Page 121 of Whiskey and Regret
“Hello to you too, Frankie,” I said.
“Hey, sweetheart. I wasn’t expecting you home until Sunday.” Evander tried to make the best out of an awkward situation but there was little to do when we both were disheveled, and he had lipstick stains on his face.
“Wow, clearly you weren’t expecting anyone,” Alexis smirked and walked closer, narrowing her eyes more with each step.
“I wasn’t. Therefore, I was behaving like a grown man in my house.” His voice chilled a few degrees when he spoke to his ex-wife.
“A house where our daughter lives and could walk in at any moment, Van. You can’t keep this bitch caged?” She gestured to me and I felt myself losing to the rage brewing in my gut.
“Excuse me?” I laughed but it was humorless. It was ice.
“Mom,” Frankie hissed quietly. Even she thought her mother was crossing a line.
“Don’t you have a party to go to?” Evander asked.
“I’m not going anywhere until I know my daughter is safe. I feel like her wellbeing is threatened in this house.” She tipped her altered nose in the air and I pushed out a long breath before I railed into her.
“You’re so fucking pathetic, Alexis. I’m tired of being nice and biting my tongue because now you’re disrespecting me and for what? I did nothing to you. You have a problem with me and Evander being together, fine. You can have that problem all to yourself because it’s not going to change anything. It won’t change the fact that he divorced you. It won’t change the fact that this is no longer your house and it won’t change the fact that you missed out on a great guy. Those are things you have to deal with. Don’t bring your bitterness in here and please for the love of God don’t pass it down to Frankie.”
“Alexis, you can go. You have no reason to be here,” Evander said, barely restraining his anger.
“She does,” I interjected. Evander glanced at me and nodded his understanding.
“You know what, Xari, you’re right. She does need to be here. No time like the present to introduce you to my new girlfriend.” He draped his arm around my shoulder. “Alexis, this is Xari. Xari, this is myex-wife, Alexis,” he said.
“Can’t say it’s a pleasure so I’ll say this…it’s unfortunate to meet you,” Alexis snapped.
“This is ridiculous,” Frankie huffed before storming out of the kitchen and up the steps. Tears made her voice wobble. The emotional sound sank my heart to my feet. I looked at Evander and he nodded. I went after Frankie and caught her just before she slammed her bedroom door in a fit of true preteen angst.
“Hey,” I said, sticking my arm through the almost closed door. I didn’t wait for an invitation, I walked in. “We need to talk about this, Frankie.”
“I don’t want to talk to you. You’re only here for Dad. Go talk to him.” My eyebrows lifted at the barbed sass coming from this little twelve-year-old flopping on her bed.
She’s a kid, Xari. No need for the big guns.
I took a calming breath and sat on the bed beside her. “I’m not only here for your dad. Is that why you’re so pissed? You think I’ve been plotting on him all along?”
“Isn’t that the truth?” She finally looked at me and this time I didn’t see anger and ice. I saw hope and pleading. I shook my head and touched her soft curly hair.
“No. That’s not the truth. I didn’t take this job because I secretly wanted to get next to Evander. When I took this job, I thought your dad was a stick in the mud. In my mind, we couldn’t have been more different.”
“Then why are you two…”
“Together?” I didn’t want to give her an opportunity to use any other word she had stored in her brain.
“Is that what’s going on? You’re actually his girlfriend?” She sat up and faced me instead of talking to me while she laid on her stomach.
“Yes, Frankie.” I stroked her hair. I hoped she knew I was being truthful. “At first we were just…messing around. It wasn’t something you needed to know about because as much as I love you and as mature as you are for your age, you don’t need to know everything.” She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down at her hands.
I heard the door downstairs close with a little more force than usual and I knew Alexis must have been gone. Evander’s footfalls grew closer to Frankie’s room then he appeared. He was weary. Annoyance tightened his features.
“Frankie, your attitude is out of control,” he said immediately. “Now, I understand your feelings being hurt over finding out about Xari and me the way you did. We’ll take full responsibility for that, but we talk things out in this family. We don’t run from them and we damn sure don’t take passive-aggressive swipes at each other.”
There’s something about the way a real father addresses his daughter that can unravel her. I know because I’ve been in that situation before in my life. It’s how I knew I’d made a shit show of my own life after getting my car repossessed. When Dad didn’t budge or offer to help, I knew I’d fucked up.
Frankie had a look on her face that said she knew she took things too far.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I was upset and…I didn’t know what to do about it.” She shrugged her shoulders and finally lifted her gaze to meet Evander’s.
