Daron's Guitar Chronicles Volume 12

936 IT'S A SHAME (MY SISTER)

IT'S A SHAME (MY SISTER)

I sat down at the kitchen table. Remo poured me some coffee and Ziggy poured in the cream and pushed the cup toward me. I wrapped my fingers around it.

"You look shell-shocked, kiddo," Remo said.

"What the fuck was that all about?" I tried drinking the coffee to see if anything would start to make sense.

"The phone call or the rest?" Ziggy cupped one of his apple cheeks in his palm as he leaned his elbow on the table. By "the rest" I knew he meant my family.

"Both. Sarah's mother is pushing a civil suit against Digger's company. Guess who the other owner of DMA is?"

Remo knew exactly what I meant. Heck, he'd been there that time in San Francisco–not in the actual conversation when I made Digger give me a stake in his company, but he was at the hotel with us. "None of this would've happened if I'd helped you more."

"Oh, stop it," Ziggy said. "Digger being shit is not your fault, and quit making Daron feel bad for making his own decisions."

That goosed Remo but good. "What? I'm just apologizing, not trying to double down on Daron blaming himself."

Which goosed me a bit. "I'm not blaming my– Well, okay, maybe I am. I'm the one who made the decision to sign with Mills and to bring Digger in to deal with him. But seriously, Reem, you couldn't make Artie sign Moondog Three, and you couldn't be our manager as well as your own."

He looked like he wanted to argue, except he knew I was right. "I'd say 'I never should've trusted your dad,' but the truth is I didn't trust him–well, not since I was about twenty-two."

"I didn't trust him, either, but I forced myself and the band to work with him anyway." I shook my head.

Claire made her entrance from the living room with her hands clasped. "You all doing all right in here?"

"Claire, honey," Remo said, "why don't I take everyone out for some lunch?"

"Oh, that would be lovely of you, dear." She called behind her. "Jan? Do you want to come to lunch with us? Or would you rather stay here so you can better stick to your diet?"

Janine came in from the dining room doorway, looking murderous. Her reply almost made me snort coffee out my nose: "Fuck you, mother."

I could see Ziggy trying to keep a straight face.

Claire was undeterred. "It's just that you used to have such a lovely, willowy figure–"

"Because you turned me and Lili into bulimics with your constant harping on our looks," she said with a sigh, like she'd had this argument many times before. I'm guessing she had. She looked at Remo. "Pizza Hut."

Remo nodded. "Pizza Hut it is. We can fit five into my car...?"

"Then we can get one to go and drop it off on our way back," Janine said. "Or you know Jake'll feed my boy Count Chocula for dinner. Straight from the box."

"Good plan," Remo said, getting to his feet and starting to herd us toward the front door. Claire was there with his coat in a blink.

Pizza Hut. Dear god. You know how I feel about pizza. I'm almost religious about it. So I probably don't have to go into detail about how the mere idea of Pizza Hut was killing my soul.

Or maybe that was everything else going on.

I admit, though, I wanted to smile every time I thought about Janine saying "Fuck you, mother." Bad as my first impression of adult-Janine was, that gave her some points in my book. And it started to change my whole outlook on family dynamics. Apparently I wasn't the only one who had decided not to indulge my mom's bullshit.