He waves his hand, and the waitress brings over another glass and pours his wine. Father never breaks eye contact with me, not even as he lifts his glass in toast.
“She’s already sucking you dry, isn’t she? And you barely have any money or college as it is. You have a few scholarships, but that’s not enough, and you’re going to be left with nothing, with less than nothing, if you don’t cut the cord. Let your mother be my problem. You don’t need to worry about her anymore.”
"Because your mobster goons can protect her? Yeah, sure. You mentioned a war, didn't you? Do you really want to drag the woman you supposedly love into all that? I call bullshit. You want her for something else, and I'm not going to let you have her."
My father just snorts and drinks his wine. He finally eats his salad, but he leaves the appetizers to me. Our main course is the largest filet mignon they offer with a twice-baked potato and asparagus. It's absolutely delicious, the meat perfectly pink and warm, just the way I like it.
Father always eats his steak well done, which ruins it, in my opinion. I wait for him to cut into it, realize it's not cooked to his liking, and send it back to be cooked longer, but he doesn't. He eats it as is.
Hmm. He's acting the part of a tough guy, and he seems to be rolling in dough. Is he as much of a badass as he's pretending to be? And if so, how much trouble am I going to be in? Will Mom be in when he finds her? Because I can't help being worried that, in the end, Father's going to get what he wants, and the rest of us are going to be screwed.
Just what is his endgame?