“Ya finally decide to start talkin’ to a head shrinker?” my father asked roughly because that was the only way he knew how to communicate. I would be hard-pressed to find a man who was more earnest in his care for other people, though.
“They’re called therapists,” my mother corrected in exasperation.
“I know what he meant, and I know y’all want me to see one,” I said slowly. “And I can say I’ve been talked into considerin’ one. Dunno how much good it’ll do but?—”
“Better than sittin’ around with your thumb up your ass, I can tell ya that,” my dad barked. “You been screwin’ around there long enough. It’s time ya got the help ya need and get back to livin’.”
“Carl, I talked to you about this already,” my mother hissed.
“I’m just puttin’ it out there, Candace! Ain’t no point in sugar coatin’ things.”
“He doesn’t need his daddy giving him blue hell either!”
“Sometimes that’s what’s needed, and he ain’t soft. Just…hurtin’, but he can’t keep hurtin’ is all!”
“Uh, hello?” I called into the phone as the bickering rose in volume. Sometimes I wondered how they got through almost forty years of marriage, with how badly they communicated.This wasn’t the first time they were both in agreement about something, but argued over the details. “I met someone.”
It was the only thing I could think of to stop the argument before it reached the point of no return, and the silence made my cheeks glow with heat. I hadn’t planned on getting onto that topic with my parents, not before I figured out…well, figured out what was going on between Walker and me. It wasn’t as if we’d talked about how serious things were between us, or if they were ever going to be serious. I couldn’t blame Walker; it wasn’t like he was dealing with a normal situation. Both our lives were upended and, well…until over a month ago, I had been living under the assumption that I was straight.
“Met someone? That’s great, honey,” my mother said brightly. “Who did you meet? Tell me.”
My father muttered something, and my mother shushed him sharply. I wasn’t sure if she had put the numbers together, but I caught my father’s tone rather than his words, and he was confused.
“I, uh…I’m sure ya remember my team,” I said slowly, wincing at the reminder but hoping she didn’t make a fuss over the mention.
“Of course we do, honey,” she said. “How could we forget?”
“Damn fools showed up here causin’ trouble. How could we forget?” my father, who was as bad a liar as I was, complained. In the couple of years Walker had been with us, there had only been once he had come with me and the team to visit my family. My father had loved those visits even as he griped about how much noise we made, all while laughing at stories we shared.
“You, uh…remember Walker? He only came the one time, and he wasn’t around for long,” I said quietly. “He would’ve been pretty quiet.”
“Then no, don’t remember ’em,” my dad said with a snort.
“Oh, that one,” my mother said, the memory forming in her mind. “Tall, too skinny to be healthy. Ate like he was starving.”
“Of course he did, he was eatin’ your food,” my father grumbled.
“Stop,” she said, but she was smiling.
“That’s him,” I said. “He, uh…he wasn’t there with the rest of us when the, uh…well, you know.”
“I remember you mentioning he had been hurt a few months before,” she said, just as careful to avoid the details. “I am so sorry, I forgot all about him. I never even thought to ask after him after everythin’ that happened. He’s there?”
“Yeah,” I said with a little laugh. “I wasn’t expectin’ it, and he sure as…he wasn’t ready for it either.”
“Aww, well, it’s good that you two got to meet up again,” she said warmly. “I hope he’s doing good.”
“He’s there with him at the crazy house, so he ain’t doin’ all that great.”
“Carl!”
I laughed. “He probably wouldn’t argue with that…and I wouldn’t either, ‘cept I don’t feel like talkin’ bad about ’em when he’s not here at the moment to defend himself.”
“And you shouldn’t,” she said, and I was sure she was shooting my dad the stink eye. “At leastsomeonewas raised right.”
“Aww, don’t start,” he muttered.
“Mhmm,” she said, probably still shooting daggers before her voice was clear again. “Now, that’s wonderful and all, honey, but I thought you said you met someone?”
