“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” Jessica’s shaking ankles started to get noticeable.
Jessica’s smile returned to her adorable face. “I’m glad I’m here too.”
I started to bring her back over to the rest of the group. “Keep the pressure on the outside of your skates, and don’t let your ankles roll inward.”
I clapped, sending Jess back over to her friends. “Ok, who’s next?”
Brayden
Taking my seat in the folding metal chair for the first time in years made my skin crawl. I gripped the cold shelf in front of me that led to the glass partition that would soon have my father on the other side.
Waiting for the guards to bring him in, my thoughts wandered back to being fifteen and the police banging on the door that Friday night while I sat on the couch with my mother and sister watchingMy Cousin Vinniefor the hundredth time.
“No, I’ll get it.” I grabbed my mom’s hand as she tried to get up to see who was at the door. A voice called through the thick oak before I was even two steps away from the couch. “Police!”
With my mother and sister in tow, I opened the front door. “Officer? How can I help you?” I tried to lower my voice and sound like the man of the house I had become just a few weeks before.
“Son, is your mother home?” An older officer stood in front of me with his hands on his hips, and a younger redhead stood to his right, chewing on his gum like a cow.
“I’m right here.” My mother shoved me out of the way, shooing me with her hands. “Bray, take your sister into the living room while I speak with the officers.”
I nodded and grabbed Myla’s shaking hand, turning toward our paused movie, but my feet didn’t move. Every hair on my body stood on end as I listened to their conversation unravel.
“Ma’am, are you Mrs. Cox?”
My mother’s voice broke as she said, “Yes, what’s this about?”
“Is your husband Reggie Cox? Does he live here?”
“He is my husband, but he moved out a few weeks ago. I haven’t heard from him in days.”
“Mrs. Cox, your husband has been in an accident. He is at the hospital. We have every reason to believe he was intoxicated.”
My mother gasped right as I turned around to watch her trembling body lean against the doorjamb. “Is he…?”
“He’s stable, but he hit a car with a family in it. The two passengers passed on their way to the hospital and the driver is in critical condition. Ma’am, you might want to get your husband a lawyer.”
The first thingI saw was how sunken my father’s eyes were as he took his seat on the other side of the glass. I grabbed the black phone next to me and waited for him to get his to his ear.
“Hey, Pop. How’s it going?” It was hard to look him in the eye. He had lost at least fifteen pounds since the last time I’d seen him. All the fight left in him had vanished. His dark eyes had receded into hollowed pits of nothingness. The life sentence was starting to get the better of my old man.
His voice was raspy as he choked out, “Fine. Same shit, different day. What brings you down here, son? It’s been a while.”
“Good to see you too, Pop. I have some news to tell you. This isn’t easy for me, but I figured it was your right to know…eventually, anyway.”
I glared at a fly on the wall behind my father, trying to find the right words. Everything has gone to shit since the accident with Myla and Mom, and him being locked up was just the icing on the cake of it all. I didn’t need him to be my dad, but it would have been nice to have one more person in my corner every once in a while.
“What’s up, kid?”
“Well, it’s Mom.” I felt water trying to fill my eyes but I bit back my emotions when I saw that my father’s expression hadn’t changed. “She’s gone.”
There it was, the worry I had expected. He gripped the phone until his knuckles turned white and the little color he had left drained out of his cheeks as he asked, “What do you mean,gone?”
“Myla and Mom were on their way to visit you a while ago. A semi ran a stoplight and smashed into their car. Myla was in a coma for two days and had some pretty bad injuries. Mom didn’t make it out of the car.”
I felt like I had to spit the words out before they choked me. I hadn’t explained the accident to anyone except Myla and this was the last time I planned on talking about it.
“Wait, they were coming here?”
