CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
He dreaded it, but maybe after the events of the other day, he'd be more understanding. As he walked into the kitchen, the familiar heat of the ovens blasted his face. "Dad, I have something I need to tell you."
"Can it wait? We just got a special order of one hundred cupcakes for someone's halloween party." He replied, not looking up from where he was stationed, measuring out the ingredients.
"Not really; it's a little urgent."
"Then make yourself useful and tell me while we work.
" Xeno put his apron back on and washed his hands.
Then, he started measuring out the ingredients alongside him.
"Five kilograms of flour.." His father began, as he dumped it into the huge mixing bowl on the table, that they saved for express orders.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about? "
"It's about my friends." Xeno said as he cracked eggs into the bowl. "They figured out who framed me at work. It was my boss."
"Really? That's great. Well, not great, but you know."
"Well, if all goes well, I should be getting my job back at the museum. Would that be okay?" He realised that he'd gotten a little eggshell in the batter. He pinched it out expertly.
"You mean you wouldn't be working here anymore?" He froze as he held two four-litre milk jugs, one in each hand.
"Yeah. I'm sorry to mess you around, but-"
"Xeno." He froze; he had no idea how his father would react.
"I'm not clipping your wings again; I'm doing this right. You deserve to be supported. I'm gutted to see you go, and all, but that's not my choice to make." His brow furrowed. "How would you like to come back home for dinner?"
"Really?" he was taken aback.
"Yeah. Your room's the way you left it, so you could stay the night. You aren't going to the museum tonight, right?"
"Nope. I'd love to come for dinner." The rest of the shift was a difficult one, but not unmanageable. They just barely managed to get the hundred cupcakes baked and decorated by five o'clock.
"Xeno, why are you walking with us to the car?" Asked Robin, looking up from his phone momentarily.
"He's gonna be having dinner with us tonight." His father replied.
"Really? That's great!" Shane grinned at Xeno. "I call shotgun."
Amidst Robin's protests, his father broke it up. "Boys, let Xeno sit in the front."
On the drive home, Xeno was thankfully spared from the conversation.
It felt perfectly natural; he thought. Instead, Robin and Shane tried to explain cryptocurrency to his father, who wasn't getting it.
When they got home, he still hadn't wrapped his head around it.
"Call me old-fashioned," he began, "but I prefer my money to be something I can hold, rather than ones and zeros in a bank somewhere. "
He resisted the urge to correct him, that that was all most money was nowadays.
Don't bite the hand that feeds you and everything.
When they got inside, he didn't know how to act.
How was it that he was a guest in a house where he had his own room?
Robin and Shane disappeared upstairs, and Xeno couldn't help feeling that this was normal, like nothing had changed in the last six years.
"Hello, Xeno! Your father told me you were coming, but I didn't believe it until just now! How are you?" He looked to see his stepmother standing in the living room doorway.
"I've been fine, thanks. How have you been?"
"All good, all good. Would you like to go up to your old room? I'll call you down when dinner's ready."
"Oh, thank you. Do you need my help with anything?" He asked.
"It's all fine, don't you worry."
He was hit with a wave of nostalgia as he went up the stairs.
The house was relatively new, with four bedrooms. His was on the left as he ascended the stairs.
When his dad had said it was exactly as he'd left it, he wasn't joking.
The walls were covered with posters, and the clothes that still laid on his bed were coated in a thin layer of dust. When he'd left, he'd never expected to come back, so he'd tidied it a little.
Still, it was definitely messier than he remembered.
He lost track of time as he sat on his bed, reminiscing about his youth.
Being in that room made him feel both old and young at the same time.
Finally, he was called down to dinner. As they sat down at the table, he noticed that this was a great deal fancier than the dinners he'd had growing up.
Though they'd always sat at the table, this time there were champagne glasses next to each seat, four of them having the drink in them, one of them full of orange juice.
He guessed that one was for Robin. On each of their plates was a roast dinner.
They'd had one every Friday since he could remember.
"Before we begin, I'd like to raise a toast." His father began, his eyes looking at Xeno. "Today, Xeno told me that he might go back to work at the museum soon. I just wanted to say congratulations."
Everyone raised their glasses, smiling and congratulating him. "Thank you, guys. It really means a lot." he said, awkward at the praise. He made eye contact with his father across the table, who was smiling at him warmly.
That night, Xeno's father had most likely lost a co-worker.
But he had gained a son.