Breaking Ties (9 page)

Chapter Nine

“Is anyone going to invite me in?” Mom asked, looking between Dad, Bailey, and me. Gabe stood behind her, and when I threw a glance in his direction, he shrugged apologetically.

“I tried,” he mouthed.

I honestly felt bad for him. I shouldn’t have left him alone out there. I knew my mother. I knew she fought dirty. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had knocked him upside the head with one of her stilettos if it meant getting around him to ring the bell. Thankfully, though, he seemed physically unharmed. She probably just weaseled her way around him, and poor Gabe could only do so much.

My eyes fell to Dad. He was locked in position, his body tense as he stared at her, open-mouthed and surprised, probably feeling as shocked and stunned as I’d felt when she first pulled up. When he started to move his lips, I swore he was going to ask her inside. He was going to be nice to her. He was going to act like nothing had ever happened, like they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years.

And then he lifted his hand and pointed behind Mom, his index finger fixed pointedly at Gabe.

“
You
,
” he said, his eyes growing wider by the second.

Gabe looked behind himself before turning back to Dad. “Me?

“Get in here,” Dad demanded. “Now.”

There was a sudden hitch in Gabe’s breathing, and fear briefly crossed his face.

“No, thank you.”

“It wasn’t a request,” Dad said, firmer this time.

“I was on my way out,” Gabe said, taking a step back. “I have to meet the team at the church for the—”

“You’re not going anywhere,” he said. “Get in here.”

Gabe took Dad’s order at once, stepping around Mom. He crossed the threshold, and the moment he stood inside the house, Dad lunged forward and slammed the door in Mom’s face.

So there we stood—the four of us, no one sure what to say.

“What … how did … why is she …”

“What happened?” Dad asked, looking between Gabe and me. He wasn’t remotely interested in entertaining my sister’s series of unfinished questions. She droned on in the background with her whats, whys, and hows, all the while Dad looked between Gabe and me. “When did she get here? What’s going on?”

I heard Gabe breathe a sigh of relief, hopeful for the moment that Dad wasn’t going to rip his head off for playing a part in my sneaking out of the house. Dad wasn’t interested in that, not for the time being. He was much more concerned with the fact that his cheating ex-wife had wound up on his doorstep without so much as a heads-up.

“She pulled up in a cab about ten minutes ago, Mr. Parker—”

“Stop it with that Mr. Parker crap,” Dad said, pointing his finger at Gabe again. “You are not to give that woman even the slightest impression that this isn’t the happiest family in town; do you understand?” Gabe nodded, and I smiled. “As far as I’m concerned, you two were not sneaking around behind my back this morning. She’s not to catch wind that I’m doing anything less than a perfect job at raising my—”

A faint knock at the door interrupted our huddle.

I opened the door to Mom’s questionable glance and held up my index finger with an amused smile.

“Sorry. Family meeting. We’re gonna need one second.”

And then I slammed the door in her face again.

“
What are we supposed to do
?” Bailey asked, putting a full sentence together. “Why is she here?”

“She said she already left the answer to that question in the form of a message on your phone,” I said, turning to her. “Did she mention coming to Sugar Creek?”

“I don’t know. I’ve ignored the last few messages. I deleted all of the texts as they came in, and I only ever listened to the first voicemail.”

“And what did that say?” Gabe asked.

“I already told you,” she said. “That she wanted to talk, that’s all.”

“Listen to your messages,” Dad said to her. “All of them. Now. Find out why she’s in town.”

“She brought bags, Dad,” I said. “Two big, giant bags. She’s not here for a quick trip; I can promise you that.”

“The easiest way to find out what she wants is to ask,” Gabe pointed out. “Do you guys think that maybe we should let her in?”

“
No
!” Dad and I said in unison, and he held both hands up defensively, as we each delivered him a hard, scathing look.

“So what, you guys are going to make her stand out there and wait around until you figure out a game plan?”

“Basically,” Dad nodded. “Something like that.”

“I know it’s not my position to step in here,” Gabe continued. “But since you invited me in, I’m guessing my input is at least somewhat valued?”

We turned to him with hopeful stares. Maybe he actually had a decent idea.

