Page 31 of Unbound
Lenny looks at Red sincerely, her voice soft. “Red, maybe you could go find him and talk to him.”
Red shakes his head, his lips pressing into a firm line, and he nods without looking at Lenny. “Yeah that’s not a great idea. You saw him push me.”
Lenny snorts, trying to hold back a laugh and rubbing his chest. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did he hurt your feelings when he pushed you?”
“Wait a minute.” Red glances around at all of us. “Why am I the bad guy now? I’m being realistic. Me going to talk to him will only go south quickly.”
Mia waves her hand around the circle we’re standing in. “Nobody is going anywhere. Rawley needs space. Trying to talk to him when he’s like this is a huge waste of time.”
Red raises an eyebrow at Lenny. “Told ya.”
Lenny walks past him, bumping his shoulder as she goes by into the house.
Nova opens the sliding door and peeks around Lenny’s legs as she sneaks by. “The babies are crying and I know for a fact I’m not the one who should be handling this. Somebody do something.”
Lenny waves at us. “I got it.”
Nova steps outside and stares up at Red. “Where’s Uncle? Did someone make him mad?”
Tyler laughs, having returned with his water. “Your dad.”
Nova’s brow pulls together, wild brown curls blowing in the wind. “Oh, so nothing’s changed.”
Tyler grins. “Oh, something’s changed all right.”
Red smacks the back of Tyler’s head. “Shut up. You’re making it worse”
“You made me spill my water.” Tyler reaches around the side of Raven to hit Red back.
“I’m going to check on Lyric.” When I walk inside, Lyric’s on the floor with Chevy, both of them crawling around the living room confined by the baby gates. Lenny’s in the kitchen making a bottle for Chevy as Mia follows me inside.
Stepping over the baby gate, I kneel next to Lyric only to have both him and Chevy crawl on my lap.
Mia smiles tenderly at me taking a seat on the floor next to me. “It really is going to be okay.”
I take Lyric’s hands in mine as he stands on my thighs trying to stabilize himself. “I appreciate what you’re saying, Mia, but I just don’t see how it’s true. I knew he was going to be upset when he found out, but the way he reacted out there, that wasn’t just being upset, that was pure anger. Throwing his beer bottle against the house and then storming out was not how I pictured that moment going down.”
Mia’s quiet, her voice soft when she does begin to speak, that motherly way about her trying to ease the anxiety of everyone around her. “You know Rawley likes to think he’s so different from his father and Red, but the truth is, they’re all exactly alike. Lyric, Red… Rawley, they’re passionate men. They may display the passion in different ways, but in the end, they’re all similar. Give Rawley some time alone. He needs to calm down and come to terms with what he learned tonight. When he does… then you’ll know it’s time to talk. But in the meantime, you need to think about what you want, Sophie.”
I know what she’s referring to. She wants me to consider the possibilities I’ve been obsessing over for the eight months. “I want Lyric to have a father but more than that, IwantRawley to want to be Lyric’s father.”
“I think we all hope for that, but, honey, you need to prepare for the possibility that he may not want that.”
I think of Rawley’s stance as he walked away, the mournful hunch to his shoulders and his head down. My heart tugs. It hurts so badly and burns even worse that I’m once again the reason for it.
Lyric arches his back and wiggles out of my hands to Chevy, who has his bottle now.
My stare remains on Lyric as he stares curiously at his cousin, and then back at me probably wondering why the hell Chevy’s eating and he’s not. “I’ve always known there was a good chance Rawley wouldn’t want to be a part of our lives. But part of me remembers the talks we used to have about our future and the family he hoped we’d have someday. He wanted kids with me. At one time, this was his dream, and I destroyed everything with one stupid night.” I shrug, shifting my eyes to Mia. “He’s built this existence that doesn’t include us. His band, the CD… that’s where his life is now. I guess seeing him tonight finally made me realize how different his world really is to ours.” My vision blurs when I glance at Lyric crawling on the ground next to Chevy. I want to pick him up, hold him close to my chest and hope like hell Rawley throwing the beer at the house isn’t something he’ll remember.
“Look.” Mia shifts her position on the floor and faces me, taking my hands in hers. “I hate to sound cliché but it takes two to tango. You weren’t the only one in the room when Lyric was conceived.” The night flashes in my mind, and the Rawley I saw that night, she doesn’t know him. “Trust me, I know my son can be a lot of things, an asshole being one of them, but in my heart, I have to believe that he will come around. You may not be together in the traditional definition of a family but I think if we give him some time and space to work things out in his mind, he will want to get to know his son.”
Lyric begins to cry, staring at me, and I know it’s time to feed him. Standing, I move to the kitchen only to have Mia follow me. “I just hope that while we are giving him space, he doesn’t go and do something stupid,” I tell her, reaching for the formula in the cupboard.
Mia laughs and hands me a bottle. “Well, let’s not get our hopes up too high on that one. Rawley hasn’t always been known to make good choices while he’s angry.” She points outside to the tree in their backyard. “I remember one time when he and Raven were about six or seven and Lyric caught him trying to climb to the top of the tree so he could use the roof to get into his room. He was so mad when Lyric yanked him down, telling him the branches weren’t strong enough to hold his weight and he would fall. The minute Lyric turned and went back to the garage, Rawley went right back up there. He made it to about the height of the roof and the branch gave way and down he went. Broke his elbow in two place and was in a cast for eight weeks.”
Though Rawley needs his space to calm down and think, I know Rawley doesn’tforgetanything. He buries it but it’s never forgotten.
As I put Lyric to bed an hour later, I catch myself staring out the window, wondering if Rawley’s coming back or if this is another instance where he runs away.
