Page 16 of Second Chance Ex
I go to answer, but Dad beats me to it. “Two-fourteen.” He looks at me over the top of his specs. “Itdoesn’t matter how old you get, I’ll always know.” He taps a finger against his temple, winking at me conspiratorially.
I manage a smile, plonking myself in the seat next to him at the table.
“How was the party?” Mom asks, placing a glass of water and two ibuprofen pills in front of me, along with a piece of plain toast, and I swear I could kiss her on the lips. But then I’m reminded of the expensive dinner jacket in my hands, and that I’m actually extremely pissed at my parents.
“Do you guys still see Joey?”
Dad glances up from the small appliance he’s trying to bring back to life, and Mom looks at me like I’ve just asked her, in Spanish, the square root of seven-thousand-nine-hundred-and-sixty-two.
“Joey,” I repeat, in case their old age is starting to kick in. “Tanner.”
“Oh, honey, we know who Joey is,” Mom tuts on her way back to the kitchen counter. “He usually stops by every so often when he’s in town. Unless it’s during the season, then it’s not always guaranteed. He brings coffee from that place on Chandler Avenue. You know the one with the cats? I always make sure to have a fresh batch of banana muffins for him.” She winks.
Dad goes straight back to tinkering.
I stare at the two of them, completely blindsided. “Are– are you serious?”
They both turn to me then, faces obliviously stark.
“Joey Tanner just stops in here to visit you guys on the reg, for coffee and… baked goods?” I’m towing the line of incredulity, gawping at the both of them.
Dad glances at Mom before looking at me again and nodding.
“I’ll have you know he’s alwayslovedmy banana muffins,” Mom explains, as if my indignance has anything to do with fucking muffins.
I’m at a loss for words. My throbbing hangover long-forgotten as anger courses through my veins. “How long has this been going on for?”
My mother blinks at me, seemingly confused by my question.
“How long has Joey been stopping by?” I raise my voice.
“Well, I-I… He–” Mom stammers, looking from me to Dad, to the ceiling before focusing on the hideous wallpaper as if it might hold all the answers. “Well, since always.”
I balk. “Wait. You mean to tell me that Joey Tanner comes here to visit you guys whenever he’s in town, and nobody’s bothered to mention it to me for the last two years?”
Mom looks at me like I’ve lost my damn mind, and frankly I’m starting to wonder if I have. “Sweetheart, why would we bother mentioning it to you?” She laughs lightly. “It’s only Joey.”
I stand then, because I’m so angry I can’t possibly sit still. How can one person—mainly my mother because Dad’s always been a little bit clueless when it comes to this sort of thing—have absolutely no idea?
“Because he’s myex!” I practically yell. I don’t add that he’s my ex who cheated on me. My parents are oblivious at the best of times, and they don’t know the truth of Joey’s infidelity because I couldn’t bear to break it to them when it happened.
I’m met with more vacant stares and all I can do is laugh like a maniac because if I don’t laugh, I fear I might cry.
“Joey likes to stop in and see us. And we like having him here,” Mom says. “Is– is that not allowed?”
I blink at her, wondering for a moment if I’m still drunk.
“No, Mom!”’ I finally say, throwing a hand in the air for effect. “He’s myex. I’m yourdaughter. You’re supposed to be onmyside!”
“Oh, honey. There are no sides.” Mom waves a hand dismissively.
My hands ball into fists at my sides. “What, and I suppose you have his girlfriend over, too, do you? A real nicefamilyaffair.”
“He has a girlfriend now, does he?” Dad asks, not looking up from his clock radio. “Good for him.”
I swear, if my eyes were daggers right now, he’d be straight down to Urgent Care. I gawp at my mother as she continues flipping the goddamn bacon. “I broke up with Joey two years ago,” I explain slowly, like they need reminding. “It’s absolutely unfathomable that you can still have him around for coffee and cake!”
“But sweetheart, you just said it yourself,” Mom says with a slightly smug smile. “Youbroke up with him. But he was part ofourlives, too.” She offers me a pointed look before going back to her bacon and honestly, I feel like I’ve just been sucker punched.
