Page 83 of Puck with Karma
“Shut up.”
That seems to loosen us up a bit, and, for the rest of the trip to my parents’ house, we try to make plans to spend as much time together as possible.
“Here we are,” Hannah sing-songs when she pulls into the driveway. “Home, sweet home. Or just… home.”
My chest hurts from the pressure I feel in there. I am not happy to be home at all. Just thinking of my mother is stressing me out. And I know she’ll try to convince me to stay home.
I get out of the car, and they wait for me to grab my bag from the trunk. Neither one of them gets out as they know my mother wouldn’t be welcoming toward them anyway. Nothing’s changed from our younger days as far as that goes.
“I’ll call you two later tonight, okay?”
They wave back and take off, leaving me to face my parents on my own.
I’m sure I look like a little orphan as I drag my suitcase across the rocky ground, making my way to the door. I half expect for it to open on its own and for my mother to burst outside in a flurry of activity. That is not her style though. She would never want to give the impression she is excited to see me, or anyone else for that matter.
The surprise comes when I ring the doorbell and the door opens right away, only to reveal my father. That never happens. We have hired help for this sort of thing.
“Dad,” I give him a tentative smile. “I thought you’d still be at the office.”
He gives me a rare smile. “I heard you were coming home.” He opens the door wider for me to enter, then waits until Iplaced the suitcase to the side. “I almost missed you.” He opens his arms for a hug, and I rush into them.
My parents have never been the overly affectionate type, but my father did make more of an effort when he was home, more so than my mother. The only problem with that was that he was not home a lot.
“I almost missed you, too,” I now mumble into his shirt where my face is pressed against.
“Come on,” he lets go of me. “Your mother is in the TV room, waiting to see you.”
I don’t understand why everyone has been so anxiously awaiting my arrival.
“Wesley is here as well,” he adds just as I am about to go in.
“There she is,” mom’s voice greets me. She stands up from her seat by the fireplace and comes to give me a hug. That is followed by a very polite kiss to the cheek. “I’m so glad you’re finally home, dear.”
I give everyone a lopsided smile and look around the room for a place to sit.
“Go by Wesley,” mom pushes me gently toward the man in question. He stands up to greet me.
“Good to see you, Abby.”
“You too, Wes.” I smile, but I don’t mean it. I feel ambushed.
We sit down, but my parents remain standing, with my mother just grinning from ear to ear. I’ve never seen her this excited about anything. It’s creeping me out.
“We’re going to check on the food while you kids talk.”
She grabs my father by the arm and pulls him with her, not that he was putting up any fight to begin with.
As soon as they are out of sight, I turn to look at Wesley.
“What the hell is going on?”
He looks and sounds just as frazzled as I am. “We need to talk.”
“Make it fast!”
I lean back in my seat to look out toward the doorway my parents disappeared through. There’s no one there, although, I wouldn’t put it past my mother to be lurking in the hallway to eavesdrop.
“First,” Wesley starts, “thank you so much for coming home. This will literally save my ass.”
