Rick stood in the front yard, looking up and down the front of the house. The flower beds had gotten torn up by the neighbors dog and Lori told Rick if they weren't fixed by the time she got back she was calling the pound. "Your mother needs to realize that these are just flowers..." He rubbed the sweat on his forehead off with the back of his hand. "It's not that big of a deal. We just need to push all the dirt back and pat it down. Pick up the remains."
"Don't call them remains," Carl made a face and gave a final tug to to the gloves he wore. "It makes it sound like they're people-"
"That's how your mother is treating them," Carl wanted to tell Rick that Lori treated the flowers kinder than she ever treated them, but he didn't. He just wanted his dad to see that Lori didn't really love him. He was trapped in a loveless marriage and Rick deserved more than that. "Just help me do this and I'll buy you that new game you want, okay?" He brushed the hair off of Carls forehead, kissing it. "Thank you."
Carl smiled up at him. He truly loved his dad. Rick was a good man. He owned his mistakes and tried his best to keep everyone happy. When Carl was younger he used to climb into his father's lap and tell him how much he admired him. That stopped when he turned twelve and suddenly being the cops son was annoying and weird. He stopped loving and praising his dad just to make friends who ended up leaving him. Carl wondered if Rick missed the compliments too. "You're a really good husband, dad."
"I try," Rick smiled. Carl wondered when he started to age. Rick used to be clean shaven and have bright eyes. Now he had wrinkles and bags, and the bright eyes had turned into a dim flickering light. "Your mom deserves it, Carl." You deserve it too, Carl wanted to shout, you deserve kindness and love just as much as she does, maybe even more. "Did you have a good day today? Read any new books? Win a game?"
Carl shrugged. "Kinda. I just swam all day..." He got down on his knees and started to dig at the "remains", picking out all the petals and stems, placing them in a neat pile on the sidewalk. "Enid said she can make it to my party, but I still think she's gonna be the only person I'm inviting. I don't have any close friends that aren't adults." Growing up Carl was mostly around adults. His dad's coworkers and his mom's friends. He never really learned how to get along with kids his own age. It worried Lori, but Rick just said he was mature. "You're gonna be off for it, right?"
"Of course," Rick grinned. "You're more important than any extra hours I can get." He went to reach out and ruffle Carls hair but stopped. "Sorry," Rick was so kind. It made Carls heart ache. He deserved someone who loved him. Someone who didn't expect him to work extra hours to pay gor expensive and unneeded handbags. "I'm glad you got Enid. Shes a real good friend. Beats all the other ones that bullied you."
"Shes pretty great." When Carl came out, Enid was the only one to kept being his friend. Shes a lesbian so it sort of made sense, but all the other small town homophobes decided it was their job to not only stop being his friend but also make his life a living hell. They bullied him in and out of school, even going as far as spray painting "faggot" across their garage in big, red letters. Rick arrested them all and charged them with every damn thing he could. Then he spent the next two days painting over the word. "You are too, dad. And I'm glad mom might be having another baby."
Carl and Rick rarely talked when she was around. They could talk about light stuff, the fake, easy stuff that Lori always wanred to focus on. Perfect son. Perfect husband. Perfect house. Perfection seemed to be the only thing that shut her up but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how hard they lied, it was never good enough. Carl was happy they may get another child, but he was also worried Lori would ruin them.
"Me too." Rick dug through the dirt then pat it all back down while making sure to avoid any of the flowers that survived the dog attack. "I'm hoping its another boy, your mom says she thinks it may be a girl though." The smile that had been on Ricks face the entire time started to fade. "Carl... you.." Rick shook his head. "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?"
