Obscured (The Obscured Series Book 1) (14 page)

“Tonight?”

“Yep!”

What
in the world was my mom doing going on a date while my dad was here? Staying in
our house! I couldn’t comprehend what she was trying to accomplish, unless it was
completely for my dad’s benefit; something just to make him jealous. That had
to be it.

“This
doesn’t have anything to do with dad, does it?” I asked, trying to understand
her rush.

“No,
what on Earth would make you think something like that?”

“Well,
you chose to do this while he was still here. Don’t you think that is a
little…” I paused. “Awkward?”

“Only
if he makes it that way,” she said stubbornly.

“Is
the guy picking you up here?” I hoped she would say no, but I already knew that
probably wasn’t the case. The way she was acting told it all.

“Yes,
I want you to meet him to tell me if you approve.”

This
was not what we discussed. She was supposed to introduce me to him if it was
getting more serious, not on the first date! I especially did not want to meet
him with my dad there.  I was furious. She was not only going to go on a
date while dad was in town, but she was going to rub it in his face, too.

“Well,
what about this guy you’re going on a date with? How do you think he is going
to feel about dad staying here?”

“He
knows,” she said nonchalantly, looking away.

I
couldn’t believe how selfish she was being. I felt empathy for my dad and what
he was about to be put through. He was clueless. I only hoped that he didn’t
let it put a damper on his visit. If he acted like I thought he would, he’d
brush it off and move on.

“Well,
whatever makes you happy, but I don’t agree with how you’re going about it.” I
stormed out of the room.

I
knew I was being disrespectful, but I couldn’t help the way I felt or keep it
inside. At that point I began to hope dad wouldn’t come home until after this
guy came to pick up mom.

Of
course, that was not in the cards either. Five minutes later he walked through
the front door. He came to find me, carrying shopping bags and a pizza.

“I
hope it isn’t too early for you, but I thought we could have pizza again for
dinner,” he said cheerfully.

“No
it’s not too early, it’s perfect,” I answered. As much as I didn’t want him to
be there when mom’s date came, I could use his support. It was going to be hard
on me too, seeing her leave with another man.  

“That’s
good! I was worried that you might not want pizza again. Is your mother going
to join us?”

Great!
I was going to have to be the
one to tell him. The middleman. I got mad at mom all over again. I was not
supposed to be the one dealing with all of their issues! That was the whole
point of the divorce.

“No,
umm... dad… she has a date...” I trailed off and couldn’t even look him in the
face.

“Oh,”
he said, more surprised than shocked.

“I’m
sorry dad. I don’t know what she is thinking going out tonight. He’s picking
her up here. It’s this first time since... well you know.”

“Thanks
for the warning, but it’s okay honey. Your mom is free to do as she pleases.”

He
was acting very open-minded but I knew better. Deep down I knew he had to be
hurting. Who wouldn’t? Then it dawned on me—was dad dating too? It was too
much. I did not want to know if dad felt the need to date. Then again, maybe I
did. I certainly would not ask him. Mom dating was enough to handle for now.

We
sat down in the living room to eat our pizza. It was only 5:30 but I liked
having an early dinner. It left plenty of time to have dessert later, and I had
my mind set on a nice hot cookie with vanilla ice cream. I would need the sugar
jolt after the anxiety I was feeling.

Before
long mom came downstairs looking stunning in a little black dress, not unlike
the one I wore to the Homecoming dance. It looked as if it was painted on. I
wasn’t sure I had ever seen her in anything so revealing. Her hair was curly
and pinned halfway up. She was playing dirty, and I hoped it wouldn’t taint
dad’s time at our house. I didn’t want him to be reluctant to visit again.

“Well
don’t you look nice.” Dad’s tone of voice was kind and polite.

“Well,
thank you,” mom said graciously yet snidely at the same time.

“You’re
welcome,” he said respectfully, without showing that he noticed her coldness.
Dad was always more civil in that sense.

