Page 48 of Only With You

My hand squeezes the steering wheel as I do my best not to lose my temper. There are four people who seem to always bring out the worst in me. John, his wife, his son, and Hollywood.

“It seems you and I have two distinct definitions of what it means to be a father. I’ll save you the trouble of looking it up, but a father?—”

“Enough!” he heaves an agitated breath. “Please…I just want to talk to you. I miss you.”

“Mmm, I can’t say I feel the same. I have to go.”

I hear shuffling in the background and a faint feminine voice, who I can only assume is his god-awful wife. I wouldn’t have had an issue with her, but it was clear from the moment I moved in with them that she didn’t want me there. She didn’t like that John had his—lack thereof—attention on me and notherson.

He sighs tiredly. “I don’t want to argue.”

“Arguing is what you may have been doing, but I’m only stating facts,” I earnestly say. “If this is what you called me for, you’re wasting my time. I’m hanging up.”

Whenever I speak to John, I keep it short. If I don’t, he presumes I want to engage in conversation and won’t shut up. I could easily block him and ignore his existence, like I have in the past, but he’s a persistent fuck and doesn’t know how to let things go.

“Fucking Christ, Landon, I’m just trying to talk to you,” he exasperates, his voice close to rising, but he manages to keep it low.

At a stoplight, I glance at the time, grimacing at how long we’ve been talking for. Exactly three minutes. What a waste of time.

“Are you done?”

He sighs again. “No, I just have one more thing to tell you.”

“Hmm?” I hum absently, ready for the conversation to end.

“I’m going down to North Carolina for work, and I’m going to be there for a month or so.” My phone almost slips from my grasp. “I thought since I’d be down there, we could meet up. I know you’ll be busy with the season starting in a month and school, but I know we can make it work. When I was in Texas visiting Ashton, we made it work.”

“Can’t, I’m busy,” I immediately reply.

“I know you can spare me at least a few minutes. Don’t forget I know where you live. I’ll just go to you.”

This man and his persistence, I swear.

“I mean it. I’m going to be—” I pause briefly as the most ludicrous idea goes off in my head. My hand tightens around the wheel again until my knuckles turn white. There’s no way this works out, but I’ll think about the logistics later. “Tutoring.”

He scoffs. “Tutoring. You don’t need tutoring.”

“Not me. I’m going to be tutoring someone. Every single day, so I don’t have time to see you.”

“Every day?” John questions, his tone disbelieving.

I bite back a groan and turn in the opposite direction of my house. “Yes, every day. She’s in desperate need of help, and I’m actually going to meet her now. I gotta go.”

“Maybe once I get down there, we’ll figure something out.” Hopefulness brims in his voice, but what he fails to realise is that hope died a long time ago.

I’d pity him if I could feel it.

“Doubtful.” I hang up and toss my phone on the passenger seat.

I once loved that man and wanted nothing more than to have his attention. But he chose a path I wasn’t a part of, and as I grew up, I chose mine.

For some reason, John can’t get that through his head and thinks he can somehow merge our paths as if he didn’t abandon me. As if he didn’t walk away from Mum and me. As if we didn’t watch him from a distance start a new family that became his everything, while we became his nothing.

Yeah, it hurt, but eventually, the pain stopped and I moved on.

I just wish he would, too.

Now because of John and his incessant determination to reconcile our nonexistent relationship, I’ve agreed to tutor Hollywood. I know I don’t have to do it, but I’m not a liar. I also know he’ll show up to my house and not leave until we talk. Hanging out somewhere else isn’t an option. I don’t like to be around others unless necessary.

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