Page 8 of My Twin Sister's Ex

“No, no. There’s a loose screw somewhere. I just have to find it.”

“Dad, loosening all the screws and taking them out isn’t going to help you find the loose screw. Because there isn’t a loose screw.”

“There is. That’s why it won’t start. When I try to start it, I hear a rattling going on.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Dad, can I just look at it for you? I can have this fixed in five minutes.”

He scowled at me. “I don’t need your help. If I wanted your help, I’d ask for it. I’ve been building engines since before you were born. I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong.”

“It’s the ‘pretty sure’ part that’s concerning to me. You’re going to put an end to this rusty old generator’s already half-dead life.”

“It’s a perfectly good generator. It just needs a little tweak,” he insisted.

I flung my hands into the air in frustration. “You’ve been working on this stupid generator for two months. Let me help you fix it.”

“I told you, I don’t need any help,” he growled.

I groaned.

“Whatever happened to that girl you used to date? I haven’t seen you with her in a while. What was her name again?”

“Jackilyn. We broke up.” I was surprised he’d even noticed that I’d had a girlfriend. He must have seen us together around town.

“Why didn’t you ever bring her to the house? We could have fried up some fish for her or something.”

“Have you looked around our house lately? It’s not exactly the kind of place where you’d want to bring your girlfriend.”

He scoffed at me. “It’s not so bad here. Sure, we have a few projects going on, but any girl worthwhile would be able to see past that.”

“Dad, our place is a dump. It’s way too embarrassing to bring a girl here.”

“What happened with your girlfriend anyway?”

“Ex-girlfriend.”

He waved a hand at me impatiently. “You know what I mean.”

“Since when do you care about what goes on in my life?” I asked.

“I’m your dad. I’ve always cared.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, right. You care about when you can get your next drink.”

I felt bad as soon as I said it. I could tell from the look on my dad’s face that I’d hurt his feelings. But it was true.

“I guess I deserved that,” he said quietly. “I haven’t exactly been around for you.”

“That’s the first time I think you’ve actually admitted that.”

“I know what I’ve been doing. I know you’ve had to work hard to help pay for things.”

He must not have had much of that beer yet, because he sounded awfully sober at the moment. Or maybe he was drunk enough to finally loosen his tongue enough to be honest with me. I wasn’t sure which it was. I didn’t expect his confession to change anything. He would still drink too much, get angry, break something, collect junk and pile it up all over the house and yard. There was nothing I could do about my dad’s bad habits. It was only a matter of a few more weeks, and I’d be graduated and able to move out on my own. At that point, it would be up to Dad to figure things out.

I looked down at the broken generator. My fingers itched to take over the project and quickly fix it. But that would only start another explosive fight. I knew there was no point in arguing with my dad, so instead of telling him what the problem was, I said, “If you need any help, let me know. I’ll just be in my room. I have homework to do.”

My dad eyed me like he didn’t believe me. “You, doing homework?”

“I have to keep my grades up for graduation.”

My dad grumbled something I couldn’t understand. He was always muttering under his breath. I couldn’t complain too much about it. I much preferred it to his yelling. He seemed to be having a better day today, and I was grateful for that. We’d had enough bad days to last a lifetime.

I went into my room and shut the door. I cracked open my American History textbook. I’d barely even read it. I pulled out the review sheet our teacher had passed out to help us prepare for the upcoming test. I’d mostly slept through this class. I scanned over the questions, and my mind quickly wandered.

I was glad to have escaped my dad. I didn’t want him asking any more questions about Jackilyn and why we’d broken up. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what had happened. I was just glad it was over. The two months I’d dated her was time I’d never get back.

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