“I’m going to give you one more chance to tell me about Laura Green,” I said. “Because if I have to, when I walk out of here, it’ll be the last time I step foot in your life.”
“Bryan, threatening people the way you do doesn’t solve anything. And I have no idea what you mean with regard to Laura. Sure, I’ve kept up with her family. It’s what people do. They keep up with each other. I tell people what you do because I’m proud of you. I’m proud of the man you’ve turned into and the job you have and the people you’re finally fraternizing with.”
But all I did was continue to stare at her as she slowly backed into my father’s arms.
“It’s not a threat,” I said. “It’s merely a statement of the consequences you will incur because of your actions. What you’ve done was wrong, plain and simple.”
“Dorothy, answer the boy,” my father said.
“I am not answering him when he’s like this. He’s scaring me,” my mother said.
“All right, Dorothy. I am through with this,” my father said.
“What?” my mother asked.
I watched my father step out from behind my mother as she whipped around toward him.
“Michael, what are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m demanding you tell the truth. What is our son talking about?” he asked.
“He’s putting random pieces together! Making up things in his mind!”
“You know that’s not true,” I said.
I watched as my father slowly walked around toward me. My mother’s eyes followed him, heated with anger and frustration and shock. For the first time in my life, I watched my father stand up to my mother. I watched him take someone else’s side but hers. My eyes connected with him, and I could see the sorrow behind them. Years of apologies he wanted to give but couldn’t.
“I know, Dad. It’s okay,” I said.
“You know what?” my mother asked.
“That Dad is sorry for all the times he should’ve done this before but didn’t,” I said.
“Tell the truth, Dorothy,” my father said.
“There is no truth to tell,” my mother said.
“Tell the truth, or I choose. And I promise you that I will choose a relationship with my grandchild over a relationship with the shell of a human being you’ve become,” my father said.
“What?” my mother asked.
I sighed as my mother’s gaze fluttered back over to mine. I could see her cracking. I could see her slipping. I could see the truth dancing just behind her lips.
All she had to do was open her fucking mouth and say it.
“Fine,” my mother said. “Yes, I did it.”
“Did what?” I asked.
“I tracked down Laura Green and talked her through some of the things happening in your life. It started out as a simple lunch conversation, a way to vent to someone who truly cared for you at one point. She asked me if there was anything she could do to help, so I gave her something to do,” my mother said.
“Tell me what you did,” I said.
“It’s obvious you already know,” she said.
“Well, I don’t,” my father said. “So spit it out, Dorothy.”
My mother was seething as her eyes flared with fire and brimstone.