Page 94 of Just Enough

He sighed. “Carrying your clothes is hardly going to make my back go out.”

I just gave him that look because we both knew that was a lie. Some days he could do quite a bit and never have a problem. Other days he could bend over and not be able to raise up or get back down for days after that. He’d be miserable and even teared up sometimes when it happened. I hated to see him like that. I wouldn’t encourage him to do things he shouldn’t, even though I knew he still did, but I couldn’t stop him from cutting his grass and things. He knew there was a chance about his back, but he did it anyway. Now that drinking was out of the picture, he liked to stay busy, sometimes too much, and he paid for it later.

Faith watched him from the corner of her eyes, seemingly studying him. “Your back is why you don’t work?”

“My dad used to work in the mines,” I said quickly, seeing that Dad looked slightly irritated that he looked as useless as he felt for not working. “Until an accident in the mines nearly crippled him.”

“I wasn’t always a recovering alcoholic, not that it’s any of your concern,” he said curtly.

“Dad,” I muttered quickly.

“Have you invited him to Ben’s party yet?” Just like that, Faith whipped us into safer territory, without a care that she made my dad so uncomfortable.

“Party?” Dad frowned.

“Not yet,” I said right after Dad gave away that I hadn’t asked him yet.

“Next Saturday,” she met his eyes and said. “Not tomorrow, the Saturday after,” she said again to make sure he understood. “I’m having Ben a surprise party for his forty-fourth birthday.”

“Will there be food?” Dad asked, and I forgot to hold in my snort with Faith around.

“Yeah,” she answered. “No alcohol though.”

Dad and I both looked at her a little surprised as she squirmed rather awkwardly. She was taking Dad into consideration.

She glanced my way hurriedly. “Come by the house once you put your clothes in the wash,” was all she said, then she turned her heels in the muddy grass and walked back over into her fancier yard.

“That woman,” Dad practically growled the moment she stepped inside her house. “She does nothing but snubs her nose at us ever since we moved in next door and now she invites us to a party?”

My lips twitched into a smile. “Dad…”

“I know.” He sighed, taking the hamper from my hands despite my protests. “Bless her evil soul. She’s forced to try to get to know us now that Benjamin got the girl he’s been mooning after since he was a kid.”

I smiled at that.

As we walked inside, he grumbled again. “Seriously though, who wears heels when it’s muddy out?”

Faith Helen that was who.

_______

I sat at Faith’s kitchen table as she set a cup of tea in front of me. I wasn’t much of a fan of tea, but I took it anyway with a smile. I waited until she sat down before I felt the need to say. “Dad’s accident was hard on him, it’s the reason he fell into drinking. He felt useless that he had no control over what his body could do any longer.”

Normally, I wouldn’t say anything to Faith. I’d just let it go, but there was a fierce protectiveness I had when it came to people understanding the man that I only just got to know over the last few years. He was a screwup, but he wasn’t always, and the man that he was today deserved recognition and respect.

“Of course, he can do a lot more now, but his back still goes out on him if he does too much.”

She was quiet for a moment as she took a sip of her tea. “Is this why your mom left?”

I nodded. “He wasn’t a good husband. He wasn’t a good anything while he drank… But he found himself again, and I got a father I never really had before in the process.” I looked down at the table, unable to meet her gaze because I was too afraid of what I might see. I told her our sob story because I truly wanted her to understand me and him and how far we’d come.

“Why didn’t your mom come back?” she asked casually.

“She’s engaged, actually,” I told her. I wondered if Benjamin had mentioned anything to her at all about my mom.

“Make sure to invite them over,” she said quickly. “Unless that would make your dad uncomfortable?” she had the decency to ask.

There were so many fears with this entire subject. She didn’t know my mom was a lesbian, and I had yet to tell Dad about Mom’s engagement.

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