Page 58 of Resolution
“You’ve finished reading the book, right?” She eyes him suspiciously and I’m suddenly doubting he has much done.
A snarl rips from his throat, as his eyes shoot daggers at Samantha. “I told you I’d get to it.” He lets out a huff at the end and attempts to go back to watching the show. But Samantha has other plans.
She stomps over to the television and without the remote, turns it off from behind. This causes Declan to stand quickly. Now he’s face-to-face, squaring off with his mother. He may only be ten, but he’s almost as tall as she. “What’s the big deal, Mom? I always get my work done. Why do I have to do it right this minute?”
“Because you likely haven’t even finished reading the book and it’s going to take hours to do the report, not to mention everything else that’s required of it.”
“I’ll get it done…” He juts out his chin and crosses his arms in a stand-off.
Samantha takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second or two. When she opens them, they are calculating and narrowed at him. “You need to start. Now. You’ve had weeks to work on this and you’ve put it off until the last minute.”
“Last minute would be tomorrow,” rolls off his lips faster than I would’ve thought.
Steam can almost be seen coming from Samantha’s ears. Her fists ball and her shoulders bunch. I immediately jump into action and put myself between the two of them. “Okay, buddy,” I say in an attempt to diffuse the situation. “Why don’t you go upstairs and get started.”
“Why should I listen to you?” Declan seethes in my direction.Wow. He’s really going to go there.I’ve never seen him like this, so thisshould be interesting.
I straighten to my full height and look him in the eye. In a tone that usually makes grown men quake in their boots, I quietly say, “Your mother told you to go upstairs and get started with your homework.”
He stares indignantly at me.
I quirk an eyebrow in his direction. “Are you going to do this on your own, or will you need some help in getting there?” This is the first time I’ve had to lay down the law. I hope I’m not overstepping my bounds, but the shit he’s trying to pull is ridiculous.
Declan’s eyes bulge for a split second, then he recovers to his glare, but he says nothing.
The tension in the room can be cut with a knife. I cross my arms against my chest and let him know I’m not budging on this issue either. Hewillbe respectful to his mother. I have no idea in hell what I will do if he doesn’t listen, but I’m not backing down.
After a few more death stares thrown my way, Declan huffs. “Fine!” He turns and stomps up the stairs to his room, and just before his door slams, he yells, “I used to like you.”
What the hell was that?I blink a few times and look to Samantha for confirmation that this has become my reality. She simply rolls her eyes and mutters, “Welcome to parenthood. I think you’ve officially been inducted.”
I shake my head and mutter under my breath so Frankie doesn’t hear, “Good times…”
23
Samantha
“Well,I can officially say Enzo’s experienced into parenthood,” I huff as I sit to have coffee with Lexi in her office the following Monday morning. I’m allowed one cup a day and after the weekend I’ve just experienced, I’m taking it.
“Really? Why’s that?” Lexi states in disbelief. There’s a slight upturn of her lips and I can tell she’s on the verge of smirking at me.
“For starters, Declan was a complete turd this weekend. He waited until the last minute to do his biography report and then proceeded to act like we were the bad guys for asking him if it was done.”
“Sounds like a normal pre-teen,” Lexi deadpans.
I tell her how Declan went all-out into complete fit mode. He refused to work on his project for the better part of Saturday, which resulted in having to spend all of Sunday completing it. Bless Enzo’s heart, he actually took pity on the kid and spent most of yesterday afternoon helping Declan put the finishing touches on the poster requirements.
“I’m telling you, Lex, even after Dec was a complete ass to him, Enzo still went out of his way to help him. They didn’t finish until nearly ten last night.”
“Wow. That’s commitment.”
“I know. I was done with Dec about thirty minutes into it yesterday. He’s so infuriating, I just had to walk away. Enzo didn’t know what to do with himself when Dec screamed, ‘I used to like you’ after the start of their argument. If I hadn’t been so ticked at Declan’s behavior, I would have laughed at the look on Enzo’s face.”
“But everything worked out?”
“Yeah. Enzo was a champ and seemed to know how to handle Dec and his shitty attitude.”
“Is there anything Enzo can’t do?” Lexi asks, her tone sarcastic. “I mean, did you order him from makeyour-fantasies-come-true-dot-comor something? Come on… He’s gotta have some flaws. No man is that perfect. Dish, Sam.”
