Page 102 of Hooked
Bianca’s eyes turned cold. “Fuck you, Aaron.”
“Such lovely language,” he said. “Such a society girl.”
“Have I told you lately—?”
“Redirecting!” Tayla shouted. “Mom, you do have a drinking problem. You know it as well as we do. We can work on that. We can talk. Dad, you don’t have to be an asshole about it. And yes, that’s my society language coming out too.”
Aaron frowned. “Are you moving home? Are you planning to live here when you take this job? Is that why we’re having this conversation?” He didn’t look as negative about the idea as Tayla had expected.
“I want the job. I don’t love living in the city the way I used to. I’m thinking about a compromise. I’ll be counteroffering to SOKA, proposing a one-week-here, three-weeks-in-Metlin plan to combine telecommuting and on-site work. They may not go for it, but I want to try, and I’m willing to take a slightly lower salary to account for cost of living.”
“Don’t go too low.” Aaron frowned. “Let me know if you want some studies on the fiscal benefits of telecommuting. Our firm has seen good returns, and I can give you some data.”
Tayla was shocked. “Thanks, Dad.”
“So you’d be living here one week a month?” Bianca was smiling. “That would be lovely, Tayla. Where is the office?”
“In the Mission.”
“Charles can drive you and your father together.”
“Or I can take the bus.”
“The bus?”
“These are details!” She tried to stop the train from derailing. “Mostly I wanted to talk to you both about the idea of me living here. We haven’t had the easiest adult relationship, but I would like to make that better.”
Aaron cleared his throat. “That’s admirable.”
“Thank you. So part of me living here would be that all three of us would go to family therapy with a professional.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?”
Tayla raised her voice. “Why would you want to keep going like this?” She looked between her parents. “Dad, you’re barely sixty. Mom, you’re only fifty-seven. You really want to live like this for the next thirty years? Miserable together?”
Both of them were silent.
“Listen, it’s obvious you’re not going to get divorced at this point. You’re not going to start over with someone new. And you’ve only got one kid. Me. So you can be miserable, lonely old people, or you can try my idea.” She put her hands on her hips. “What would you rather do?”
They glanced at each other, then looked away.
“Just… think about it, okay? Or we could continue living like strangers in the same house, our only point of contact the household staff. I don’t want that. I really don’t. I’d rather we have something… warmer.”
“Is this a result of this young man you’re seeing now?” Bianca said. “Why are you suddenly so adamant about this?”
“It’s not because of Jeremy. Or notonlybecause of him. But yeah, it’s partly because he has a nice, normal family of people who talk to each other. And someday I’d like him to meet you both, and I don’t want him to think we’re aliens, okay?”
Aaron shrugged. “I don’t think we’re that unusual.”
“That’s because you hang out with a bunch of rich old men who also have messed-up families and estranged children. Let’s aim a little higher, okay? Because all those people refer to their children as vultures. Let’s not consider them the standard.”
“Fine.” Aaron stood. “If you insist on this… I am willing to consider it.”
“Thank you.” Tayla was genuinely surprised this had gone as well as it had. “Thanks, Dad.” Her phone had been buzzing in her pocket over and over. “I’m sorry, I better check this. I don’t know who…” She glanced at the phone and saw twelve calls from Emmie and a dozen frantic texts from Daisy.
Where are you???