Soon
after mom made her appearance, her date arrived. He was well dressed in black
dress slacks and sport coat with a royal blue tie. His shoes were shined and
free from scuffs. His jet-black hair was loosely slicked back and he had brown
eyes that didn’t stand out. He was driving a BMW. It made me wonder if he had a
lot of money. He almost seemed rude towards my dad, which made me want to be
hostile towards him. I refused to say more than “hello” to the mystery man, and
hoped I’d never have to see him again. They left quickly and I was grateful for
that.

We
spent the rest of the evening playing board games and eating dessert, something
we used to do often. My favorite game was scrabble and dad’s was battleship, so
we played both. It was getting late by the time we finished playing, and each
winning, our favorite games.

I
was yawning and so was dad, so we decided to hit the sack even though mom
wasn’t home yet. I wondered when she was going to get home, but also didn’t
especially care after the way she acted. I don’t know what came over her, but
she was acting very immature and I was embarrassed by it. That was a first.

CHAPTER NINE

I
was fast asleep when the front door startled me awake. I rubbed my sleepy eyes
and squinted at the clock. It was 3 a.m. I tried to orient myself when it hit
me like a ton of bricks—my mom was just getting home. I couldn’t believe she
had the nerve to come in at that hour! What kind of example was she setting?
She had some nerve; that was for sure.

I
dwelled on it for a few minutes and the next thing I knew it was morning. Not
surprisingly, mom wasn’t out of bed when I went downstairs. Dad had started
making breakfast, and his specialty was just about ready: pancakes. I loved
them. He made them special for me with blueberry eyes, strawberries for a nose,
and bacon for a mouth. 

We
ate in silence for the first time since he had been there. I could feel the
tension in the air, but it was nothing compared to when my mom walked into the
room. The room seemed to ice over. A chill shot down my spine. The amount of coldness
in the small space between mom and dad chilled my bones. Nobody even greeted
anyone; she didn’t even say good morning to me. It was at that point that I
knew he had heard mom come in late last night too.

I
couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. I didn’t know if she felt proud or
ashamed, but one thing for sure was that I was ashamed of her.. For the first
time ever I felt like the mom; I expected more from her. I would never
disrespect her the way that she was disrespecting me with her behavior.

School
was very uneventful despite Pete’s sour attitude. The past couple days he’d
been extremely petty, which went right along with his temper. He didn’t just
request a new seat assignment from our teacher in math class, he also got some
of the other students in our class to move away from me as well. I was alone in
the little circle of desks that surrounded mine. Pete had been right about one
thing, I was sorry—sorry I ever went out with him, sorry I ever had my stupid
plan, and sorry I ever laid eyes on him.

My
disgust with his actions stayed on my mind as I went home after school, only to
be greeted by the same tension from that morning. I didn’t know what to say to
either of my parents, so I did the cowardly yet responsible thing and went
upstairs to do homework. I could hear their muffled voices after I left the
room. They sounded furious with each other. My mom’s antics were affecting my
time with my dad, and it wasn’t fair. Shortly after starting my homework, my
dad came upstairs.

“Hey
kiddo, how are you doing?” he asked causally like there wasn’t a reason he had
come up to see me. I knew better.

“I’m
fine dad,” I answered.

“You’re
mother and I are in a little bit of a spat. I guess we were a little crazy to
think we could live peacefully under the same roof, even if it was only for a
week.” He frowned. “I guess it was inevitable that there would be some bumps
here and there.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t agree with your mother coming
home in the middle of the night like she did last night and I’d be willing to
bet you heard her.” He looked at me pointedly, and I could only nod in
response. “It isn’t setting a good example for you. Your mother thinks it’s
only because I’m jealous.”

“I
don’t think it is setting a good example either. She already knows I disagreed
with the way she was presenting herself; I told her so yesterday before she
came home so late. That is precisely why I haven’t been speaking to her.”

“Oh,”
he sounded surprised. “You’re so grown up.” He sat back looking at me in awe.
“When did that happen?”

“Dad,”
I blushed.

