relationships I’ve ever heard of. Back when they were together my mom’s only drug was alcohol, but that was enough. It felt like the two of them were always fighting and putting me in the middle of it. My father, Kole, meant the absolute world to me. While my mother left to go to the bar night after night we’d play together, read together and just spend time as a family. Some of my fondest memories were of him dressed up in my play clothes, pretending to rescue me from an evil witch in her castle. We spent hours drawing chalk people in front of our house and playing at the park. Kole was a different person when Audrey was around. They would scream at each other at the top of their lungs. My mother always gave me the excuse that my dad was the reason I didn’t get to see her more. While my dad would tell me what a terrible mother she was.”
Corey’s eyes were full of concern as he listened quietly to my long held heartaches.
“All I knew was I wanted someone to hold me and tell me all the fighting would stop. My grandparents were always too busy with the Inn to think about what was going on with our crazy household, so I was left to fend for myself. But even with my grandparent’s absence and my mother’s making the bar her priority instead of me—it was my dad that hurt me the worst. Never physically, the man would never have laid a hand on me, but emotionally I was screwed up. They would finish a fight and she would leave once again and I’d be on the verge of a breakdown. Kole would sit me down on his knee and look me in the eye and tell me we were going to do something fun together. The places he planned to take me varied, but they were all places I wanted to go.” A tear broke free as I remembered the sincere look on my dad’s face. “Truthfully, I would have gone anywhere…as long as he would be there too. He would tell me to be ready to go in a little bit when he got back from the store.”
“My father would leave and it would be just me in the house. I would change into one of my pretty dresses that my Gram bought me, brush my hair and go sit on the front steps to wait for him to come home. Morning would turn to the afternoon and then the night would cover me with a blanket of darkness and stars. Never once did he return to take me out. The next time I saw him he’d call me his Princess and tell me some magical story about why he didn’t come back. I was never able to stay mad at him and the next time he’d promise me an outing just the two of us, there I’d sit waiting once more.”
“There was nothing I wanted more than to mean something in his eyes.” A sigh passed my lips as I bit down on my bottom lip to stifle a sob. “The day he left us for good was the worst day of my life.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You brought this upon yourself, Kole!”
“You’re right, you selfish bitch! What was I thinking falling for someone as fucking insane as you! How many other guys have you slept with, while I sit around waiting for you to return!?!” My father’s voice hit a level I never heard before. It terrified me. I watched them through the slit of my open bedroom door; neither one noticed me.
“Oh woe is me! I’m over it!! You don’t love me! When I am around, you don’t pay a speck of attention to me then you run off with all your other whores!” He rubbed his face before he sent his fist into the wall closest to him. A soft cry escaped my lips but they didn’t hear it.
“Audrey, can’t you fucking see if I wasn’t stuck loving you, I wouldn’t be here!”
“You’re not here for me—you’re here because of that kid you feel an obligation to! Well’ don’t stay around out of pity! We don’t need you, you piece of shit!” My mother’s face turned red. I wanted to rush out to him—I did need him. Why was she telling my daddy to leave?
“I stayed around to make a goddamn family with you!” His voice broke as he pleaded with my