Page 29 of Housekeeping

Trent folded his arms on the desk, leaning forward slightly with an open expression.

“Seriously, tell me what it is. It might make you feel better to talk about it.”

I snorted. “I doubt it.” Then I narrowed my eyes at him. “And you and I don’t have the relationship where we share things, Trent. Not personal things, anyway.”

He shrugged, nodding as he conceded the point. “That’s true, and it’s probably entirely my fault. But I’m still your big brother and I’ve got years of experience on you. I might be of some help.”

I wanted to tell him that the fault wasn’t entirely his own. A great part of it was Dad’s fault.

“It’s just… something’s been frustrating me lately. It’s something I’ll work through eventually on my own. I just… have to keep trying, right?”

“Does it have anything to do with Dad?”

“Huh?” I repeated with a blank expression.

Trent had this pensive look on his face that I couldn’t read. I wondered what he was thinking.

“I was wondering whether or not I should tell you guys. Or even if I should tell you. As far as I know, Kevin is still in the dark. Not that I was trying to hide it from you, I just… didn’t know how to bring it up.”

I frowned, momentarily distracted. “What are you talking about? What don’t Kevin and I know?”

Trent sighed, then leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “Well, it’s this thing about Dad. Remember how we were all told he had a heart attack and he wasn’t well?” He paused, so I nodded, prompting him to go on. “As it turns out, that’s not exactly true. Dad is just fine. I heard it, and I didn’t want to believe it, but this is Dad. So I left, and he came to talk me into coming back after that. He told me to keep working because he was enjoying his vacation.”

His expression once he finished was calm. I blinked at him for a moment, not sure whether or not I should just take his word for it. Trent was waiting for a reaction from me. At first, I didn’t know how I should react, but slowly, it was sinking in for me, and I was not happy with the trick Dad had pulled on us.

I almost lost it right then and there, despite Trent’s calm attitude. There was a lot of shit on the desk in front of me; some documents I was meant to look through, a computer had been given to me to use. All of it so I could work for my father, who I’d momentarily forgotten as thoughts of Laura took over my mind. It hadn't even occurred to me just how long it had been since I last asked to see him only to be rebuffed.

If I was honest, I wasn’t even surprised. I’d already suspected as much. For a man at death’s door to suddenly refuse to see his children was odd, and I’m many things but stupid isn’t one of them. I don’t know why I hadn’t demanded an answer before now, yet here I was, totally not shocked to be told I’d been made a fool of by my father. Again.

Right then, I was well past super frustrated and somehow, I simply wasn’t in the mood to be smug that I’d almost guessed right. I was pissed off, righteously so, and in a move that I suspected mirrored what Trent did when he found out, I left everything where it was and walked out of the office.

Trent didn’t call me back, not that I would have stopped if he did. He probably knew, so he didn’t bother.