“What?
You are. That was the type of answer I would have expected to come out of an
adults mouth. You have matured so much in such a short time.”

“Thanks,”
I replied.

“I
just wanted you to know what we were arguing about so there was no confusion.”

Dad
always explained their fights to me instead of keeping me in the dark. In the
past he always said he probably shouldn’t because it was above my head, but he
said he would want to know if it were him. Mom, on the other hand, would deny
that they were fighting. She always had a problem admitting that they had
problems in their marriage. I gathered that this was a good part of the reason
we moved to Arizona after the divorce; mom couldn’t face her social circle
after having a failed marriage. I can’t say that I blamed her for that part. It
was embarrassing to say that you failed at something so important. I hoped to
never have that kind of disappointment.

“Thanks
dad.”

He
grabbed me by my shoulder and pulled me into his chest. “Boy have I missed you
kiddo.”

“I’ve
missed you too.”

Despite
the fight between mom and dad, she pretended nothing was wrong and decided we should
all go out to dinner, then to play miniature golf. Neither dad nor I really
wanted to spend any time with her based on how she was acting, but we did
anyway
to avoid throwing fuel on the fire.

Even
though we were hesitant about going, we all ended up having a blast. By the end
of the night, we were laughing and had forgotten our troubles. Even mom and dad
were joking with each other. That surprised me the most. 

By
the time we got home it was 11:30. After a long night and lots of laughter, we
each fell into our beds and were asleep in minutes. My stomach ached from the
countless times I was in a complete belly roll laugh. It had been a long time
since I had that much fun, and I suspected it was the same for both of my
parents.

As
Friday rolled around, I realized that the week with my dad was coming to a
close. At the same time, we still had the weekend together without the
interruption of school. I had a few ideas that I wanted to run by dad for
things we could do over the weekend. I thought sightseeing and exploring new
places together would be great, since it was something we both enjoyed. Mom was
never the outdoorsy type and was usually a spoilsport when it came to those
activities. The whole reason I hadn’t explored the area was because my mom wasn’t
into it. The only person that I knew would appreciate it like me was my dad.
There are a few lakes close by that I wanted to check out. I had also heard
that
Papago
Park was pretty, and the Grand Canyon was
on my list too, but it seemed to be a little much for only a weekend trip. I
couldn't wait to run them by my dad, but when I got downstairs he had already
left. I couldn’t figure out where he kept disappearing to. My ideas would have
to wait.

When
Eli picked me up for school I wondered if he knew anything about the lakes or
Papago
Park. I wanted to pick his brain about other places
to go as well.

“Hey,
have you ever been to any of the lakes that are close to us?” I asked.

“Yeah,
I have been to most of them—Saguaro, Canyon and Roosevelt. Why?”

“Well,
I was thinking about talking to my dad about going to the lake this weekend for
a day trip, but I haven’t been able to go to any of them, so I don’t know which
would be the best to go to.”

“Personally,
I like Canyon Lake the best. Since Saguaro is the closest to town it is also
the busiest and the smallest of the three too. Roosevelt is nice, but it’s a
little farther than Canyon for about the same scenery. Canyon, that’s the one I
would recommend going to.”

“Thanks,
you wouldn’t want to join us would you?”

“I
would, but I am working tomorrow.”

“Oh,
that sucks! You think you could get off? It sure would be nice to have someone
there that knows the area,” I said, surprised I hadn’t thought of it sooner.

“I
can try. I’ll see what I can do.”

When
I returned home from school my dad still wasn’t around. It baffled me. Eli
didn’t come in, just dropped me off. Thankfully I didn’t have any homework,
especially since it was my only weekend with dad.  Before I could even get
upstairs with my bag, the front door opened and dad walked in.

“Hey
honey!” he said cheerfully.

“Hey
dad, where were you?”

“Just
out, I needed some time away from your mother.”

I
understood immediately. He used to disappear a lot right before they decided to
get a divorce, so it all made sense now. It was his way of dealing with
frustration and anger.

