That same night I arrived back at my aunt’s house right after dinner time. I decided to walk around the neighborhood to avoid seeing my dad. I wasn’t ready to ask the many questions I had running through my mind since I was seven. Why does he come out of nowhere all of the sudden? He was too busy working to be working with us. He had another family, right?
My mom was quiet surprised to see me walking through the front door. She thought something bad happened or I was going to be out all night. I told her what happened after I ran away. Apparently Tom had told her about dad and she made dad wasn’t there when I got back. Ale got to see him but they didn’t talk, that’s what mom said. I told mom about visiting Leona and how she thought I needed an escape from everything. My mom agreed to go with me to meet her the next day. When I told her about Alex, her eyes widened. I guess she wasn’t expecting me to bump into someone Austin related.
We spent the rest of the night talking about her and her relationship with Tom. She even mentioned she wanted another child. I smiled at her, knowing another kid would make her happier even if it was another girl. She thought it was too soon but she would tell Tom a year after they dated. I only hoped their relationship would last so my mom could be happy.
The next morning I woke up around ten. I sent a text to Leona asking the time and place we could meet. She answered a few minutes later saying she would stop by after work. Ale stirred beside me before rolling onto her side.
“What time is it?” She mumbled. I chuckled and ran a hand through her hair.
“It’s almost eleven.” She nodded against the pillow. “What do you want to do today?”
“Can we spend the day with Danny and Dylan?” I smiled to myself as my sister kept her eyes shut.
“Sure. Why not?” I kissed her forehead and jumped out of bed. I decided to get ready for the day. I took a shower followed by getting dressed up. I wore a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt with some flip flops considering we were going to spend the day in.
When I got downstairs I was quiet surprised to see my dad sitting across my mom in my aunt’s living room. Right before I could take a step back, my mom turned her head towards my direction.
“Oh, you’re awake.” I nodded and stepped forward. “Your dad asked me if he could talk to you.”
“What about?” My dad turned to look at me. He stood up and stepped forward making me step back. “Don’t. Come. Near. Me.”
“Calli, please.” I looked away from him. Mom turned around to leave the room but I stopped her.
“Mom can you stay? If he has anything to say, he can say in front of you.” Mom stayed and I turned to look at the only man standing in the room. “You can talk now.”
“Calli, I’m really sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to scare you off that way. I wasn’t going to hurt you.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “I wasn’t expecting to see you walking around. I wanted to explain why I left. I wanted to see you and you’re sister.”
“After all this time, you wanted to see Ale? You left right after she was born! How can you be such an ass?!” My mom was about to say something about me cussing. She hated when I did that. “No mom! How would you feel if grandpa was here and left you with Aunt Calliana and grandma? My grandfather was way better than you as a father!”
“Look I know what I did was wrong. I know I left but you have to understand why I did it. You should,” Automatically I stepped forward making my hand collide with his cheek. I took a step back and glared at him.
“Calli!” I turned to look at my mom before looking at my dad again.
“To be honest? You disgust me! You can’t just walk out, come back like nothing happened and expect us to forgive you. Stay away from me. And if you get near my sister, you’ll regret it.” I turned around and walked back upstairs. I opened the room I was sharing with Ale and locked the door behind me. I threw myself on the bed beside my baby sister and shut my eyes. I just wanted to go back home.
