Babysitting the Player

Chapter 22

"Alex?" Mom knocks lightly on my door.

"Yeah?"

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

My door slowly opens and Mom awkwardly runs her fingers through her hair.

"What's up?"

"You asked about meeting your father."

"I remember."

"I got you an appointment for about two weeks from now."

"Okay."

"I just got a phone call from the prison. He was supposed to have a visitor for today in about three hours but they cancelled. So they want to know if you want to go today."

"Oh," I say. "That's not much notice."

"You don't have to take it if you don't want to. We can keep the appointment you already have."

"I'll take this one," I say. "Bryce is off from work today anyway so it works out."

"Are you sure?"

I nod.

"Okay. I'll call them back and let them know. We'll leave at one."

"Okay."

She gives me a small, clearly forced smile before leaving and closing my door behind her.

I pull my phone out and call Bryce.

"Hey, babe."

"Hi," I say awkwardly. "Can we talk?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Sort of."

"Is it Johnny? Did he do something?"

"Just the usual but that's not what I'm calling about."

"Okay. What's going on?"

"So you know how my mom was gonna make an appointment for me to talk to my dad?"

"Yeah, did she get you set up?"

"Yeah. I was supposed to go two weeks from now."

"Supposed to? Did it get cancelled?"

"No. They had an earlier opening. Apparently someone was supposed to visit him today and can't make it so I can move mine up."

"Oh, wow. Are you gonna?"

"Yeah. Can you come with me?"

"Of course. What time?"

"We're leaving at one."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah."

"Are you ready to see him?"

"I don't know."

"Anxious?"

"Very."

"Nervous?"

"Probably."

"It'll be okay."

"I hope so."

"It will."

"I need to go take a shower."

"Okay, babe. I'll see you at one."

"See you at one." I end the call and toss my phone onto my bed. I let out a sigh and glance out my window.

The bright green leaves cover every tree branch in sight and the cloudless sky is a bright blue. If I took a picture of it, it'd look like a backdrop for a Disney movie.