“Oh.
So, I have some ideas to run by you for what we can do this weekend.” I quickly
changed the subject.

“Oh
yeah?”

“Since
I haven’t had a chance to go exploring since I’ve been here I thought we could
do it together. We could go to the lake or go to
Papago
Park or both! What do you think?”

“That
sounds like fun,” he said.

“I
invited Eli, I hope you don’t mind. I figured he would be able to show us
around since he knows the area better than both of us.”

“Sounds
good to me. You two sound like you’re close,” he said questioningly, with his
brows furrowed.

“He’s
my best friend,” I answered smiling.

“Are
you sure it isn’t more?”

“Of
course it isn’t. We’re just friends dad.”

“So
if he isn’t, is there anyone that you are dating?” he asked trying to be
casual. He was anything but casual.

“I
was, but not anymore,” I answered vaguely.

“Oh,
that bad huh?”

“Yea,
I don’t really want to talk about it,” I said hoping he would leave it at that.

“Okay,
okay—point taken,” he said light-heartedly. “I think they both sound great!
What lakes are around here?”

“Well,
I asked Eli for his opinion since he knows this area and he recommended going
to Canyon Lake. He said that it is the best for scenery and it isn’t very busy.
How does that sound?”

I
felt my pocket vibrate and almost instantly I could hear the chimes of my ring
tone. I yanked it out quickly and ran upstairs to my room as I answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey
Abby. Guess what?” It was Eli.

“Did
you get off work for tomorrow?” I asked hopefully.

“Yep!
For the whole weekend! Turns out they didn’t really need me this weekend
anyway.”

“That’s
great! My dad liked the idea of going to the lake and
Papago
Park. So I was thinking the lake tomorrow and park on Sunday.”

“Sounds
like a plan to me.”

“What
time do you think we should head up to the lake?” I asked.

“Well,
it will take us around two hours to drive there, so maybe around eight. Does
that sound about right to you?”

“Yeah,
and we can have a picnic. I’ll pack us turkey sandwiches, chips and sodas, oh
and some water.”

“
Mmmm
, sounds yummy to me. Don’t forget your suits; we can
go swimming.”

“And
sun block!” I said getting excited.

“I'll
see you at 7:45 tomorrow morning?”

“Yep,
see you then!” I hung up and was down the stairs in a flash.

“That
was Eli, he’s coming.” I beamed.

“That’s
great, we’ll have our own tour guide!” he joked. “Let’s go make some dinner.”
He put his arm around me as we strolled into the kitchen.

While
we made dinner, I told him about our picnic plans. He seemed eager about the
weekend, maybe even as eager as me. 

The
next morning Eli got to my house as planned, right on time. Dad answered the
door and called up to tell me Eli was there, but I was still getting ready. I
had packed our picnic lunch the night before, which included six turkey
sandwiches with cheese, two for each of us, and then I bagged up chips and also
cookies for dessert. All I needed to do was put it on ice in the cooler that my
dad picked up from the convenience store up the street.

“We
can take my car if you guys want, the convertible top would make the drive more
scenic,” Eli suggested.

“That’s
very nice of you to offer, that would be nice,” my dad responded politely.

I
knew my dad would be elated when he saw Eli’s car. Dad was really into classic
cars. Really, I mean what guy wasn’t?

We
walked outside with our arms loaded with towels, cooler, and sun block, ready
to start the day.

“Wow,
that is some ride you’ve got there Eli,” my dad commended him.

We
loaded the trunk and climbed in. I squeezed into the backseat, which was
actually a bit more roomy than it looked.

My
dad and Eli had something to bond over right away: the car. The entire first
hour of the drive was filled with talk of cars. I didn’t have a clue about
anything they were saying so I stayed out of it; but even if I had wanted to
get into the conversation, I’m not sure I could have gotten a word in
edgewise.  At one point they were saying something about horses, or horse
power, I’m not sure—they might as well have been speaking another language. I
didn’t have a clue what horses had to do with cars.