Everything Has Changed: Book Three

Chapter Six: Bubble Bath

Is there anything you guys want to see a picture of? Should I just make another Danny/Grace collage? Maybe post a pic of Grace's Dad? I hate not putting something up.

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Chapter Six: Bubble Bath

I sit at the breakfast table next to my husband. We were having Miley and Kyle over, but now my Dad and Grandparents are here. None of us have spoken to him in a while, and my Grandparents are happy to meet their grandson but not so happy to see their son.

"Scott, why are you here?" Grandpa asks.

"Micah, how about you go play?" Dad asks him.

Micah looks down at his hands.

"I don't want to, Dad. I want to know what you're going to say."

"Just let the adults talk for now, alright? I'll tell you later." He says calmly.

Micah looks skeptical, and then he looks at me.

"Can I open up my toys?"

"Yeah." I nod.

Micah leaves the table and I'm just so confused.

Why is he being so nice to Micah? For somebody that's letting his son have alcohol, you would think he wouldn't be that nice.

Danny's hand finds mine under the table and Dad takes a deep breath.

The second I hear Micah's bedroom door shut, I break the silence.

"Why were you giving him alcohol?"

Dad sighs.

"What are you talking about?"

"We gave him water. He said the water he gets at your home burns his throat."

Silence.

"He said that?"

"Yes." I snap.

"I mean, what the hell Scott? You can count the boys ribs!" Grandma says.

"He said he never gets baths and he didn't know what washing himself in the bath was, because he had never done it before. He has two pairs of underwear that weren't ripped, shorts, one shirt with holes and one without. The boy is five years old and he thought that getting clothes that fit him was just like Christmas." I say angrily

"It's not me, Gracelyn. It's Eileen, you know that."

"No Dad, I don't know that." I stand up from the table. "Maybe if you didn't go back to her-"

"Oh for fucks sake, Gracelyn. That was six years ago!"

"Maybe if you didn't blame me for the shit she put me through-"

"I apologized for that." He sighs. "And I didn't know Eileen was giving him alcohol!"

"She's hurt him, Dad! He's five!"

"I didn't know!" He repeats.

"I don't believe you." I shake my head, and I feel sick. I put my hand on my stomach and shake my head. "I don't believe you at all. Why the hell are you here?"

"I'm here because Eileen buried the legal files that say you existed." He says, standing up from the table. "And my lawyer thinks she's going to win custody of Micah."

The house falls silent.

Grandpa runs his hands through his hair, Grandma puts her hand on her mouth, Danny looks pissed, and I brace myself against the table with both hands.