Cinders

~12~ Swimming

"Alex, you didn't need to do that. We're fine."

"I know, but I wanted beer with my pizza, and while I was at the store I just picked up a couple of things."

Mom puts her arm around his waist and leans into him. "Thank you," she says simply.

Dad just smiles at her as he goes to put the beer and lunch meat in the fridge.

We eat our pizza, and mom even lets us turn on the Cubs game while we eat. She must be in a really good mood.

Once we eat, and everything is cleaned up, dad stands up.

"I'm gonna go change, you ready to swim?" He asks, looking at me.

"Yeah," I say as I get up and head to my room to change too.

"Care if I change in your room?" Dad asks mom.

"Sure. But if you use the bathroom, put the dang toilet seat down. You used to be horrible about that."

"Yes ma'am!" Dad says, pretending to salute her.

I'm glad they aren't fighting anymore.

I come out of the room the same time dad comes out of mom's.

"Dang! Are your abs even more shredded?" I ask in disbelief.

Dad chuckles. "Nicki's got me on this healthy kick." 

"Yeah, well you need to quit. You're beginning to look like Tarzan," I say annoyed. No 15 year old boy wants his dad to look better than him. I'm pretty proud of how much I've been chiseling out, but dang.

Dad just smiles and comes over to me, mock shoving me. "Let's go, tough guy."

"See ya in a bit, El," he says over his shoulder.

"Have fun!" She says, waving at us.

Once we're in the hallway, I'm suddenly wishing we had at least kept our shirts on. Several ladies walk by, and every single one of them stop and stare at dad. So embarrassing. Dad acts like he doesn't see them though—he doesn't deviate from the conversation he's having with me.

Suddenly we see Taylor coming up the hallway, carrying a basket of laundry.

"Hey Taylor!" I say smiling at him.

"Hey Liam!" He says returning the smile before he looks over at dad, losing it quickly and getting a scary face.

"Dad, this is Taylor—our neighbor," I say, trying to break the awkward silence.

"I know who he is, how's it going?" He asks as he reaches out his hand for Taylor to shake.

Taylor hesitates for just a moment, and then takes dad's hand and shakes it.

"Look, I've been meaning to talk to you. I wanted to thank you," dad says, smiling at Taylor.

That takes Taylor by surprise. He still says nothing, but his facial expression relaxes a little.

"You need to know, that Ellie's my best friend. I would never, EVER, in a million years hit her. I was furious that day, and I can see where it looked like I could. You don't know me—I'm sure it looked pretty bad from where you were standing. Thank you for looking out for her. It means everything to me."

Taylor's face softens even more. "I'm glad to hear that you weren't going to hit her."

"I'm not proud of how mad I got—I don't have an excuse for how I acted, but I needed you to know that I would never hurt her. Physically at least. I seem to hurt her a lot emotionally, don't I?" He asks, looking at me now.

I don't say anything; He wasn't really asking.

Taylor clears his throat. "Look, I'm sure you're a good guy. It wasn't personal."

Dad shakes his head. "Even if it was personal, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you protected Ellie. Thank you."

Taylor simply nods, and smiles slightly at him.

"However, Liam told me that Jake stopped by the other day. If you EVER see him get in Ellie's face the way I did, please don't hesitate in knocking him out. He's hit her before. Several times, actually," dad says, darkly.

That's a surprise to me; I never knew that.

Taylor's face instantly changes from calm to furious. He shifts from foot to foot for a moment, trying to calm himself down.

"Good to know," he says quietly, the rage evident in his voice.

"You ready bud?" Dad asks, motioning for us to leave.

"Ya," I say, giving Taylor another smile as I walk away.

"I like him," dad says simply once we walk far enough away from Taylor.

"Me too"

We walk down the next hallway before either of us speak again. "Jake has hit mom before?" I ask, still shocked with that revelation.

"Yeah. I shouldn't have said that in front of you. Don't ever bring it up to your mother, do you hear me?"

"Why?"

"Why did he hit her, or why can't you say anything to mom about it?" Dad asks, stopping in the hallway to look at me.

"Both"

Dad sighs and closes his eyes for a second.

"Jake has even bigger anger issues than me. The only difference between us is that I never let myself react to my anger—Jake does. Your mom was always the one to stand up to him, and Jake never liked it. It's a big deal. So if you bring it up to mom, she's gonna be really upset that you know. Keep it to yourself, hear me?"

I silently nod as we start walking. "How long has it been since he hit her last?"

"Drop it, Liam," dad says, sharply

"Tell me, dad."

If mom's in danger around Jake, I need to know.

"A year ago. They got in a fight over something that was said about their mom...He got mad and hit her. I didn't find out about it until a couple days later, but once I did, I brought him to the station and locked him up for a few days. I never should've called him the other day; It's just hard being the only one in her life sometimes," dad says sadly.

"I actually think his coming over helped a little. She was able to get some anger out."

"Yeah, I know he loves her, and he always regrets it once he hits her, but he won't ever apologize. I still shouldn't have called him though. That was stupid of me," dad says, shaking his head.

We're silent the rest of the way. We spend the next several hours swimming, enjoying our time together. I can't wait to be ungrounded, so I can go back to his house.