If not, I wouldn’t have had the luxury to just quit like that.
I was on the couch in my living room watching TV when my dad texted me. Come over for dinner.
I had been a complete dick to my dad, but he treated it like water under the bridge. He forgave me when I was so disrespectful toward him, when I didn’t appreciate what he was trying to do as a parent. It made me appreciate him even more, that he was able to forgive me so easily. We hadn’t really talked since that conversation, and he seemed to give me space afterward so I could digest the next steps of my life.
He texted me again when he didn’t get a response right away. Your sister is here.
That’s supposed to make me want to come?
Dad understood the joke. Dinner will be ready in 15.
I turned off the TV and left my beer on the coffee table before I locked up the apartment and took the subway back into the city. I missed living in Manhattan because it was close to everything, but living in Brooklyn never bothered me. The subway was fine. Met a lot of sexy babes on there, so it was a nice commute.
I left the subway and walked to their building, finally thawing out once I was in the lobby, and I took the elevator to their palace in the sky. It was hard to go from nice things to basically nothing, but it was far better to stand on my own two feet with little than to take money from anybody. I was way too proud for that, and every time my parents offered to buy me a place in the city, I refused. Derek even tried to convince me to move in with him, but I didn’t take that opportunity either. I would love to be roommates with him so I could see him all the time, but he had a family now and it just wasn’t right for me to encroach on their lives like that. Daisy offered too, but I wouldn’t be able to handle the guys she brought over. She was a grown woman and I respected her independence, but it was still hard for me to see her with guys that I didn’t think were good enough for her. I had to remind myself that I was never like that with Derek, and I shouldn’t be that way with her.
I let myself inside and saw Dad and Daisy sitting at the dining table, stacks of paperwork in front of them like they were working on a project. Their laptops were there too. Sometimes Daisy asked for his opinion about her patients, so perhaps that was what she was doing now.
Mom immediately darted from the kitchen and came right for me, colliding into my chest and hugging me tightly like she hadn’t seen me in years. “My baby.” Her face moved into my chest as she held me, squeezing my lower back tightly. “I missed you.”
I reciprocated her affection with a warm hug, my chin resting on her head. “I missed you too, Mom.” I let her hug me, knowing she missed seeing me every day at work, that she hadn’t had the chance to hold me since Dad and I talked. She let us have our privacy to work out our problems, and I knew it was hard for her to remove herself from the situation.
She pulled away with tears in her eyes. “Hungry?”
“You know me,” I said with a smile. “I’m always hungry.”
She smiled back and headed into the kitchen.
I walked to the dining table and saw Daisy sitting at the head, sipping a glass of wine, her dark hair down one shoulder, her eye makeup heavy and smoky. She was in a black turtleneck, looking ready for the runway all the time. She looked like Mom, but she had the same energy as Dad, like she owned every room she stepped into.
Daisy smiled at me. “Glad you pulled your head out of your ass, bro.”
“So glad you’re here, sis,” I shot back.
Dad rose to his feet and greeted me with a hug and a pat on the back. “Take a seat.”
I sat in between them, happy that the mood in the room was what it used to be, a warm and safe space, a place where we had so many family dinners.
Mom put the plate of tacos in the center along with rice and beans and chips. Dad had the jackfruit tacos, while we had a bigger selection. But Mom didn’t join us. She took her plate down the hallway like she intended to eat and work in her office.
“Mom, where are you going?” I turned to look at her.
“Gonna work in the office.” She turned back to me before she continued down the hallway. “You guys have a lot of work to do.”