Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Eight
Oscar’s gone off to take a piss and I’m alone for a few precious moments.
I’m sittin’ on the tailgate of the truck, watching the daylight creep in, giving myself a half-hour before I wake up Selkie and Henri.
We’re all gonna be tired and bitchy so I tell myself to be steady, not reactive.
I do it every day of my life. This should be no different.
My peace is interrupted by the vision of Selkie tramping towards me, struggling with the cooler.
Her hair is unbrushed and untamed, as chaotic as she is.
Her jeans are dirty and the laces of her shoes untied.
She’s wearing a T-shirt that hangs long and loose, concealing her curves, but she’s braless and her nipples are peaked as her tits bounce up and down.
I cross my arms and deaden my expression to hide my attraction to her. “Need help?” I ask but don’t move.
“No,” she grunts. As she reaches my side, she heaves the cooler into the back of the truck.
“Good job.” I pretend I’m being genuine, which makes me sound like I’m patronizing her.
Her eyes narrow, but whatever she’s thinking, she keeps it to herself.
I have to admit I’m a little disappointed she didn’t react.
“I’m sorry,” she blurts.
“You’re sorry?” I reply in disbelief.
She crosses her arms defensively. “Yeah, I’m sorry, but honest to god, you waaaaaay overreacted.”
I could nod and walk away. I should nod and walk away. I’d usually nod and walk away, but for fuck’s sake. “That’s your idea of an apology?”
“I said I was sorry. What more do you want?”
Groveling maybe. A blowjob. A good fuck. “An apology means taking responsibility for your actions. Remorse. Not blaming someone else.”
She rolls her eyes. “Great. I’m camping with a dictionary.”
“Not anymore,” I grunt as I stand up. She’s not short but I feel like I’m towering over her.
Her face turns to mine and I have the impulse to take her chin in my fingers and kiss her until she can’t breathe.
Thankfully, Oscar interrupts my moment of madness as he walks up to us. “Dad, are we gonna eat before we leave?” Typical teenage boy. Eats more than his body weight every day.
I glance at Selkie. “No. We’re gonna pack up and leave.”
“Henri’s gonna be hungry too,” Selkie retorts.
I sigh. “How about we get the hell out of here and stop somewhere for breakfast?”
Selkie thinks it over, then says, “Sure. As long as the two of you stay civilized.”
Oscar opens his mouth to reply, but I elbow him hard enough to make him grunt. “We’ll do our best not to eat with our fingers.” I force a friendly grin.
Oscar and Selkie look at me suspiciously.
“What?” I say. “I can’t make a joke?”
“That’s a double-barreled question,” Selkie mutters as she jumps in the bed of the truck and waits for a ride back to the campsite.
When we arrive, we find Henri sitting in a chair looking sullen. Brambles is next to her, tongue lolling, tail wagging.
“We’re leaving,” Selkie says to Henri. “Get up and help pack.”
Henri gets to her feet without saying anything and we all look at her suspiciously.
“What?” she says, then stalks towards her tent.
The four of us talk in monosyllables as we pack up. At least Oscar and Henri have stopped bickering.
When I stoop and grab Henri’s duffle off the ground, she tries to grab it from me. “I can do it,” she snaps.
I turn my back and walk towards the truck.
“She can do it herself,” Selkie calls as she follows me.
“Leave him alone,” Oscar tells her.
I wing the duffle in the truck bed as I talk myself off the cliff. “Get in,” I say grimly to the three of them, but Selkie crosses her arms and glares at me.
“What now!” She’s making me crazy.
She steps close to me, her voice low. “Oscar sits in the back seat with Henri. He’s the kid. If it were any other adult, you would have put him back there on our way out.”
She’s right. I’m disrespecting her because she’s Henri’s mother. “Yeah,” I say by way of apology. At least I’m not blaming her for my actions.
Oscar’s already got his seatbelt on when I get to him. He looks at me expectantly, then in outrage when I say, “You’re in the back. Selkie sits up front.”
“What the —” but he’s interrupted by Henri.
“No way is he sitting back here with me!” She glares at Selkie, who’s standing slightly behind me. “Tell him, mom!”
“I’m sitting up front,” Selkie replies adamantly.
Oscar crosses his arms and thumps back against the seat. “You’re gonna have to get a bulldozer to move me.”
His response is so uncharacteristic of him, so disrespectful, I explode, “Get out of this truck and get in the back seat now!”
