Page 107 of The Single Dad

I shoot a glance over my shoulder at Cole, then straighten my shoulders. “No.”

My mother blinks at me, taken aback. “I’m sorry… what did you say?”

“I said, no, Mom. No.”

Silence hangs between us, cut only by the sounds of geese honking at a pond in the distance. She stares at me in disbelief, her expression quickly morphing into a scowl.

“How dare you, you ungrateful—”

“Stop contacting me,” I interrupt, my heart in my throat. I hope I sound more confident than I feel. “Stop asking me for things. I don’t want you in my life.”

“I’m your flesh and blood,” she snarls, her eyes tight with rage. “Does that mean nothing to you?”

“You know what? No. I don’t care about any of that,” I tell her. “You were never a mother to me when it counted, so you don’t get to lean on our blood relationship to try to demand favors now. Like I said—I don’t want you in my life. End of story.”

My mother is quiet for a moment, but it’s a dangerous kind of quiet, the calm before the storm. I can see the anger building in the paleness of her face, the way the tops of her cheeks redden. I brace myself for the onslaught.

And, like a hurricane, she explodes. “Fuck you, Riley! You little brat! I gave birth to you! You’re my child!”

“I’m not your property,” I say, but my voice is too quiet, lost in the face of her fury.

“You owe me!”

“Excuse me,” says Cole. His hand comes to rest on my shoulder, and at once, a sense of peace sparks inside of me.

I’d forgotten he was there. I’m not alone in this.

“Who the fuck are you?” my mother demands, rudely jutting her chin out at Cole.

“I am someone who’s here to support Riley,” Cole says. He speaks with a coolness that seems to cancel out her fire, measured and careful, but every bit as dangerous. “Someone with the resources that she lacks, despite your assumptions about her financial situation.”

My mother’s face twitches. “Give me a break. Who do you think you are, riding in on your high horse and—”

“Those resources,” Cole interrupts, “are enough to ensure that, if you chose not to listen to your daughter’s requests—if you continue to make her life hell—then it would be no trouble at all for me to sue you.”

Her mouth falls open for a second, then she snaps it shut. “You’re bluffing,” she says, but she sounds uncertain. “This is a family matter. The courts have nothing to do with it.”

“Given the history between the two of you, I suspect that the courts have everything to do with it. I think it would be no trouble at all for Riley to file a restraining order against you, citing past harassment. And I think that, if you violated that restraining order, I would put my considerable resources to the task of making your life even more miserable than you’re making hers.”

Wordless now, my mother gapes at him. I feel a sudden warmth in me as it truly sinks in: I’m protected. He’s offering to protect me.

Cole blinks, his face still impassive even as his eyes burn. “Are we clear?”

Without speaking, my mother nods. She seems shocked, as if he has rattled her to her core.

“Good,” Cole says. “I want you to stay out of Riley’s life. If you do that, we won’t have a problem. We don’t have to go to all of that legal trouble. But if you don’t… I will follow through on all of this.”

There’s no anger in his tone; he doesn’t even have to raise his voice. There is a veiled threat in his calm words that even my mother can’t ignore, and I believe him, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

She blinks a few times, then shakes her head as if to clear it. Then she turns to me. The rage is still written across her face.

“I can’t believe you,” she hisses. “You’re a horrible daughter… and a horrible person, hiding behind this man instead of working this out with me yourself.”

I clench my fists, biting my tongue to stop myself from snapping back. She’s lost touch with reality if she thinks I could have ever worked this out with her myself—if she thinks I haven’t tried, at least a hundred times.

But it’s worthless to argue with her now, when I’m so close to being done with this once and for all.

Beside me, I can feel Cole tense, like he’s ready to defend me, but my mother turns on her heel and marches away before he can do or say anything.

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