Calvin stepped up to Fox like he planned on taking him down. I didn’t know a lot about prison, but I knew it conditioned men to physically fight out their problems. We’d all been on the outside getting on with our lives, while Cal was learning etiquette like beating up your own brother because he put an arm around your ex-girlfriend. I guess the man had killed his own father. I knew if I didn’t do something quick, the two would come at blows.
I stepped between them putting one hand on Fox’s chest and hesitantly, the other on Calvin’s
“Okay you two not out here, let’s go inside and talk this over like adults.”
Both men nodded their heads and we walked into the house. I was glad Fox had done so much to change the décor, because the Montgomery family home was chocked-full of memories—and few of them good.
Once inside I turned to Calvin and let him have it.
“You have no right to expect anything from me. Not a one. You threw me out like trash and inadvertently, did the same to Adele. I tried to tell you. You shut me out. You have any idea how that felt? So I finally accepted it. I moved on just like you wanted and now you’re angry at me for doing exactly as you asked.”
I flopped down on Fox’s new sectional and Calvin stood and stared me down with his arms crossed. Fox made himself busy in the kitchen grabbing more hotdogs and sliced watermelon out of the fridge.
It didn’t help that the rugged prison life agreed with him, he’d filled out and buffed up and still had those intense green eyes and gorgeously untamable blond hair. While I told him off, I was caught between wanting to sock him as hard as I could in the face, or grabbing that face and kissing him within an inch of his life. I’d never gotten over Calvin and having him standing in front of me again was as surreal as it was infuriating.
“What’s everybody yelling about,” Adele said as she came down the stairs. She was wearing a large t-shirt that looked like it belonged to Fox and nothing else but flip flops.
“Adele, I didn’t know you’d come inside,” I told her.
“Yeah, I switched into my suit because they’re setting up the slip and slide.” She grabbed a slice of watermelon off of her uncle’s tray.
“You keep clothes here?” Calvin asked her.
“I have my room, well, it was my dad’s,” she said. Adele looked at Calvin with curiosity and spat a few watermelon seeds into her palm. “You’re Calvin? My dad who’s been in jail?” Their green eyes connected and it’s almost more than I could take. This was not how I imagined it, not the how, when, or where of how it happened in my head.
Cal looked at me with desperation, searching my face for guidance or permission. I gave him a nod. Fox walked out of the room with his tray of food, and I was unsure whether or not I should have given them space or followed them.
But I loved Adele with all my heart and I didn’t know who Calvin was anymore. I stayed and if she needed comfort or felt angry, I’d help her process it.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you outside, when I gave you a ride, but I wasn’t entirely sure myself. God, this is not what I expected,” Calvin gritted into his hands.
“You do look like Fox. Mom says my nose is a Montgomery,” Adele told her father. She turned to the side to show him her profile. I loved my daughter. This broke the tension and Calvin actually cracked a smile.
“Montgomery nose for sure. Adele, I’m sorry,” he said. Cal apologized for her nose, for being absent her whole life. He moved toward Adele and opened his arms. Adele hesitated for a moment, tilted her head slightly as if she was feeling shy or unsure, then she stepped forward and embraced Calvin. Cal let out a deep sob, but then seemed able to contain the rest of the powerful emotions running through him. I wiped back the tears that streamed freely down my face as I watched my daughter hug her father for the first time in her life.
“Jesus, Adele, I missed you so much. Your mom has done a great job, though. But…but I want to make it up to you, make up for the time I missed.”
Adele stepped back from the embrace and scrutinized her father’s face.
“Did you get into a fight?”
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
“In prison, before you left?”
“Uh no.” Calvin looked at me. “That—well, I got into some trouble the night of my release, but it won’t happen again.”
There’s no way I could let a man like Calvin be around my kid. First day of his release and he’s already been in a serious fight. I wanted to raise my daughter on the right side of the law, raise her like a Kraft and not a Montgomery. Unfortunately, she loved shit like this.