The Saint & The Sinner.

Chapter 11: Is It Safe To Say?

|Corey|

I sat at the kitchen table with my freshly poured mug of hot coffee. I had pretty much just woken up, Tali was already up and downstairs making breakfast. We're six days into knowing each other and I still find it very odd knowing she's really here. A week ago I had no recollection of Vivie or of summer 1990. And now I remember a bit about her and that summer, and I have a daughter out of it. Six days has been a Goddamn rollercoaster ride, I swear to fucking God. Six days is all it took for me to learn that a summer of fun eighteen years ago has led to the existence of a teenage girl who just so happens to be running away from her abusive ass clown of a boyfriend; oh, wait, I mean, ex-boyfriend. So she comes to stay with me and automatically latches onto a man twelve years older than her and he just so happens to be my best friend. They go sneaking around together, leaving me in the dark about a lot of shit that I need to know about. Now that I've confronted Tali about it she swears she won't ever lie to me again and she'll tell me when she needs something or if she just needs someone to talk to. But I just can't shake the feeling that she is not telling me something. Maybe she's not telling me about an event that pushed her to really come here seeing as her mom doesn't know that Jesse hit her. There has to be a reason Vivie practically hunted me down and told me that Tali needed to come here as soon as possible. What is going on in that kid's life?

"Do you think she'll like me?" Tali piped up, standing behind the counter with a perplexed look written over her face. She wasn't even looking at me, her gaze was somewhere in the distance outside the window. Her brow line was tied together tightly. Her question made me want to throw my head back and laugh; instead, I calmly set my coffee mug down and watched her closely, sighing at her question. It was like déjà vu to me.

"Steph will love you, okay? She adores Griffin and she'll fall in love with you." I reassured Tali that Steph will love her. Steph absolutely adores Griff so why wouldn't she adore Tali too? Steph has always bugged me about it being mainly boys in this house, so it's perfect that Tali's here. Steph has a girl and Tali has a female role model. I don't think Vivie is such a good role model, considering what's happened in the past. Although, I think Steph's more nervous than Tali is. Steph doesn't want to come across as the evil stepmother, she doesn't know where the line of parenting is yet. And honestly I don't know either. I guess we're all flying a little blind.

"When am I gonna meet my little brother?" Tali's question knocked my feet out from under me. I had to stop my brain from racing at a hundred miles an hour like it usually does and actually micro analyze my thoughts before bypassing them to my mouth. But the truth is, I didn't know when Tali and Griffin are going to meet. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do either, do I tell his mom that I have another kid or do I just let things be? Do I allow nature to take its course or do I open my big mouth?

"I actually do not know. He won't be back until next week and by then we'll be gone. So, I'm not entirely sure when that meet and greet will happen." I explained honestly. "–Sorry." I didn't want to come across as trying to avoid letting Tali meet Griffin. I want them to have that relationship, believe me, I do. But the timing couldn't be worse honestly. There is so much going on with the album and the tour, and our personal lives. Another curveball would be devastating and throw us all off track. So, I'm holding my breath that everything goes smoothly for the next couple of months. They need to; otherwise shit will hit the fan.

"No. It's fine." She paused after those three words; I could hear her voice starting to wobble. "–I was just, ugh," She paused again. Her voice broke when she stumbled and stalled. It made my eyebrows fall together confusedly.

"–Wondering." She finally finished her sentence. I watched as she used the back of her hand to wipe away something from her eyes. Was she crying? Why the fuck is she crying? What did I say? Before I could ask her anything she was briskly walking out of the kitchen.