Page 76 of Chasing Fireflies

“You think I should have respect for you? You cheat on the woman you claim to love.”

“That was a long time ago, boy, and none of your business.” He gives me an icy glare.

“Oh, so it’s none of my business, yet I’m the one who was here listening to her cry because you stayed out late ‘working.’” I watch him down the rest of his drink before he turns to me.

“You do what you want, son. I’m done talking to you about it. Just don’t come crawling back when it all goes to shit.”

I watch him walk away with no expression on my face.

I shut the truck off and step out, getting ready for this shit storm that’s about to take place. Walking up the steps, I see Bear. He pushes open the screen door and greets me.

“Hey, boy.” I lean down and pet him before I walk inside. The house smells like food, which is odd. My woman can’t cook well. I hear talking, and I make my way to the kitchen. My dad sits at the island with his back to me, and a drink on ice sits at the table. I see a bottle of his favorite drink on the countertop, and Sara stands at the stove.

“What’s cooking?” I ask, surprising them both.

“Hey, baby,” Sara says. Dad turns my way, and my eyes look to him and then back at Sara, whose eyes have grown wide. She makes a face.

I walk into the room. “What are you doing here?” I ask Dad while going over to the stove and giving my wife a kiss on the cheek.

“Wanted to come by and see how you two were holding up.”

“Nice of you. We’re doing just fine,” I tell him, but then ask Sara, “What are you making, baby?”

“A chicken recipe Maci told me about. It seemed easy, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

I give her a small smile and then turn back to my dad. Seeing the bottle on the counter again, I grab a glass and put some ice in it.

“Mind?” I ask him as I lift the bottle. He nods for me to go ahead. I fill my glass halfway and then go to walk out. “Wanna talk out on the porch?” I ask, but I don’t wait for his reply. I keep walking until I’m at the door. Bear jumps up and follows me. I set my glass down on the porch railing and pick the ball up, tossing it far so Bear will have something to do. I hear the door open behind me. “Well, you’ve come. You see everything hasn’t gone to shit, so…”

“So, what, you going to turn me away before I even get a chance to eat?”

“Sara’s feelings won’t be hurt. Like you care anyway, though,” I say, taking a sip of my drink.

“Your mama misses you.”

“You drove all this way to tell me that?”

“She wanted me to check in.”

“Why didn’t she come then?”

“I didn’t tell her I was coming.”

I nod. “You haven’t changed. Still keeping things from her. You still messing around?”

“Son, I didn’t come all this way to fight with you.”

“I don’t know why you came at all.”

Bear runs back up on the porch with the ball in his mouth. He drops it, and I scoop it up, tossing it back into the darkness.

“How’s she doing? I saw the scar on her wrist.”

I look over at him. “She has her good days along with the bad.”

“I told you, you would have to worry about this. One day she won’t survive it, and then what’s to become of you?”

“Don’t you worry about that, and don’t go killing my wife off just so you can get some kind of sick pleasure on being right.”

---