Page 60 of The Spider Queen
“Heck no!” I voiced.
“Your mother won’t miss you?”
“I haven’t gone home for the last two Spring Breaks. I think she’d worry something was wrong with me if I suddenly decided to volunteer to spend time with her.”
“And your dad? You don’t want to see him?”
“No,” I said, closing up. “I definitely don’t want to see my father.”
“Shit,” Hunter muttered. “I walked into something, didn’t I?”
Nodding, I turned away again. “I don’t talk about my father.”
“Okay.” He paused and then said, “Is he alive?”
“He turns oxygen into carbon dioxide, so yeah, I guess he’s alive.”
We drove past Hunter’s house and I frowned. “Where are we going?”
“Ice cream run. I think you might need it. Listen, I didn’t mean to open up—”
“Please don’t, Hunter. It’s not your fault. It’s normal for people to ask about someone’s parents. You want the run down?”
“Only if you want to tell me.”
I thought about it for a moment. It had been a long time since I’d delved into the topic of my father. Anita was the closest person to me, and she already knew my history. It was rare for me to share, but with Hunter I found I wanted to. Because it was him, and he made it so easy.
“He left us,” I murmured. “I was fourteen and Mom had just come through one of her episodes. And he just checked out. After fifteen years of marriage, he walked out on us.”
“Episodes,” he repeated.
“Mom is bipolar.” I traced the window where it met the car door. “We spent years trying to find the right meds for her. Some made her worse. Some made her better—but only for a time. I think my dad just got tired of it, ya know? Didn’t know how to deal. So he just left.”
He thumped his thumbs against the steering wheel. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“High school graduation.” I shook my head and remembered the day. “Mom invited him. Without telling me.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “They’re amicable, I guess. Both are remarried.”
“And you don’t have an easy relationship with either of them.”
“More so my mom, but still not a good one. When she wasn’t lucid, she was absent. And when she was with it, on meds that worked, she made up for lost time and overcompensated. She helicoptered.” I paused before going on. “Sometimes it’s easier to shut down, ya know? Face forward. Not look back.”
We pulled into the Coldstone parking lot, and I let out a sigh of relief.
“Buy you a milkshake?” he asked.
“You bought lunch. Ice cream is my treat.”
As we climbed out of the car, I asked, “What about you? What are you doing for Spring Break?”
“Ah, I’m going to be a counselor at a kids soccer camp. In North Carolina.”
I smiled at him. “Are you?”
With his hand on the door to the ice cream shop, he stopped. “What’s that look for?”
