The Oddities of Grand Marquis - Book 3: Elegant Armageddon 🪼✔️

Twenty-Third

"Love me..." I found myself saying like a pitiful little kid. "Please... You can think of me however you like but if you just love me... if you just... tried..."

"I do love you. I love you so fucking much!" he cried, squeezing me tighter. "Which is why I have to know for sure. I lost you once, but you came back, and then I thought I lost you forever. Now you're here and I just... I can't give my heart away again. If I give it to you, and you're not my son..."

"I understand. Really, I do."

"You don't." he whispered. "It's different for a parent and a child."

There was a knock on the door and Mom stuck her head in.

"David is here." She watched us and closed her eyes for a second. "Stop hugging him. It will be harder if you keep doing it."

She closed the door and Dad pulled away from me and took off his glasses to wipe his eyes. I rubbed my arm a little and licked my lips, ready to leave and just put all of this behind us.

"Would it be okay if I took a shower first? I'll clean up the mess in the bathroom."

"Don't worry about it; I'll clean it myself, but yes, you can take a shower."

I nodded and started to leave.

"Do... you still wear the same size?"

I turned back to him. "I might be a little skinnier but, yeah, I should. Why?"

"We... we couldn't let everything go. We still have clothing and other things left and so... if you need clothes, I can grab them..."

"Oh... well... I guess so. If it's okay with Mrs. Taylor."

"I'll grab some clothing for you."

He headed to the door and I clenched my fists.

"Mr. Taylor?" He stopped at the door. "Thank you." He turned back to me and I smiled. "For the hug. I wish you could love me like you used to, but I understand why it's hard. I hope something in that report helps..."

"Me too." He said softly and left the room.

I sighed and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

*************************

I came out of the shower and found some of my old clothing on the bed folded up. There was even a pack of clean underwear and a note that clarified the reason for the new package of unders. I smiled a little and got dressed. It was weird to be in my old clothing again and like I had predicted, I was skinnier than I was when I had them but they still fit me well enough. I looked at my shirt and smiled a little. It was a band shirt that I got from the one and only concert I ever went to. I walked out to the kitchen, where David was waiting outside of the kitchen like he was ousted from there. Hearing me shuffle down the hallway, he looked up from his phone and smiled.

"Hey, Max."

"Hey."

"Do you want to eat breakfast or do you want to just go ahead and go?"

I looked at my parents as Dad barely touched his meal while Mom was eating casually. She looked up from her food and stared at me as I stared at her.

"I want breakfast."

David nodded and I walked over to the cabinets and started opening them up, trying to find the plates. I finally found them and made sure I was in the way while I grabbed food I wanted to eat. Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast... a real all American 50s sitcom breakfast. I defiantly sat at the other end of the table and began to eat, not caring anything about the two people glaring at me. I looked up and Mom lifted an eyebrow.