Not only was I trying to get my business off the ground, but because Evan had decided to get back at me for the move by sneaking out of the house a few nights before we were set to leave San Francisco and sending the cops I’d called to help me find my runaway daughter on a wild goose chase, she was grounded for the foreseeable future. And that meant I’d had to bring her into the office with me when it wasn’t school hours so I could keep an eye on her.
To say the atmosphere between us had been tense lately was like calling Antarctica a little chilly. Things were downright hostile between us. So far, this hairbrained idea of moving back here to improve things between my daughter and me had failed spectacularly. Trying to wake her up and get her out the door for school each morning had been tougher than all three years of law school combined. When she was talking to me, which wasn’t often, she was whining and crying about how bored she was in this town or how miserable her life was, or what a lousy father I was. It was a wonder I’d managed to get anything done at all the past several days. As it was, with her all but chained to my hip during the hours she wasn’t at school, I was several days behind where I’d wanted to be. I should have had an assistant in place and been taking on clients by now, but no.
“Do me a favor,” I said as I shut off the engine and turned to look at my sulking daughter in the passenger seat. “Don’t act like a dick tonight. You want to be mad at me for enforcing the punishment your actions brought on, go for it, but your grandparents haven’t done anything to warrant you acting like a brat under their roof, and I won’t tolerate you treating them poorly. You think your life is miserable now? You don’t want to see what happens when I have to get creative.”
She rolled her eyes and let out a beleaguered harrumph. “Whatever, Nate.”
“No, not whatever,” I said, placing my hand on her arm to stop her when she reached for the door handle. I let the whole Nate thing slide, because that was a battle I chose to leave for another day, but I wouldn’t let the whatever stand. “Confirm you understand what I just said.”
“Jeez, all right! I got it. I’ll be on my best behavior,” she said in a deep mocking voice I could only assume was meant to be me. “Can we go inside now, or do you want to stay in the car all night long like a weirdo?” I waved her out of the car with one last sigh before climbing out of my own side.
The front door flew open before we made it onto the porch, my mother’s face stretched into the biggest beaming smile at the sight of us. “Oh, you’re here!”
She looked so damn happy to have us over for dinner, a dinner she’d cooked herself, more than likely slaving over the stove to make sure it was perfect after having worked at the store for hours. I was slammed with the same punch of guilt I’d been feeling since moving back. I really had been a shitty son the past twenty years—if not longer. That something as simple as a Sunday dinner put her in such a grand mood spoke volumes about how selfish I’d been. If the time spanning between my visits to see them had been months as opposed to years, it might have felt more natural. Now, a quick dinner was cause for celebration in her eyes, even though she’d seen us a few times already since we got to town.
“I thought I heard your car pull up, but I wasn’t sure.”
“Nate had to give me a lecture on behaving before he’d let me come in, like I’m a toddler or something,” Evan informed my mom before blowing an obnoxious bubble with the gum in her mouth and letting it pop loudly.
My mother blinked at Evan’s proclamation before dismissing it. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, dinner is nearly ready. I only have a few finishing touches left. Evan, would you like to help me in the kitchen?”
She shrugged and popped that damn gum again. “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”
I opened my mouth to get on her again—for all the good it would do me—only to have my mom place a hand on my arm to silence me. “Good, then,” she spoke before I had a chance. “Go inside and wash up. I’ll be in right behind you.”
Following my mother’s lead, I stayed quiet until the front door snicked shut. As soon as it did, she turned on me. “I see she’s still doing the whole ‘Nate’ thing. I take it that means there hasn’t been much improvement since the last time we spoke.”
I couldn’t remember a time when I’d felt more beaten down and exhausted as I felt just then. Expelling a weary breath, I lifted my hands and scrubbed at my face. “You’d be taking that correctly. There hasn’t been a single pleasant word to pass between us since we got to town. The only time we aren’t arguing is when we’re asleep.”
She narrowed her eyes in contemplation before humming. “Hmm.”
“What? What’s that hum supposed to mean? That’s the hum you use when you think I’m doing something wrong.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with an innocence that didn’t match the canniness in her eyes.
“Bullsh—” I stopped the curse before it could pass my lips, remembering how my mother hated it when I used foul language. Since I was under her roof—or close enough—I’d respect her rules, but if she’d been at my house, I’d let it fly without feeling bad. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Just say it, would you?”
“All right, fine.” With her hands on her hips, she hit me with the hard, stern Mom look she’d perfected throughout my life. “Have you stopped to think maybe all you do is argue because the only time you speak to her is to get onto her about this or that or to lecture her about what she’s doing wrong? Have you once stopped to consider you’re feeding off each other? Maybe instead of jumping down her throat, you should ask her how her day was first.”
“What’s the point in that?” I asked flatly. “I know how her days are because she spends them at school or chained to my side since she’s not responsible enough to be left alone.” The smack my mother laid upside my head left my scalp stinging. “Ouch, damn it! What was that for?”
“If you’re the kind of stupid that can’t be helped, that’s one thing, but don’t intentionally be obtuse.”
“Jesus. Okay,” I muttered as I rubbed at the back of my head. “I got it.” I huffed out a breath. “And you’re right. I’m failing her at every turn. I’ve been a pretty sh—crappy dad lately.”
My mother reached out and took my hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze. “Parenting is the hardest job a person could ever have. Being responsible for another human being, trying to make sure you do what’s best for them, it’s enough to do your head in. No one on earth is perfect at it. You show me a parent who says they’ve done everything right and I’ll show you a bald-faced liar. We make mistakes, all of us. All you can do is keep loving her, keep trying to guide her down the right path, and keep teaching her right from wrong. And be the bad guy who enforces punishment when she screws up.” She gave my hand another squeeze. “But that doesn’t mean it has to be a constant punishment. You just have to remember the little girl you love is still in there under all those hormones and teenage angst and drama.”
“Yeah? I don’t know about that.” I gave her an arched look. “I’m pretty sure she’s been taken over by some supernatural force, like a demon or alien or something.”
She laughed, long and hard, like that was the funniest damn thing she’d ever heard in her life. “Uh-huh. And just wait until she starts dating.”
“Why the hell would you say something like that to me?” I shouted as she turned and headed into the house, leaving me all by myself after dropping that bombshell. “That was just unnecessarily mean,” I grumbled as I followed the sound of her laughter inside.