Page 77 of Mother Pucker

“Jesus Christ.” My dad runs a hand through his short gray hair. “Are we on that shit again? When the hell will you realize I was making you tough?” He points a finger at my chest. “That’salways been your problem, you know that. You’ve always been too soft, too fucking emotional, just like your mom.”

My hands ball into fists inside my pocket. “I’m going to stop you right there before you go too far. Unless you like the taste of asphalt, because in that case, please continue.”

Acrimony and outrage war over his expression. “I came here, putting my own ego aside, to support the son who doesn’t even have the decency to text his father back. I came here even though you’ve been nothing but an ungrateful little bitch.”

“What should I be grateful about, Dad? Tell me,” I yell back. “Your shitty, degrading texts? You’reunwaveringsupport of my career? Or, hmm, let’s see, the years you weren’t present in my life?”

My dad laughs mirthlessly. “Igaveyou your career, son, don’t forget that. It’s my blood that flows through you and my genes that give you all that talent on the ice. Despite the fact that you have yet to win a single Stanley Cup, Imadeyour career. I’m the reason they even drafted you–myname,myskills,mydrive, andmyresources are what got you to where you are today.”

I nod. “Got it, Dad. Anything else you want to say, or were you here to count off the generous gifts you’ve bestowed on me over the years?”

He snorts, that same sinister glint in his eyes. “I get it now. I get why Audrey left you, why she’d find someone like Evan. Even with all the talent he has, at least he’s not an arrogant and thankless prick.”

I walk away. Even though my hands are fisted so hard, I might break my own bones, and my head buzzes with uncontrolled, untampered adrenaline I walk away.

I’ve just placed my hand on the handle of my car door when I turn back to look at my pitiful father. A man who just lost the only thing binding him to the blood and lineage he seems to be so proud of.

Had he shown even one ounce of remorse, had he given me any indication that he was here to mend the rift between us and not make it wider, I would have caved. I would have pulled him into a hug, and we could have figured out a way to move forward.

But he didn’t.

He might call me emotional or soft, but those aren’t barbs at all; they’re medals I wear with honor. But even I have limits.

“Oh, what? You’re just going to walk away now?” he spits. “I give you one good dose of reality, and you can’t handle it, can you, son?”

Despite hating myself for being goaded to walk back toward him, I decide to end this once and for all. “You want a fucking dose of reality, Dad?Youare the reason you have no one.You,and solely you. You’re toxic, lost, and delusional. You call me ungrateful? Go look in the mirror, old man. You had it all–a supportive wife, kids who loved you, and fucking dignity–but you threw it all away, blaming everyone else for your demise. And now, what, you’re trying to get back into my life to bury the hatchet? Yeah, well, fuck you very much, but I’m done.”

I turn to walk back to my car as Dad yells after me, “Rowan! Come back here.”

Chuckling mirthlessly, I turn to look at him before getting into my car. “Bestow upon me one last favor, Dad. One I’mactuallyasking for,” I bellow across the breeze. “Lose my fucking number.”

I tilt the glass tumbler to my lips, staring at the golden liquid for a moment before taking a sip. The caramel and vanilla notes dance over my tongue, erasing the acrid taste that had collected there after the run-in with my dad.

Picking up my phone, I send a text to Piper.

Me

I suppose we’re both fatherless now. I blocked him today.

I wish I could say I was sad or laden with guilt–it would be the normal emotion after telling your dad to essentially go fuck himself. But, strangely, all I feel is a sense of relief, as if I’d finally taken a step forward in some direction–any direction–instead of being stuck in the same place like I had been for so long.

It wasn’t the outcome I’d hoped for from our meeting, but it was one that reaffirmed my belief that I needed to walk away from toxicity, whether it came in the form of a cheating ex-girlfriend, a disloyal ex-best friend, or a mentally abusive father.

My phone lights up with Piper’s response.

Pepper

Good. I was waiting for you to make some room.

I look at her response in puzzlement.Make some room?

Me

??

Pepper

Make room in your head, in your heart, and in your life for the right people. You can’t do that when you’ve got the wrong people taking up space, little bro.

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