Shadows From the Abyss

Silent Dinner

Tre put his wineglass down before picking up his cigar and lighting it. He blew a smoke ring, smiled, and looked at his wife sitting on his left and his son sitting on his right. This was how it was supposed to be.

"Alright, tell me about this boyfriend of yours, Shawn."

Shawn raised an eyebrow, caught slightly off guard by his father's sudden interest. He picked his phone up out of his lap and started scrolling through his photos. "Well, his name is Art, he's 24, former army guy, and absolutely precious," Shawn finally found his favorite picture and handed his phone over.

"Oh he's so cute!" Sara gushed, "When did you two start dating?"

"A little over month ago," Shawn smiled, sipping his wine.

"And I haven't gotten to speak to him yet why?" Tre smirked, handing his son his phone back.

"Because your timing is terrible,"

Tre just shrugged and picked his cigar back up.

"How'd you meet?" Sara asked.

"One of those stupid dating apps."

The trio was interrupted by the sound of the smoke detector blaring inside, followed by Mike and Dave laughing and Billie yelling 'Oh for fuck sake I'm cooking you stupid thing! Shut up!'

"I'm gonna go see if he needs any help," Sara said before getting up and disappearing inside.

"So how long are you staying?" Tre asked his son after a pause.

"I think five days?"

"Good. I need to borrow you tomorrow or the next day."

"Sure, what for?"

"Well, your birthday is coming up next month. When your Mom and I found out we were having you, she set up a college fund and got some amazing interest on it. She put any spare money she could in it and the only rule was it was either for college or when you turned 19 it was all yours."

"How much is in there now?"

"Uh I last checked it a few months ago and I think it was around $270,000."

Shawn's jaw dropped and he gripped his wine glass tighter.

"On one condition," Tre said sternly, seeing the look on his son's face, "before I sign that over to you, you have to talk to my accountant and actually listen to him. Invest a decent chunk of it so you don't blow through it in two years and then are shit out of luck."

"Jesus Christ....how?"

Tre rolled his eyes, knowing his advice was falling on deaf ears. "When I sold the penthouse, I split the money between the three of you. When your Mom sold the Jag, she put all the money in there. Every month, I know she put at least twenty in there. Like I said, she was smart about it and got amazing interest. Plus Billie and I have been adding to it every year. And I know when Mike sold the townhouse he put a chunk of that return in there."

"Fuckin hell."

Tre sighed, slouching down in his seat a bit. "I know I wasn't always a great parent to you, kid. And I fucking hate that."

"I mean, you're at least trying to make up for it now so that's good I guess."

Tre rolled his eyes. "A few months doesn't make up for years of bullshit."

"Can we please have this talk later?" Shawn offered, not wanting to kill his buzz. "I love you. And I'm glad we're actually being honest with each other but I'd like to not slip down the mental slide."