Page 44 of Marriage and the Midlife Crisis

Ouch. Direct hit.

I bowed my head as I absorbed the emotional impact of my son’s angry declaration.

“And when you are here, you’re an asshole sometimes.”

My head shot up at Tanner’s harsh words, and I found Garrett nodding in agreement.

“We can tell when you’ve been hanging around Mitch too much, because you start to treat Mom like he does,” Garrett told me.

“That dude is toxic, Dad. I can’t believe you and Uncle Grady were ever friends with him.”

I inhaled sharply, shocked at the disgust in Tanner’s voice. Before I could form any kind of response, Garrett tacked on, “It’s like the guy never grew up. He’s still stuck being the immature, waste-of-space, high school bully, while you and Uncle Grady became fully mature, grown-ass adults. What do you even have in common with him anymore?”

I’d heard enough. “OK, I get it. You don’t like Mitch. I don’t like Mitch right now either. But Mitch isn’t the problem here.”

“No, you are,” Garrett shot back angrily. “You and your midlife crisis or whatever the hell you’ve been going through. That’s the fucking problem. You’re running around doing whatever the hell you want, forgetting that you have a family half the time. Well, you know what? We learned to live without you, and we didn’t even realize we were doing it. That’s because Mom picked up the slack to make up for the fact that you were never there. She was the one doing it all, and we let her because we didn’t know any better. You let her because it was fucking easier for you.”

Tears welled in his eyes and his voice was strained, and I choked back a sob at the sight of my strong, fearless son, defending the woman he’d claimed as his mother since the day they’d met.

My gaze shifted to Tanner as he stood up and began to pace the length of the room as he said, “You always told us that being a decent human being meant standing up for what you believe in and not giving in to peer pressure.”

I nodded, and he pointed his finger at me accusingly. “Then why the fuck didn’t you stand up for Mom? Why haven’t you told Mitch to fuck the hell off, instead of letting him talk you into neglecting your family and your responsibilities so you can go out and do shit with him all the time? So much for not giving in to peer pressure, huh?”

“That’s enough, boys.” The softly spoken yet firm demand cut through the anger filling the room, and the three of us whirled around toward the front door in shock, none of us having heard it open or close.

Melanie stood there, looking pale and drawn, with sadness and exhaustion clouding her amber eyes. I’d never seen a more beautiful and welcome sight.

“But Mom, we –“

She held her hand up wearily, and Tanner immediately shut his mouth. He and Garrett, attuned to each other as always, both dropped their heads slightly and nodded.

“Your dad and I need to talk, and you both need to get back to campus or Tanner will be late for his biology lab, and I’m sure he doesn’t want that, right?”

Tanner snuck a peak at his mom and the corner of his lip turned up in a grin. “No, ma’am, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Garrett nudged his shoulder and muttered, “Who’s being a kiss-ass now?”

Tanner discreetly flipped him off, and Melanie dipped her head to try to hide the slight smile on her face.

The both shouldered past me without so much as a glance in my direction. They stopped in the doorway, and Garrett bent to give her a hug first. She cupped his cheeks in her palms and stared up at him as she told him to please drive carefully. “Tanner’s lab is important, but not important enough to risk something happening to my sons,” she admonished gently.

Garrett gave her a crooked smile and dropped a kiss on her cheek before saying, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be careful.”

“And let –“

“And let you know as soon as we get there so you’ll know we’re safe,” Tanner finished for her as Garrett chuckled. It was a familiar refrain; one Melanie had been offering since they got their drivers’ licenses two and a half years ago. She’d worried herself sick every time they left the house for at least a month after that.

Melanie reached over and playfully tried to smack his arm as he laughed and ducked behind Garrett, who promptly stepped out of the way and pushed him back toward Mel.

Tanner wrapped his arms around her and whispered something in her ear, and Melanie nodded. “I know you meant well,” she said quietly. He smiled ruefully then pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She reached out and took one of their hands in each of hers, giving them a quick, reassuring squeeze. “We love you,” she told them, looking each of them in the eye.

Garrett shot a quick side-eye my way and Tanner glanced over his shoulder and glared at me.

“We love you, too,” Garrett said, nudging Tanner as he held my stare.

“Yeah, we love you, too,” he finally mumbled as he looked back at Mel.