The next couple days are brutal. Mom lays into me once Taylor leaves, and she lectures me, quite literally, all day. I'm informed that my life is over, and that I won't see the sun again until graduation. I stay with mom all day, not hearing from my dad at all. I was still supposed to stay with him tonight.
The next morning I'm feeling a little better. I'm still sore, but not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Yesterday I even had to sit on a pillow to eat at the table. That was embarrassing, but I still did it—Beggars can't be choosers and what-not.
It's around lunchtime when mom suddenly puts on her shoes and grabs her keys. "Ok, let's go."
"Where?" I'm completely taken off guard. According to her, I'm under house arrest and getting the bread and water treatment.
"To the precinct," she says simply.
"What, now you're gonna have me arrested?"
"You really wanna continue with this attitude?"
Abort the sarcasm! Abort the sarcasm!—"I'm sorry"
We drive to dad's work in silence. Normally he doesn't work on the weekends, but he's had to lately. This case is really bad, apparently.
We get there and stop at Julie's desk.
"Hey Liam," she says, giving me a warm smile.
"Hey," I say, returning the smile.
Mom hasn't been here in a year or two, so Julie has never seen her before. It's obvious she doesn't like the way mom looks—She's giving mom major attitude.
"Can I help you?" She asks, rudely.
"We need to see Alex."
Julie crosses her arms. "Sergeant Clark is busy at the moment. You'll have to come back later. Calling next time would be preferred."
Mom chuckles and reaches in her pocket for her phone. She picks out dad's number and waits for him to answer.
"Alex, Liam and I are outside of your office, can we come in? Great! Oh, by the way, you need a new secretary. This one's a b****."
Mom hangs up the phone, glaring at Julie, and I stifle a chuckle. Mom's in a bad mood and laughing isn't a good idea right now.
Dad comes out immediately, looking from mom to Julie, in obvious confusion.
"What's wrong?" He asks, looking at mom.
"You didn't tell me how important you are, Sergeant. I'm so sorry we don't have an appointment to see you. Will you make an exception just this once, please?"
Mom is being overly dramatic. She's batting her eyes and sticking out her lower lip, pretending to beg.
Dad looks at Julie, now annoyed. "You told them they couldn't see me because they didn't have an appointment? It's Liam!"
"Sorry sir, you've just been so busy," she begins, but stops as soon as she sees dad's face.
"We'll talk later," Dad says darkly, motioning for us to follow him to his office.
We go in and he closes the door.
"Sorry El"
"It's fine. Do you have time to talk?"
"Of course I do. What's up?"
Mom sighs and puts up her hands.
"I need help, Alex," she says, trying not to cry.
"With what?" He asks as he goes in to hug her
She puts her hand on his chest, stopping him.
"With him"
Dad looks at her, confused. "Should we talk about this privately?"
"No. He needs to hear this. I can't keep doing this all by myself. You HAVE to step up. You literally had him for two days, and he snuck out AGAIN. We have to come up with some kind of understanding, Alexander Levi, or we're going to lose him. This can't keep happening."
Dad sighs and puts his hand on the back of his neck, shaking his head.
"I told you when we got pregnant with him that I refused to be my dad, Ellie. I can't."
"Look at him, Alex. I mean it. Look at him," Mom says, pointing to me. Dad looks at me slowly for a minute, and then looks back at mom.
"You are NOT your dad. You've never been. I know that you would never hurt him. The way you step away from situations before you lash out? You've done that since we were kids. Remember the time that I accidentally broke your Superman toy when we were 8? I thought for sure you were going to hit me—But you didn't. You walked away. You never even yelled at me. Your dad NEVER would've been able to do that."
"It wasn't a toy, it was a collectible," Dad corrects, obviously still salty about it getting broke.
"Whatever. The point is, you are not your dad. You have GOT to start disciplining him. Taylor told me that he smelled pot on several of the kids. What if they crashed the car, and Liam was in it? This has to stop."
Dad immediately turns to me and asks in a hard voice: "Did you smoke pot the other night?"
"No!" I answer quickly. "Nick offered me a hit off a joint, but I told him no."
Dad immediately relaxes.
"Look," mom continues "I'm not asking you to spank him. But I am asking you to do something. Anything. Figure out what you're comfortable with, and do it. You came in, saw that I handled it, and left. You haven't called or texted to check in. You were supposed to have him today, and you just passed him off. I'm tired."
Dad says nothing, but he has a single tear that starts to fall. He wipes it away quickly.
"I don't know that I can, Ellie," he says, putting his hands down in defeat.
"You did the other night."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You were furious that he said the thing about Megan, and that he gave you an attitude. You cancelled going to the game. You actually disciplined him, Alex. I need THAT guy, and I need him now—So find him. Now look, I'm leaving him here with you. You are supposed to have him for two more nights, and you're going to. He misses you—So fix this. Do what you need to do, and fix this. Be the guy that takes away Eagles tickets. He snuck out. Again. While you were sleeping he snuck out of your house and went to a bar. His friends, who had been drinking and smoking pot, would have driven him home. Fix this before we lose him."
Dad just stands there, listening to it all, trying not to cry. He doesn't argue—He knows she's right.
She goes over to me and gives me a hug and a kiss. "I love you, Liam Alexander. I'll see you in a couple days."
I nod, hugging her back. "Love you too."
She walks over to dad and gives him a hug and kisses his cheek. He wraps her in his arms and just holds her there for a second, resting his forehead in her hair. "I'll try," he whispers in her hair. She pulls away and looks at him. "Your chance to try was the last time we found out he was sneaking out. No more trying. Do it."
She lets him go and walks out, leaving us alone.
Dad says nothing. He just looks at the ground and sniffs, trying not to cry in front of me. I just stand there like a complete moron, feeling really awkward. They never have serious conversations in front of me. Granted, I always listen to them, but they never know that.
Dad stands there staring at the floor another minute before he finally looks at me. "That was heavy, huh?"
"Yeah," I say, scuffing my foot on the floor.
Dad takes a deep breath and comes over to me, giving me a hug.
"Have a seat," he says after breaking out of the hug. "I still have a few more hours of work I have to do."
I nod and sit at his computer. "Can I watch Netflix?" I ask. Even after the conversation with mom, I'm sure he won't enforce anything.
"Sure, go ahead," he says, ruffling through papers. Suddenly he stops and looks at me. "Did mom take away TV?"
I nod, saying nothing. No way mom's conversation actually worked.
"Then no, Liam. Just sit there," he says, looking back at his papers.
"What am I supposed to do for three hours?" I ask, slamming my back into my chair, and having a major attitude.
Dad stops ruffling through papers and stares at me again. "I guess you'll be bored."
I sigh and mutter under my breath. "This is bullshit."
Dad slams the papers down on the desk, and walks over to his window, staring out it for a couple minutes.
He finally comes back, and ignores me. "Julie, can you come in here, please?" Dad says into the intercom on his desk.
Julie comes in moments later with a nervous expression. "Yes sir?"
"When I have someone come and ask to talk to me, I expect you to let me know. How many other people have you been sending away?" He asks, holding a pen in his hand and leaning back in his chair.
"Just her, Sergeant—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told her no."
"Then why did you?"
"I don't know sir. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"I know it won't. Because if it does, I'll have Rachel find me a new secretary. Am I clear?" Once she nods, he simply says "You can go."
Julie turns without a word and leaves.
Dad is quiet for a couple more minutes before he looks up at me. "Do not curse at me again, Liam."
I simply nod. This blows.