Page 60 of Wandering in Darkness
“I don’t know.”
“Of course you don’t know, you little bitch, because you just fucked off for no reason,” he says. “I know you made my son run me to all of those damn appointments. We nearly killed each other twice… a day. And I fucking know he wasn’t doing it out of the goodness of his heart. You paid him. I know you did, you little piece of shit.”
I never knew how good it would feel to be cussed at with such conviction.
“He was really awful,” I whisper.
“I told you!”
“But I couldn’t do it.”
“What were you busy doing? Hopefully something useful.”
“No… I wasn’t… I’ve been bad. I’ve been really fucking bad,” I admit, feeling ashamed. “Things got dark but I’m doing better now.”
“So you just fuck off and don’t see me or come to me for help?”
“I couldn’t come back.”
“You couldn’t or you wouldn’t? There’s a big difference there.”
“I was a coward.”
“You still drinking?”
“No. I’m trying not to. I’ve been good. It’s been a couple of months now.”
Arthur scowls. “Then why didn’t you come see me?”
“Because I really am a coward.”
“We already established that.”
“I couldn’t… I couldn’t face you.”
“That’s the stupidest damn excuse I’ve ever heard. I tried for weeks to get rid of you as a child, but you just kept coming back, and then when I’m finally to the point where I’m like ‘Fuck it, might as well accept this,’ you leave!”
“It took you twenty years to accept me?”
“Give or take a year or two.”
I can’t help but laugh. “I missed your meanness.”
“Well, I didn’t miss you,” he says.
“You didn’t miss me, but you tracked down Grayson here and made him track me down?”
“Did no such thing. Grayson, huh? Why’s that name sound familiar? Ah, right. This is the guy you were in a dither about.”
Oh no… “Nope. No idea what you’re talking about.”
“No idea, eh? Frankly, I remember you getting all flustered every time he sent you a text. It was embarrassing. I was embarrassed for you. Every time your phone made an obnoxious noise, your entire body lit up like one of those irritating lights that shine through the window when you want to sleep. But every time you saw it was someone else, your whole body would deflate and it’d make me cackle.”
“Oh?” Grayson asks.
“Don’t ‘Oh,’ you’re supposed to be waiting in the car,” I say. “Arthur, this is Grayson, a man I am currently only tolerant of.”
“Ah… so you went from blushing bride to playing hard to get, I see. How’s that going for you? Not quite sure that’s going to get you laid.”