“Let her in. Listen to her. Find out what she wants.”

Or maybe not.

“She didn’t say what she wanted,” Bailey said, pulling her phone away from her ear, but there was a weird grin on her face as she delivered the news. “I’ve listened to all of the voicemails. She kept saying that she wanted to talk, and when I wouldn’t answer her calls, she decided to fly in. She said there are things she needs to say.”

“I’m not in the mood to sit and listen to her,” I said, looking to Dad. “Whatever it is she has to say, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Listen,” Gabe said, his eyes softening as they trailed away from my dad and sister. “It doesn’t have to be today, but give her a chance. I know what she’s feeling right now, Mandy, and it’s painful. She’s desperate; she’ll do anything for an opportunity to be heard. She’s looking for one small success at a time, and right now, all she wants is a chance. You can give her that.”

“But—”

“Does she deserve it? Probably not,” he continued. “She victimized you, and I know you’re still hurting. But you’re not any better than she is if you keep closing her out, hurting her, because you know you have the power to do so.” I closed my eyes, dropping my head forward. Gabe lifted my chin. “I’m not asking you to forgive her. You don’t even have to say anything. Take a breath, take your time, and give her a chance.”

I looked past his shoulder to Dad and Bailey, and both of their faces softened.

The doorbell rang as if on cue.

“You’re going to have to wait!” Dad yelled, and then a gruff cough came from the other side of the door.

“You guys know there’s a chick out here on your front porch, right?” Jones asked through the door, and then Dad whipped it open, took a fistful of his shirt, and pulled him in.

And then he closed the door again.

“Oh my God, this is turning into a circus,” Bailey said, looking up at the ceiling. “Can we please do this? It’s not fair to keep slamming the door in her face. She’s a person, too.”

We all looked at one another, Jones looking as confused as ever, and then shrugged.

“Sure,” Dad said.

“
Thank you
,
” Bailey echoed.

“I vote yes,” Jones said, adding his two cents. “I mean, I don’t have a clue what’s going on here, but that chick’s hot. You should at least see what she’s selling.”

“She’s not selling anything, Jones,” I said, widening my stare. “That’s our mother. She’s decided to pay us a visit this morning.”

“Whoa, dude,” he said, patting Dad on the back. “Way to go, man. She is
fine
.
”

They all turned to me, their stares eager as they awaited my response. I was the only one who hadn’t jumped on board the let-Mom-in train.

Bailey says yes.

Dad says sure?

Jones gave his opinion for a definite go-ahead, and Gabe wanted me to give her a chance.

“Fine,” I said, giving in. “But I won’t promise to play nice.”

###

It was a family affair, and as far as I was concerned, that meant Gabe and Jones had every right to stick around. They both agreed, though, right alongside Bailey and Dad, that the Mom situation was one we should handle all on our own—just those of us called Parker.

So Gabe left, and after Jones picked up the bag he’d left in the garage after last night’s rehearsal, he followed Gabe out. As the two of them left the driveway, we stood at the door, still staring at Mom on the porch.

“You’re going to have to make this fast because I have somewhere I have to be,” I said, turning away. The fact of the matter was, I didn’t have anywhere to go. I was left to stand there and deal with her, and I didn’t have a clue how to begin.

“Mandy,” Dad cocked his head at the open front door, “let’s do this outside.”

That was his polite way of telling Mom, without a single look in her direction, that she wasn’t coming into our house. I followed my sister and father outside, closing the front door behind me. Mom’s bags were still in the grass where she’d left them, and she was standing square in the middle of the porch, where I’d left her.

“Have a seat,” Dad offered, nodding back to the porch swing. Mom didn’t waste a moment to take him up on the offer, and she sat down, crossing her long legs at the ankle.

She was as beautiful as I remembered, I noticed, staring from her tall black heels all the way up to her wavy brown hair. Probably even prettier than I remembered.

I looked to my sister. Bailey’s eyes watered as she stood next to me, but they weren’t the same kind of tears that I’d fought to hold back when Mom first pulled up. Mine were tears of frustration, anger, tears of not knowing how to handle my overwhelming surge of emotions. Bailey was fighting something else, something foreign to me. She wanted to smile. She wanted to open her arms, reach out, and hug our mother. And I didn’t understand it. Not two days ago she was furious with Mom. She didn’t want to talk to her, didn’t want to answer her calls. And now Bailey seemed to be feeling something else entirely.

