“What the —” but he’s interrupted by Henri.
“No way is he sitting back here with me!” She glares at Selkie, who’s standing slightly behind me. “Tell him, mom!”
“I’m sitting up front,” Selkie replies adamantly.
Oscar crosses his arms and thumps back against the seat. “You’re gonna have to get a bulldozer to move me.”
His response is so uncharacteristic of him, so disrespectful, I explode, “Get out of this truck and get in the back seat now!”
Oscar’s eyes sheen but he snaps off the seatbelt and shoves me back from him as he jumps down.
“If he sits back here, I’m out,” Henri exclaims as she pushes the driver’s seat forward.
“Sit down!” I yell.
I hear Selkie’s intake of breath.
Henri freezes. “Moooom,” she whines.
“Do as you’re told.” The tone of Selkie’s voice is unnerved by the force of my voice and that pisses me off even more.
I whip around to face her and say defensively, “Someone’s gotta control your kid.”
Her pupils dilate as she stares into my hard eyes. “Back off, Brody. I didn’t think you were the kind of guy that shouted at kids to control them.”
Her pronouncement of who she thinks I am fucks with me because she’s right. “You don’t fucking know me.”
She rubs at her shoulder to relieve her tension. “If you say so.” She slides carefully around me and gets in the truck.
The return trip is made in silence, which gives me plenty of time to think before we arrive back where we started. I gotta figure out how to navigate Selkie and this situation or Oscar will never get back to school.
Is that so bad? I ask myself, embarrassed that I’m even thinking it.
Of course it’s bad. I want my kid to graduate high school. I want him to go to college. I want to give him a better life than I had. I can’t let this situation derail his future.
So what to do? Camping was probably the worst idea we could have come up with. Oscar will think it’s his fault because he suggested it. That’ll shut him down even more than I already have by shouting at him.
And Selkie, who thinks she’s so bloody insightful, hasn’t made a single suggestion to help resolve this problem. Where the fuck is she in all this?
That question is answered once I pull up next to her rust bucket.
Henri and Oscar are grimly silent as they transfer Selkie and Henri’s stuff from the truck to the car. Selkie motions to me to follow her as she walks out of hearing range of the kids.
“I have an idea,” she says like she’s just discovered gravity.
“Okay,” I reply cautiously because even though I wanted her to come up with a solution, I’m worried about how fucked I’m gonna be over it.
“Let’s switch kids.”
Did I call it or what? “Are you out of your mind?”
“No,” she exclaims. “Think about it. We separate the two, get to know each other’s kid. They get a perspective on how the other lives. Maybe get curious. Definitely more understanding.”
“It’ll be a disaster.”
“Can’t be worse than the camping trip.”
That’s fuckin’ bullshit. “I won’t survive spending the day with Henri.”
