“Be a good daughter.” She snorted, opened my bedroom door, and strutted out like it was her home. “Ms. Grace, you hungry?” Millie asked, her voice bouncing off the few walls in the home.
I didn’t hear my mother’s response. The buzz of my phone from my discarded jeans had grabbed my attention. Pulling the phone from the wet pocket, I held it up in front of me, surprised at the message and the sender.
Fin
I’m sorry. You deserved a better father.
Tate
We both did.
Putting the phone down on my vanity, I exited the room, closing the door behind me and pushing all thoughts of Griffin Silver from my mind. My mother needed me. Millie was right.
We watchedForrest Gumpfor the fourth year in a row. It was a tradition Millie had started. She made the popcorn, I made ice cream sundaes, and my mom, whether she had the desire to eat or not, humored us and ate some while watching the dreadful movie with us.
Millie, without fault, fell asleep halfway through the movie, and Mom sipped her wine like it was her lifeline until the credits rolled on the screen.
“Can I get you some water, Mom?” I asked, cleaning up the dishes, wishing I could take her pain away.
“I’m okay, honey. You don’t need to worry about me anymore.You’re eighteen now, going to college soon. I don’t want to be a burden to you any longer. You or Millie.” She looked over at my sleeping best friend, who was snoring away.
“You aren’t a burden,” I whispered, hating to think that’s what had been on my mom’s mind all this time. “You’re my mom. You’re my world.” I dropped to my knees at her feet and draped myself over her legs. “Please don’t say things like that. It scares me. I can’t live without you.”
“Honey, one day you will have to. I won’t be here forever, but you’ll have Millie, Dustin, and Griffin.”
“Dustin and Griffin left Mom. Men always leave,” I gritted out, hurt by her careless comment.
“Dustin never left you, sweetheart. He left me, but you’ll always be his little sister, and he will always love you and protect you, even when I’m long gone. As for Griffin, he will be back. That boy was absolutely in love with you, probably still is, but is too afraid to tell you. He should know that your bark is worse than your bite.”
“You’ve had too much to drink. You sound crazy. Please, you have to stop drinking. Let me make you a coffee.”
“You’re the one living in delusion. You push everyone away, and it’s time you stopped doing that, Tatum. You shouldn’t ignore your father’s calls.”
“He left us!” I screamed, waking Millie, who looked around wildly. “Then Dustin left us! And then Griffin left me!” The tears and emotions that I had tried so damn hard to keep buried deep in my chest erupted.
“You ignored his calls and visits, Tatum. You would scream at Dustin whenever he mentioned your father’s name or anything about him. And you pushed that boy away by feeling permanently sorry for yourself.” My jaw hung at my mother’s accusations.
“You’re drunk. You’re fucking drunk,” I said, standing up and stumbling away from her.
“You just can’t handle the truth.”
“What truth? That my dad left me because he couldn’t stand you?”
Millie gasped as the words echoed in the room. Silence hung around us. Hurt washed over every feature of my mother’s face. Her brows scrunched, her lips quivered, her nose twitched, and her eyes glossed over.
“And so the truth comes out ten years later,” she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek. She stood up, taking her glass of wine, and brushed past me without a word.
I sank to my knees, cradling my chest as loud sobs escaped me, screams of pain tearing from my lips as I struggled to breathe.
“Oh, Tate.” Millie wrapped herself around me.
I don’t remember goingto bed. I don’t remember getting up from the floor of the living room and crawling into bed, or even falling asleep last night, but as I blinked slowly and took in the light room, I immediately knew something was wrong.
“Millie,” I grumbled, shaking my best friend awake, who groaned in annoyance.
“Shut up, Tate. Leave me alone.”
“We’re late for school.” I panicked immediately. Both of us shot from the bed and ran about the room, throwing clothes on, brushing teeth, and shoving our things into our backpacks.