That’s what I hated about our mother—that’s what she did to people. She was capable of bringing out the best and worst of someone, all in a span of hours. She’d done it to Dad for years, giving him just enough of her time and attention to keep him holding on and letting him down hard in the blink of an eye when something better came along. She was manipulative … she was just that good at being who she was.

“Hi,” Bailey said, staring at our mother. “Hi, Mom.”

I hated that. I hated that, even after everything Mom had put Bailey through in the past few years, months, and even in recent days, my sister still felt that undeniable mother-daughter bond.

“Okay, seriously, can we get this over with?” I asked. “Why are you here?”

“Actually, Mandy,” Dad said, standing next to me. I could hear the assurance in his voice, and I saw the glint of calm in his eye as he looked down to me. “We’re not going to do that here. Not right now.” He turned to Mom, but not with questions. “You should’ve called.”

“I tried.”

“I don’t mean Bailey,” he said. “You had no right to bully her into thinking that she had to speak to you. You harassed her. If you had business to conduct in Sugar Creek, you should’ve called
me
.
”

“Jim, I was hoping we could—”

“Vic,” he silenced her at once. “You are not welcome here. You will not come back to our home. Anything you have to say to either of our daughters, you will only do on their terms. You will not come by, and you will not ambush them. You can leave your number, and if they wish to speak to you, then that’s entirely up to them. Showing up at our door does not grant you permission to start calling the shots. This is our home.”

“Okay, but I’m trying—”

“Have you arranged your lodging yet?”

“I haven’t,” she said. “I was hoping that maybe—”

“You’re not welcome here,” I repeated what Dad said. “And you are out of your mind if you thought we would let you stay.”

“Mom,” Bailey said gently.

She studied our mother differently than we did. Dad and I were both very aware, very skeptical. We kept our eyes fixed on her. Bailey, like us, kept watching her, but it was more relaxed. It was as if she didn’t care about anything we’d gone through. Like she hadn’t meant any of those things she’d said last night about Mom belonging in the past. It wasn’t until that very moment, standing there on the porch, that I realized that Bailey had never hated our mother at all; she’d only missed her. And if I wasn’t mistaken, my sister was actually happy to see her sitting only a few feet away.

“I’ll call in a reservation at the Desden Hyatt,” Bailey said, and Mom nodded.

“Thank you.”

My sister turned back to the door and disappeared inside to arrange Mom’s hotel accommodations.

“So are you going to give me a chance to say anything?” Mom asked once Bailey was gone. “Or should I chalk this up to a wasted attempt?”

That got to Dad. His hands balled into fists, and he ground his teeth together as he watched her.

He couldn’t bear hearing of Mom’s pity-party as a result of wasted attempts. He’d wasted days, weeks, and months of their marriage trying to save something that wasn’t worth saving. And instead of being honest with him, instead of telling him it wasn’t fixable, Mom decided to break his heart.

“You’ve given yourself an unfair advantage by showing up here,” I said, and for the first time since she showed up, I was speaking to her in a very direct, relatively calm manner. For the first time since she showed up, I wasn’t thinking about the hurt she’d caused me. I was remembering the anguish in my father’s voice when he told me the truth, the tears in his eyes when he admitted that he couldn’t fix our family. Suddenly, all I cared about in that moment was getting her away from him. He’d done
nothing
to deserve this.

“You weren’t expected, and you have to accept that we are
very
taken aback by your sudden arrival,” I said. Dad nodded, and I continued. “We’ve all agreed to hear you out, to listen to whatever it is that you have to say.”

“Thank you, Amanda.”

“She prefers Mandy,” Dad said, regaining the confidence in his voice, and then he cornered a look at me, one that was full of remorse. Without saying a word, he was apologizing for all the times he hadn’t respected that fact. “Mandy.”

I managed a small smile, letting him know that I would never hold it against him. I knew better than anyone that anger could make people say and do a lot of things they didn’t mean.