Sophomore Year || Parenthood Series, Book One || WATTYS 2018

Chapter Twenty-Five

SOUNDTRACK:  "Fences" - Isabel

The slamming of a door upstairs told Jared that Kate was home. He sighed and put his guitar down. It was Tuesday evening and the last two days had gone about the same: Kate wasn't talking to him, slamming doors and ignoring his questions. She would come home and go right to her room where she'd sulk all night. He didn't know how to fix things this time. It seemed like she was just angry to be angry, now. If she was trying to send a message, he wasn't interested in listening any longer. And if she was trying to teach him a lesson, he wasn't interested in learning it. He'd had enough.

He walked through the house, intending on giving her a piece of his mind, but then he paused. She wanted him to yell at her. She wanted him to make a mistake. But he wasn't going to fall for it. Instead of walking to her room, he went to the hall closet and pulled out his toolbox. Calling it 'his' toolbox was silly since he had never used any of the tools in it once. But the interns used them on a regular basis to set things up and fix them, so it was handy to have around. He grabbed the drill and walked to her room. He knelt down and started taking the screws out of the door knob.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kate snapped, flinging the door open. Vedder's head poked around her leg.

"What does it look like? I'm tired of you slamming this damn door all the time. So you don't get a door," Jared said without looking at her. He took the door knob off with ease and set the parts on the floor next to his foot. "Move," he said, forcing his way past her into her room, nudging the dog's large shoulder with his knee.

"You can't do that!" she protested. "I need my door!"

"Yeah? Well I need to not be deafened by you slamming it," he quipped, taking the top hinge off. "I also need my house to not fall down because of you slamming the damn door. So this is the best solution." The top hinge came off and Jared slipped it and their screws into his pocket. He looked over at her as he caught the door. "You're gonna want to move," he said, tilting it into her room.

Kate watched in astonishment as he carried it through the house to the living room and set it on the floor against the wall. Vedder walked beside her into the hallway.

"Are you serious, right now?" she asked.

"As fucking cancer," Jared replied without thinking, walking over and picking up the door knob from the floor. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a plastic bag, putting all the small metal pieces and screws into it. "I'm tired of the attitude. I'm tired of you slamming doors. I'm tired of the silent treatment."

"What happened to 'Behave and I'll stay out of your way'," she asked, mocking his voice.

"You're not behaving, are you?" he snapped. "You're slamming doors. You're ignoring me. You're disrespecting me. And I know you fucking messed with the settings on the mixing board in the studio. So stop acting surprised."

It was true: she had been deliberately trying to set him off. And to Jared's credit, she thought he'd have cracked a lot sooner. Kate didn't know why, but she only felt like yelling and screaming at him. As if, shouting at him would somehow fix everything. She was so angry with everyone and everything and it was coming out in the wrong ways. She knew it was childish and stupid, but she had been mature for far too long and deserved a childish, stupid outlet for once.

"You suck at this," she said. "I wish you had just let me stay with Ryan! You're a terrible father!" she shouted at him.

Jared bit his lip, forcing himself not to respond. She was baiting him and he knew it.