Oscar’s eyes sheen but he snaps off the seatbelt and shoves me back from him as he jumps down.
“If he sits back here, I’m out,” Henri exclaims as she pushes the driver’s seat forward.
“Sit down!” I yell.
I hear Selkie’s intake of breath.
Henri freezes. “Moooom,” she whines.
“Do as you’re told.” The tone of Selkie’s voice is unnerved by the force of my voice and that pisses me off even more.
I whip around to face her and say defensively, “Someone’s gotta control your kid.”
Her pupils dilate as she stares into my hard eyes. “Back off, Brody. I didn’t think you were the kind of guy that shouted at kids to control them.”
Her pronouncement of who she thinks I am fucks with me because she’s right. “You don’t fucking know me.”
She rubs at her shoulder to relieve her tension. “If you say so.” She slides carefully around me and gets in the truck.
The return trip is made in silence, which gives me plenty of time to think before we arrive back where we started. I gotta figure out how to navigate Selkie and this situation or Oscar will never get back to school.
Is that so bad? I ask myself, embarrassed that I’m even thinking it.
Of course it’s bad. I want my kid to graduate high school. I want him to go to college. I want to give him a better life than I had. I can’t let this situation derail his future.
So what to do? Camping was probably the worst idea we could have come up with. Oscar will think it’s his fault because he suggested it. That’ll shut him down even more than I already have by shouting at him.
And Selkie, who thinks she’s so bloody insightful, hasn’t made a single suggestion to help resolve this problem. Where the fuck is she in all this?
That question is answered once I pull up next to her rust bucket.
Henri and Oscar are grimly silent as they transfer Selkie and Henri’s stuff from the truck to the car. Selkie motions to me to follow her as she walks out of hearing range of the kids.
“I have an idea,” she says like she’s just discovered gravity.
“Okay,” I reply cautiously because even though I wanted her to come up with a solution, I’m worried about how fucked I’m gonna be over it.
“Let’s switch kids.”
Did I call it or what? “Are you out of your mind?”
“No,” she exclaims. “Think about it. We separate the two, get to know each other’s kid. They get a perspective on how the other lives. Maybe get curious. Definitely more understanding.”
“It’ll be a disaster.”
“Can’t be worse than the camping trip.”
That’s fuckin’ bullshit. “I won’t survive spending the day with Henri.”
She’s clearly missed my point because she replies, “One day isn’t enough. I think it should be three.”
I feel my soul shriveling up and dying. “Overnight? You want me to keep her overnight?”
“Three nights.”
“I gotta fuckin’ work. She’ll be at the clubhouse. The brothers are not exactly role models.”
“I gotta work too, so figure it out, Brody. It’ll be good for them to experience the other side of the coin. A little more empathy all around and we’ll have this problem in the bag.”
“Or we’ll all fuckin’ destroy each other.”
She cocks her head. “Well that’ll solve the problem too.”
I realize that I’m not gonna win this one and I don’t have a better fuckin’ idea. And I’m hungry, so when Henri yells, “Are we gonna go eat or what?” I throw my hands in the air and stalk back to the truck.
Selkie catches up and stops me with her hand on my arm.
My eyes involuntary jerk down to her warm strong grip but she mistakes my lust for anger and quickly lets me go.
The hurt on her face is fleeting as she hides it behind a mask of indifference.
“Let’s tell them the plan over breakfast. So they realize we’re a united front. ”
My whole body goes cold at the thought. “In a public place?”
“I’m guessing they’re civilized enough to not want to embarrass themselves in a public place.”
But are we? I think, but don’t say. Instead, I change the subject. “Where’re we gonna meet?”
“Myrtle’s Breakfast Buffet,” she replies without hesitation. “You know it?”
“Yeah,” I reply as I head to my truck. Some of my brothers treat it like a second home. Like Trigger says, you can eat as much as you want, shit it out, and eat some more.
Once Oscar and I are back on the road, I swallow my pride. “I’m sorry.”
He mistakes the meaning behind my apology. “Puttin’ me in the backseat was pretty lame."
“Not for puttin’ you in the backseat. I should’ve done that the first time.”
“Then what?”
He’s already forgotten my loss of temper, which almost makes me sorry I apologized, but I’ve already stepped in the shit. “For shouting at you in front of those two.”
He crosses his arms and looks out the window. “I shoulda just did as you told. Got it over with. I don’t know why I argued with you.”
I sigh. “Same reason I lost my temper. Those two women are driving us nuts.”