18. Brandy

18

Brandy

I had just made it out the door and was about to send my foot through the dash on my Bronco in a fit of rage when my phone started blowing up with texts. It was a cold morning, and the battery was probably having a hard time, but today was not the day I wanted to deal with this.

Plucking my phone from the cupholder, I read through the texts.

Lettie Guys I’m so nervous

Oakley Why??

Sage Don’t be nervous!! Love is such a rare thing, and I’m so happy you found it with Bailey

Oakley What she said! You guys are soo cute together

Lettie not about that. About this aquarium I’m bringing home

Sage A what?!

Oakley Oh no

Sage How are you expecting to sneak a fish tank into the house?

Lettie Can you guys help?

Can’t. Hanging with my mom today

Oakley I can be there in ten? Call your brother and say it’s an emergency

Lettie Bring fish food

Sage Avery says she wants to come see the fish

Lettie It's a party. bring wine

Oakley Lettie she’s pregnant

Lettie I didn't say it was for her. I'm going to need it once Bailey sees this tank. it’s huge

Oakley Why’d you buy it then??

Lettie It was on sale

I nearly burst out laughing at her response as I set my phone down. I tried one more time to start the car, and finally, it purred to life.

“Oh, thank fuck.” I did not need to be getting rides from anyone anymore. I wanted to be the one behind the wheel, in control, in my own vehicle.

I headed down the road to visit with my mom for a bit after having been gone for nearly two days. Ranting to her about the trip would do me good, and hopefully cool me down before the wedding tomorrow, where I’d unfortunately have to see Reed again. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I’d have to act cordial with him and pretend like I didn’t want to rip his head from his body.

Okay, that was a bit dramatic, but after little sleep the past couple nights and all my vehicle problems, all my rage was centered on that man and his asshole-ness.

I pulled up outside my mom’s house, the parking spot I usually took in the driveway filled by some fancy red SUV. After turning off the car, I got out and aimed for the door, glancing at the unfamiliar vehicle again to see if I recognized it at all. Nothing came to mind, so I ignored it, settling on waiting for my mom to explain who it belonged to.

I used my key to unlock her door, going inside and closing it behind me. “Mom?”

“In here,” she called back from the kitchen.

I headed past the small living room to the kitchen. The dining room was attached to it with a narrow walkway to the back sliding door. As soon as I reached the linoleum floor, I froze.

My dad was sitting in a chair at the table, a leg swung over his knee as if this was just another Tuesday visit.

The corners of his lips lifted at the sight of me, like he knew his presence here grated my every fucking nerve. “Hi, Brandy.”

“Mom” was all I said as way of asking what the fuck was going on. He hadn’t been here in years, and now he showed up out of the blue? Did she even know he was coming? She would’ve told me if she did.

“Your father stopped by for a visit,” she explained, and I turned to find her at the stove, tending to two pots. “Hungry?”

“Your mother and I were about to have lunch. Alone.” His voice echoed in my mind like the ghost he was supposed to remain, yet he sat not five feet from me.

“She can stay if she’s hungry,” my mom said, her voice a bit softer than before.

“It’s fine, Mom.” I didn’t want to sit around the table and play happy fucking family with him anyway. “I was just stopping by.”

Her brows pulled together, a concerned look filling her eyes. “Is everything okay?”

“Yep. I’ll talk to you later,” I said, turning to leave.

“Now, hold on a second,” my dad said, setting both feet flat on the ground but keeping his ass planted in the chair. “You see your father after, what, four years, and I don’t get a hug?”

He acted like his leaving was some light thing. As if he hadn’t abandoned my mom multiple times. Plus, I knew he didn’t want a hug from me. He only wanted to get under my skin more than he already was, to press my buttons and see how far he could push me.

My lips rolled together as I stared at a speck of dirt on the ground, trying to keep my composure. “No.”

Even without looking, I knew his brows shot up his forehead at the disrespect. “I am your father—”

“Fathers raise their children. They respect their wives.” I looked at him now, practically seeing the rage pouring off him in puffs of smoke. “You don’t get to touch me. And if I find out you’ve put a hand on my mom—”

“Brandy.” My mom tried to interrupt, but it was my dad standing from his chair that shut me up. He was tall, easily trumping me and my mom by over a foot in height.

“I didn’t raise you to be disrespectful and talk back,” he snapped, taking a step toward me. But before he could get any closer, I turned on my heel and was storming out the door.

His anger hadn’t changed one bit since he’d been gone, and I fucking hated that sometimes, I felt it, too. Maybe not as strong, never enough to hit someone, but the fear was always there. What if those same tendencies passed down to me? Would a relationship ever work if they had? Would I accidentally do the things he did to us one day and not be able to control it?

Questions and fear spun together like a tornado in my mind as I let the front door slam behind me. In seconds, I was pulling away from the curb in my Bronco and speeding down the road toward my house.

My hands were slick on the steering wheel, but I chalked it up to the gray clouds covering the sky. Rain was in the forecast today, but thankfully not for Lettie’s wedding tomorrow. It was fitting, actually. A brewing storm on the day I found out my dad was back in town, and sunshine for the day I got to celebrate my best friend. The one who deserved anything and everything. To be happy for the rest of her life, with the love of her life.

Would I ever get the same?

But as I passed my house, driving just to fucking drive with no destination in mind, I got the feeling I never would.

Sometimes good things simply didn’t happen to people like me.

I had come to accept that.