tried them exactly once. Not that I planned to share it. Frankie and I had both split a pack of smokes with Jake when he got back from Germany.
She threw up, I had a headache from hell, and Jake had been disgusted enough that he tossed the rest in the trash. Our rebellions could stick it out with sharing Frankie between us and alcohol. That worked for us. We’d done a little weed over the summer, sans Frankie, but the smoke stunk, even if it was fun.
“I hate all of you,” Trina yelled, tears filling her angry eyes as she stormed away. She slapped my arm as she passed me and muttered, “Jerk,” before disappearing up the hallway. The slam of her door added the final punctuation mark to that tantrum.
Good times.
Dad sighed. “You didn’t have to be so rough on her, Carly. She’s acting out.”
“I called you over here to back me up. If you can’t be bothered, then you don’t need to be here.” With Trina out of the way, Mom’s expression went to stone. She rose and avoided Dad’s hand when he went to touch her arm. “Thanks for nothing. Feel free to let yourself out.”
This was the shit that I hated—the icy wall between them and the fact that Dad fucked it up with Mom. I’d heard her cry herself to sleep. I didn’t care what he had to say on the subject, he hurt her. He could go. I pinned him with a look as Mom headed to the kitchen.
“Coop.”
“Dad.”
The old man sighed as he straightened. Sometimes, I forgot what it was like when I was younger. When Dad and I hung out willingly. How he taught me to throw a baseball, or when he took me and Frankie to baseball games. “You got a minute?”
“Nope.”
Another aggrieved sigh left him. “Cooper, I’d like to talk to you.”
“I’m good with the whole let’s pretend the other one doesn’t exist. It’s been working for me.” Mom wanted him out of here, and Dad’s jaw set. Fuck, he wasn’t going anywhere until he talked to me. Fine. I’d split the difference. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
Instead of heading to the door, though, he moved to the hallway where I was standing. What the…
“Trina?” he called. “I’m going now.”
Sis didn’t answer him. He waited a moment, jaw flexing, then grunted as he turned away, and I pushed off the wall to follow him to the door. Most likely, Sis had her earphones in. I rather doubted she even heard Dad’s farewell. Even if she did, she probably didn’t want to talk to him after his betrayal anyway.
I caught Mom’s eye where she watched our exit from the kitchen. I mouthed, “I’ll be back,” to her, and she gave me a small smile and a nod. The pain in her eyes just pissed me off at Dad all over again. I didn’t know exactly what he’d done. It had to have been an affair. I didn’t think it was money. But whatever it was, it was bad enough that he’d tried for years to win Mom’s affections back, and she had nothing to do with that. She talked to him about us, and that was it.
It had just been an ugly year, and nothing I’d done had made it better, though I sure as fuck tried. Keeping my distance from Dad was the least I could do. Even when she tried to tell me he was still my father and I was allowed to have a relationship with him.
Nope, I was firmly #TeamMom, and Dad could go fuck himself.
While she’d never actually said anything, the relief in her eyes about killed me. Trina had been the complete opposite and a lot younger. She didn’t see how much pain Mom was in, or how Mom just took all of her rebellion and tantrums and kept going. Even when Mom wouldn’t say anything to her, I had. Still, it had been tough.
Dad didn’t say a word as he headed for the parking lot. He’d parked in the open parking where Frankie used to park her car and right next to mine. Arms folded, I faced him when he turned. We were the same height, so I could look him dead in the eyes. We had the same build, and where his looming presence had been both a comfort and a bit of a terror when I was younger, he just seemed kind of sad now.