Page 85 of His Bittersweet Regret

I shook my head, though there was a battle being waged in my heart about what exactly I wanted to happen. Did I want to see him again while emotions were so raw? Part of me did, because I needed to see his emotions play out too. The other part of me was scared to do that and just wanted to go home and hide.

“This was an awful idea and I just want to go home,” I finally expressed to Ryker.

“I think maybe you should stay, or at the very least, find my son since that song of yours just destroyed him.” It was Kathy, and her declaration did not make me happy.

“Kathy, that’ll be enough. Marsh deserved to hear the pain he put her through. You never let me forget what I did to slight our relationship and what he did was far worse.”

“How dare you!” Kathy spun on her husband. “How dare you!” She whispered.

Ed turned to me and ignored his wife. “Opal, I just wanted to say that I am so terribly sorry for my part in all the hurt you’ve had to face, in the troubles that have come between you and my son. You will always have a place in our family, as Austin’s mother, and I respect you immensely for dealing with everything you’ve been through in a healthy way. Don’t ever stop pouring your heart out into your songs. I’m sure it has been very therapeutic for you.”

He then took Kathy by the arm, and guided her out of the bar, before she could get a word in edgewise.

“I always thought she liked me, but now I wonder if that was ever true,” I mumbled more to myself than anyone else.

“Don’t take it personally, she’s been a handful. We all thought she was doing better post rehab, but I don’t think the drinking was her only problem. She’s still drowning in her bitterness.” I was surprised that it was Brixton who spoke of his mom like that and even more surprised to find that both Bastion and Ryker nodded in agreement.

“Come on, we’ll take you home if Ryker won’t,” Bastion offered. I followed the boys outside to the parking lot only to find Marsh there with Jimmy trying to calm down a rather heated argument between Ed and Kathy.

“Kathy, I warned you that I was at the end of my rope. I won’t continue to play the whipping boy for something we supposedly already worked through. If you can’t handle what happened, and it is still eating at you this much, then it’s time to go our separate ways.”

Kathy’s jaw dropped, as did her sons’. I stood there, not wanting to watch this happen because it wasn’t my business and I felt like it was something that should be done in private, not in the middle of a parking lot to be a spectacle for anyone passing by.

“You can’t just leave me.”

“I can, and I will, if you don’t agree to get the help you need.”

“I went to rehab!” She shouted at him.

“The drinking was a symptom, but you still haven’t addressed the problem. Either you can get over what happened between us, or you can’t, but I will not sit back and let you keep using me as a punching bag and harming yourself and everyone else while you’re at it. That poor girl in there used to be like a daughter to you. She has done absolutely nothing wrong to deserve your ire, and yet you treat her like she did something awful to our son.”

“She won’t even allow me around my grandson!” Kathy screamed at him.

“And you honestly wonder why? You treat her like some garbage you stepped on in the street, act irrationally, and have a drinking problem you are supposedly working steps for, but I guarantee you haven’t asked for her forgiveness yet, have you?”

Kathy looked taken aback. “What the hell does she have to forgive me for?”

“And that right there is why this isn’t going to work. You won’t even acknowledge how awful you’ve been to everyone, especially the way you’ve treated Opal, for some reason. I’m not sure why you made that girl your target, but I won’t allow you to keep doing it. I don’t want you coming back to our house. You have plenty of money to find somewhere else to stay after that. We’ll see if we need to get lawyers involved from there, or if a couple nights away will help you to remember who you used to be.”

Mr. Kennedy didn’t wait around after that. He simply called back over his shoulder, “One of you boys needs to give your mother a lift to collect her things.”

“I can do it,” Bastion offered before turning to me. “Sorry, Opal. Ryker can take you, okay? I have to…”

I waved off his worried concern. “Go take care of your mom.”

That was the first time Marsh and Jimmy realized I was standing there too. “What was that about?” Marsh asked as he moved to stand beside me. “Why would Bastion, or Ryker for that matter, need to take you home?”

“Look, this was probably a really bad idea. Our date didn’t work out, but at least we can say that we tried,” I explained. “I’m tired and feeling a little ambushed by everyone tonight, so I just want to go home.”

“Ambushed?” He asked at the same time that Beth made her way outside. I forgot she had been there for the start of my song.

“Opal? Are you doing okay?” She called out to me from closer to the door of the bar.

“I’m fine, Beth. Go enjoy your night.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I agreed. Beth did an awkward, hesitant shuffle before tipping her head at me and heading back inside.

---