“Quit trying to be a father, that doesn’t become you either.”
“I am your father, Luna.”
“Your new woman, does she have kids, Dad?”
I hear Mom’s gasp and I hate that I’m causing her pain. I’m not happy with her right now, but it’s clear she’s hurting too. I wish she had told me. All this time that she’s been crying, she could have told me. Instead, she let me be blindsided.
“Does she?” I persist.
I watch as he rubs the back of his neck in irritation and his face looks bleak.
“She does. A girl about your age. I’d like for you guys to meet soon.”
“Do they know about me? Dad? Do they know about my Mom?”
“Luna?”
“Did they? When you were cheating with this woman, did she know about us? Did she have any idea what she was tearing apart? Did she know who she was hurting?”
“Luna—”
“Answer me!” I scream, pain lancing through me, because I know the answer.
“She knew your mother and I were separated,” he finally says.
“But…you weren’t—not really. Your clothes were still hanging in the closet. You still came home on the weekends. You still pretended everything was fine. So, you lied to her too. You’ve lied to everyone.” I shake my head as all the hurt and lies swirl around in my head enough to make me dizzy.
“I’m not getting into this with you right now, Luna. You’ll find out when you become an adult that things aren’t always so black and white.”
“I think I’m more of an adult than you are. I’m adult enough to know that when you love someone you try to help them and protect them, not hurt them.”
“Don’t think I don’t know what this is about, Luna.”
“What’s it about, Dad?”
“Your little infatuation with that Lodge boy.”
“It’s not an infatuation, I love him, Dad. And I doubt anyone in the history of ever has referred to Gavin as a boy.”
“You’re too young to know what love is. I refuse to let you ruin your life over some kid who will never amount to a damn thing.”
“You don’t know anything about Gavin. You didn’t even give him a chance!”
“I know that he’ll probably end up just like his father, the town drunk and without a dime to his name. I’m not about to let you throw your life away on someone like him.”
“Gavin’s nothing like his dad!”
His words are as harsh as the expression on his grim face. “Not yet. Give him time.”
“He loves me. He’d never hurt me. He works almost thirty hours a week and still goes to school. He’s nothing like his father.”
“I’m not arguing with you about this, Luna. You’re not seeing that Lodge boy. That’s final. And until you learn to be civil to me, you’re grounded.”
“No, she’s not,” Mom says.
“I’ve had enough of your mouth—” Dad stops talking once he finally hears what Mom said. He jerks his head around to look at her. “What are you talking about, Lydia?”
“Luna’s not grounded. She’s under my roof now, not yours. She called me to tell me she was going to Jules. She didn’t hide it, and I trust my daughter. She’s not grounded.”
“It’s going to be like that,” Dad says, narrowing his eyes at Mom, clearly not happy.
Her shoulders straighten. “Exactly like that, Arthur.”
“Good luck keeping the roof over your head, then. If you want to play hardball, Lydia, then I can too.”
“Oh, I’ll keep the roof over my head, Arthur. It will be fairly easy.”
“I doubt that. You’ve not bothered to even try and hold a job down in years.”
“I won’t now either. You’ll make sure everything is paid.”
“You’re dreaming. I’ll help with Luna, but she’ll be eighteen and—”
“It’s called alimony, Arthur and you’re loaded, while I’ve been the naïve, doting wife who dropped out and worked to send you through school to achieve your dream, had your child, and later did everything for you, right down to drawing your bathwater and laying your clothes out for the next day.”
Dad doesn’t respond. His face goes hard and that’s when I see the real man clearly. Not a hero… just a man and someone I’m not sure I ever really knew. My idea of him was a fantasy.
“I’m going to go upstairs. I have a final to study for,” I murmur, walking away. The oxygen is way too thick in the room and suddenly I need air desperately.
“You’re still not to see that Lodge boy, Luna,” Dad warns me. I stop at the bottom of the stairs and look back at him, about to tell him that it’s not up to him when Mom responds.
“He’s right on this, Luna.”
“Mom—”
“You don’t need to throw your life away on a boy—any boy. You need to go to school and get an education.”
“I can still have that—”
“Go to school. Get a career you can be proud of, stand on your own two feet, Luna.”