm saving for my significant other.
"Am I though? I mean when was the last time I asked you how you were feeling about anything? Or how was school? Never because I've always felt it wasn't my job to as a father... your mother used to ask you when you were a toddler and I would always just watch your face light up" Dad smiles reflecting back on a memory "I asked myself ,why can't I do that?"
I walk down the steps embracing my sobbing father and not long after I'm crying too.
"You smell good" Dad grunts into my hair
"Shut up" I laugh
A/N
I feel like I left out chunks of description but I'll edit that later...mabye...hopefully! Anyhoo! ;) Comment and vote! And
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