Page 14 of Reckless

I washed my hands from the blood and found out a lot of it was probably mine, since my skin was cut on more places that I had the patience to count.

All I wanted was an ice-cold shower. I knew the physical discomfort would soothe my mind. It always did. Ten minutes later I was feeling better. So much better that when my phone started buzzing and I saw the word Mom on the display I took the call without a second thought.

“Hey there, granny.”

“Tyler,” I heard her exasperated tone on the other side. “How nice of you to pick up when your mother calls.”

Sylvia Hartley loved pushing people’s buttons, riling them up. She tried extra hard with me because I almost never got angry. I wasn’t a violent man. People who didn’t know me well enough thought that I was, simply because I loved to fight. Not my mother, though. She knew she could provoke me for hours and I would still be smiling by the end of the day. That pissed her off immensely.

“I couldn’t miss the opportunity to congratulate you,” I justified the act of taking her call. “Are you excited? You will be the most fashionable grandmother in the entire neighborhood.”

My mother spent her whole life preoccupied with her hairdos and outfits. The other thing that interested her the most was other people’s opinion of her and her children. Not because someone might hurt us by talking shit, but because she couldn’t be associated with someone with bad rep.

“How are you dealing with the fact that your daughter is having an illegitimate child?”

“They are getting married,” she answered in a calm, controlled, and no doubt rehearsed manner.

“Well, trying to get married and actually being married are two very different things.”

“Clementine is trying to do the right thing. She is starting a family. No one expects it from you, but you could respect that and not use the way it’s happening as weapon against me.” She paused for a moment, waiting for me to repent for my behavior.

I didn’t. She continued.

“Am I happy that my youngest is getting married because she’s pregnant? No. But I’m happy that at least one of my children is getting married. Madison is so picky she will never find someone to her taste. Did she tell you I set her up with a cute pediatrician? She told him she’s not interested. How can she not be interested in a doctor?”

My thoughts flew to Hannah Spencer and her surgeon boyfriend, but I forced myself to follow the conversation.

“I really don’t get women. What’s up with that marrying a doctor fixation?”

“Women like stability, Tyler. Something that you seem to avoid on purpose, so I don’t think I can explain it to you.”

“Why exactly did you call again?” I didn’t like where the conversation was headed.

“To see what you think about the fact that you are so detached, that your sister had to fly to Boston to tell you she’s pregnant because you refused to pick up your phone.”

“I think she could have texted. I didn’t need an announcement in person. It would have also been way cheaper.”

“Maybe she needed to feel her older brother’s support.”

Well, Mom, maybe she wouldn’t need her older brother’s support if she had a decent mother.

“Clem knows I’m not the person to seek emotional support from. Besides she has a living, breathing mother who had three children and could actually tell her something reassuring.”

“Unfortunately for us all, I can’t. I don’t think I did anything right with any of you at this point.”

“Fake it till you make it. Do the right thing now by the only child that chose to live less than three thousand miles away from you.”

Sylvia ignored my remark and continued.

“You snuck out of that restaurant without giving her a chance to talk to you.”

So Clem called Mom and complained I ditched her. I used to be her closest person in our screwed-up family. She used to call me to bitch about the others. But ever since she patched things up with our older sister Madison and started to be civil with our mom, Clem was stripped of the title of the most damaged sibling. Somehow the three women in my family ganged up against me and assigned that role to me.

“I’ll talk with her later,” I said and took a look at my free hand. I promised her coffee but maybe I should just do it over the phone. It didn’t seem like a good idea to stand in front of my pregnant sister all beaten up like that.

“Don’t just talk with her,” my mother warned. “You are stuck, Tyler. Madison is chasing her carrier. Clementine is starting a family. And what do you do? You waste your life. Get your act together and do the right thing. Start with your sister.”

Chapter Six

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