“Jack’s mom’s a freak,” I say as I cram into the driver’s seat behind the steering wheel.
Parker glares over at me. “That’s rude.”
“Might be rude, but it’s true. I said I didn’t want her tea, and she made a scene of ripping off the lid and dumping it out right in front of me. Didn’t say another word.”
“You were probably rude about it.”
“I saidno thanks.”
Parker puffs out one of his exhausted sounding breaths. He does a lot of those lately. “You’re ruder than most men, Dad. You know that, right?”
“I doubt it.”
“No, it’s true. You just get away with it because you’re better looking than most of them too.”
I shoot him a look, but he doesn’t return my gaze. Just keeps his sights outside the window.
“You really think that?” I ask.
“Iknowit.”
I laugh a little. “Sheesh. Honest much?”
“Just with you. You don’t believe in lies. Not even white lies.”
“Right, I don’t.”
Parker shifts in his seat. “You don’t get it. The whole world functions on white lies. If everyone acted like you, we’d all kill each other.”
I laugh again. I can’t help it. Where is all this venom coming from? “If everyone was like me, no one would be raising this…snowflake generation, I’ll tell you that much.”
“I’m not a snowflake,” he says.
“You can thankmefor that.” I shake my head and turn on the radio. My son thinks I’m a jerk, huh? I’ll show him I’m not. “That was a nice win today.”
“Thanks.”
“You and Jack carry that team.”
“Lenny’s getting better. Did you notice that?”
I decide not to tell him that Jack’s whacko mother is the one who pointed that out to me. “Yeah, I did.”
It goes quiet until we’re almost home.
“Are you thinking about it?” Parker asks suddenly.
“Thinking about what?”
There went that annoyed exhale again. “About Jack’s mom. What you said to make her dump out the drink in front of you like that.”
“Parker, I’m telling you. She held it up, said she brought it for Mom, and that I might as well have it. I asked what it was, she told me, then she started talking about her sister who owns some coffee shop, which I really don’t care about, but that’s when I remembered what matcha was—it’s that nasty-looking green stuff, so I said no thanks. The end.”
“Did you acknowledge what she told you about her sister owning the Coffee Loft?”
“How do you know what it’s called?”
“It’s a really cool hang out, Dad. The fact that Jack’s aunt owns the one right on the beach where the old train station used to be—that’s really cool. I heard she’s gonna expand by adding train cars where you can hang out and study—it’s bad-A.”
