Page 3 of Revelry
My temper flared and my hands flexed to pull Gertrude away. I tried to lock it down, but I couldn’t get it under control. It was always simmering at the surface lately after everything that happened with my father, and my mother constantly smothering me.
I couldn’t hold it back. “Get your—”
“Tate!” Tony yelled from the kitchen, distracting me. “Your mother’s on the phone, she needs you to come home!”
My cheeks heated when the table started laughing and baiting me.“Tatey-Cakes, your mother needs you!”
“Better run home to your mommy!”
My fists clenched tight, my embarrassment wanting me to lash out. But it wasn’t until I met Gertrude’s concerned stare that my humiliation tripled.
“Mommy’s on the phone, Tatey-Cakes!” Billy teased again and instead of punching him in his smug face, I spun away and stormed towards the kitchen.
I snatched the phone from Tony’s outstretched hand. He shook his head before turning back to the ovens.
I lifted the red receiver to my ear. Everything at Tony’s was red.
“Ma?”
“Come home, Tate,” she sobbed down the line. “I think someone’s here!”
I sighed. “No one’s there, Ma. I only just left.”
“Exactly! You left me, just like he did!” she accused.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m coming back though, in three more hours.”
“Three? No, that’s too long. I need you to come home, Tate. Now.”
I tugged the phone cord in frustration. “I can’t.” I lowered my voice. “We need the money.”
“Now Tate. I need you to come home now. I, uh, I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t.”
There it was. The threat she always used.
Pushing out a breath, I resigned myself to my fate. “Okay, Ma. Let me talk to Tony.”
“See you soon, Tate,” she said, relief in her voice, then she hung up the phone.
I replaced the receiver gently and slowly turned to Tony, standing there with his arms folded across his barrel chest, a pizza cutter in his hand and a toothpick poking out the corner of his mouth. He just shook his head at me, his features lined with sympathy.
“Go on, kid.” He nodded towards the door. He didn’t shout at me for letting him down, didn’t scold me. He knew what I was dealing with and somehow that made it worse. Tears burned the backs of my eyes at my helplessness and I nodded as I slowly removed my apron.
“I’m sorry,” I replied, my lower lip wobbling, and I sank my teeth into it to try and stop the tears.
It didn’t work.
Tony cursed and reached out, pulling me into him. He squeezed me tight and although we were almost the same height, I felt like a kid again. For that moment he turned into a father figure, the one I was desperately missing. Someone was comfortingmeand I couldn’t cope with it.
Pulling away before I became more overwhelmed with emotion, I cleared my throat.
“Uh, thanks Tony. I’ll make it up to you, I’ll do a double shift next Saturday.”
Tony frowned but then nodded and turned back to the ovens. I grabbed my jacket and went back out to the dining room to leave, Carter and Billy jeering and calling after me that I was a mama’s boy. They weren’t wrong but they had no idea what my life was like.
When I rode my bike past the window they were sitting at, I didn’t look in, couldn’t look at Gertrude but I felt her curious eyes on me all the way until I was out of their sight.
I pedaled furiously, desperate to get home and make sure Ma was okay. I didn’t spot a big stone on the ground and the next thing I knew, I was flying over the handlebars, skidding my knees on the road and landing in a heap. I laid there for a moment in shock before I pulled myself together, cursing as I took in my ruined knees and then my bike.
