Chapter 6 #6
Riley wasn’t sure how any of the War Dog retrieval billing worked with these cases and hadn’t asked those questions regarding the job in the first place. This had been quite the unexpected op.
After getting his ride back to the outside of the pub, he quickly loaded Cain into his brother’s truck that he was using and headed to the pet store. He grabbed dog food, bowls, a leash, and a collar because the dog had nothing, which was also interesting.
He had been extremely well-behaved, if not somewhat clingy—meaning that he had probably been abandoned down there for a while.
Whether somebody was expecting to keep him there or not, Riley didn’t know.
He sure as hell hoped not. Anything like that which was traumatic for an animal just got his back up, and to even think of people like that being allowed to own an animal such as Cain was just unbelievable.
Yet he knew there were only so many checks and balances that people could go through to have animals.
The real problem was that only so many decent people were in this world, and the rest created most of the problems.
As he pulled into Jeremy’s place, his brother walked out to meet him and asked, “Were you supposed to be at Mom’s?”
He closed his eyes and swore. “Yeah, I told her that I would be there this afternoon.”
Looking over at the dog, Jeremy smiled. “Well, considering you got the dog, and I don’t know what that means in terms of how long you’re sticking around, but you may want to go over there and see her.” Riley hesitated and Jeremy added, “I would suggest you not take the dog with you.”
He shook his head at that. “That’s not happening. Cain stays with me. If she can’t deal with the dog, she’s not seeing me.”
Jeremy stared at him in surprise. “Maybe you should … give her a chance one way or another,” he suggested. “I get that you two still have issues, but I’m hoping they aren’t the insurmountable kind.”
“No, they’re not insurmountable at all,” he declared, staring at his brother. “But I’m definitely still wary about things.” He winced. “She can be pretty damn difficult, and I’ve got to define boundaries with her.”
“Yeah, she sure can be difficult, no argument there, and I gather she caused you quite a bit of trouble.”
Riley snorted at that.
“But I’m still really hoping you can make peace with her, if for no other reason than to make my life easier.”
At that, Riley laughed. “Now I understand what’s behind your request.”
He grinned. “To a certain extent, she’s been all over our case.”
“Of course. She doesn’t have me to browbeat, so now she’s after you.”
“The thing is—”
“I know, the thing is, she’s doing it out of love. Yet she’s suffocating us.”
“Yeah,” Jeremy agreed, with a sad smile. “She absolutely is. Sandy is even asking me to go no-contact,” he shared, “because Mom’s just so difficult.”
“Even with Mom’s new boyfriend?”
“Yeah, even with the new boyfriend. It’s almost like it’s a point of pride for her to browbeat us in some way.”
“I hear you, and having to go no-contact to save your marriage would be a shame,” Riley noted, “because that’s not the kind of relationship Mom should be having with either of us. We’re adults now, with our own lives, whether married or single.”
“You want to be the one to tell her that?”
“If I end up getting into it with her, you know that’ll come out. I’ll be blunt and tell her, Do this or both of your sons are gone from your life.”
“Better you than me. I do love her dearly, but it’s getting worse. I’m just really glad you’re here, and I’m hoping we can make her see that her behavior needs to back off.”
“And you don’t want to be the one who causes the fight?”
“No, I don’t want to,” he admitted immediately. “I have to live here. You don’t. I’m already dealing with Sandy, and believe me that she is not impressed.”
“Of course not, and, as far as she’s concerned, you’re not putting her first,” Riley noted.
His brother winced and nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure she mentioned something like that.”
“Of course she did. Because she feels like, if you loved her as she wants you to, and still believes that you think you do, you would have put Mom back in line a long time ago, just like I had to.”
“Yeah, well, … you had to, and you did,” he pointed out. “I haven’t had to, so I haven’t.”
Riley shook his head. “Wrong answer, dude.”
“What are you talking about?” Jeremy asked.
“You do have to. You should have done it already,” he stated. “The fact that you haven’t means you’ll have quite a fight ahead of you, with your mother and your wife. You better do it now before it gets any worse.”
“That’s why I want you to give me a hand because I don’t want to break Mom. But—”
“Yeah, I know, it’s the but. She doesn’t take no for an answer. She doesn’t listen. She does whatever she wants, even if it causes us problems. I get it. Although she loves us—in her own smothering way—it now feels a whole lot more about control than it is about love.”
His brother stared at him for a long moment. “Man, you’re good at this,” Jeremy muttered, “because, damn it, that’s exactly what Sandy told me too.”