“Take it all back. The car, the gifts. Turn back the clock and start over with a real relationship, with us on equal footing. You talk to me about your family stuff, the hard stuff. And you keep me company longer than just to fuck around.”
I shake my head. Now, an internal flip has been switched and I’m in negotiations mode. “The car, the clothes, the airline tickets, all of that is yours. I won’t take them back.”
“This is not a negotiation, Anthony.”
“Life is a negotiation.”
“You’re wrong. Life is… Life is skinny dipping, and eating too much ice cream, and splashing in rain puddles, and reading what makes you feel good, and laughing with friends until you can’t breathe.”
This is it, I think. All of those things she listed, I don’t know how to do those things. I was never taught simply how to… live.
“If you don’t get that, then I think you have some work to do.” She crosses her arms across her chest.
“Are you breaking up with me?”
She shakes her head. “I think we need some space to figure things out.”
“That’s what you want?”
She nods. “And I just want to go home and see Addie.”
I have to whisper to hide the ragged crack in my voice. Tears. I have actual tears coming up, and a hard knot in my throat. I guess I’m more human than I give myself credit for.
“What my girl wants, my girl gets.”
23
Hunter
Both of my parents are waiting on the front steps when I come home.
“Inside, young lady. We need to talk.”
Five minutes later, the three of us are occupying the same sofa at the same time, and it saddens me that I can’t remember the last time this happened. All three of us together? Wow. I just wish this family meeting was about something fun.
“Whose car is in the garage?” my mother begins, her voice shaking.
“Mine.”
“Are you dealing drugs?”
I laugh. “No
, Mother, I’m not dealing drugs. My boyfriend is…well, he’s is a bit older and very wealthy. He bought me the car because he didn’t think the Jeep was safe.”
Dad booms, “Boyfriend! What boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Mom says with a forced calm, “We’d like to know who it is. The car is one thing. Your computer search history is another. Is this boyfriend pressuring you to do things?”
Tears sting my eyes before I can control my roiling emotions. “No, Mom, he’s not pressuring me. I just wanted to look things up for us to do that won’t end in pregnancy.”
“I don’t know whether to be pleased or horrified by this revelation,” Mom says.
“Tell me his name so I can sue him,” Dad breathes. He’s starting to sound unhinged. “No, I’m going to kill him and then I’m going to sue him.”
“Sue him for what, Dad? For paying attention to me when I’m alone in this house ninety-nine percent of the time?”
Mom tries to keep the conversation focused. “How long did you really think you would get away with hiding a brand new car from us?”