But even as I say that, I can't help but be worried. After all, he had been about to fly to Italy when my mom had been there. How had he found her then? And if he found her once, he can do it again.
“You don’t love Mom,” I say slowly. “Why is it that you want her so badly? It’s not about keeping appearances, so why? You know why she doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“Because I’m the head of a motorcycle club—”
“Fuck, Father, call a spade a spade. It’s the mafia. You’re a mobster. Who would want to be married to that? Plus, you’ve been abusive. You’re violent, and you aren’t the man you used to be.”
“As if you know me.”
“Don’t want to get to know the new and improved you. Sorry. Not a fan of what I’ve seen. Picking the mafia over Mom. I bet you were thrilled when Mr. Slade died, when he left. You do know that he killed his wife, right? Why do you want Mom so badly? To kill her and catch in on the insurance? Maybe you owe another mafia some money, is that it? Because no matter what it is, I am Team Mom. I will never help you. Neither will Kyle. We’ve all moved on, Father. We’re all living our best lives, and that’s in part because you are no longer in our lives.”
I let that sink in as I eat some escargot. I actually love snails, even though I know some people can't even stomach the idea of eating them, but I also know that it's not something I'm going to be able to afford. These might be the last snails I ever eat, and I'm going to enjoy every last one of them. Father can have the mozzarella balls if he wants, although I want to try one of them. They look good, covered in basil and something else, not sure what. Oh, and the spicy shrimp? Yeah, I want to have at least half of that.
I’m going to gain five pounds just from this meal alone, but it’ll be so worth it.
“You think this is your best life?” my father asks. “I’m sorry I failed you because I thought I raised you better than this. You can do so much more. For one thing, you should’ve gone to a better college.”
“Father—”
“But you wanted to get away from me. Your priorities are all screwed up. No matter. This can be corrected.”
“Not if I don’t want it to be.”
“And that boyfriend of yours letting you kiss another man in front of him. What kind of game are you playing?”
I swallow my escargot and do my best to keep my expression neutral, but inwardly, I’m raging. How the hell did he find out about that? Is he spying on me?
“And then you were alone with another boy. What happened inside? Does your boyfriend know about that?”
I finish the rest of the escargot and then reach across the table for Father’s wine glass. I don’t know why he was such an ass to the waitress because it tastes divine.
I place the glass in front of my setting. “If you really want to do this,” I say slowly, “if you won’t go away, I’m going to be forced to expose you.”
“Expose me as what?”
“For the monster you are. Excuse me. Monster, although monster does work too.”
“Go ahead.”
“You think you have the police in your back pocket.”
“My pockets are deeper than ever. I can buy anything and everything. All that and more can be at your fingertips.”
“All for the small price of ratting out my mom.”
“I married your mother, and I always wanted to make her my queen,” he hisses. “Now that I have the money to do that, she’s run off, scared because of how the money’s been acquired.”
“Cute story, Father, but that doesn’t explain why you cheated on her.”
“Maybe she cheated on me first.”
“Bullshit. You know she didn’t.”
“What’s that the kids say nowadays? Spoiler alert. You don’t know everything about your mother.”
“I know that she would never pick money over me.”
“Is that right? Because I’m pretty sure she’s in Europe, and her money is going to run out. Fine. That’s what we’ll do. I’ll just wait for her money to run out, and she’ll come running on home. Your mother has never worked a day in her life. She only agreed to marry me because I promised her I would make money, that I would make our lives like that of the stars. Katie, your mom is a gold digger. She uses people for what she can get out of them, and if you don’t want her to do that to you, I suggest you send her my way.”