Chapter 25 #4
According to Chloe, this is all new in the last few weeks. He’s coming to her party. You can all expect to have a mission assigned to watch every move they make.
Tatum
Surely, King will be on patrol.
Me
I haven’t told him yet. The last thing Meredith needs is an overprotective father strapping in for the ride.
Tatum
Oh God, Lil. I feel like maybe you might wanna prepare him for the party.
Me
TBH I’m feeling nervous about the whole thing.
I’ve gone to tell him so many times this last week but then I stop myself.
Meredith has always been such a beautiful little nerd and not into boys, and now it’s like I don’t even recognise my own daughter some days with the attitude she’s throwing our way, the clothes and makeup, and now the boys.
At least with Zara, I’d been dealing with all this for years while her interest grew.
With Meredith, it’s been nothing and now bam, everything at once!
Monroe
Do you need us tonight?
Me
Yes, but no. I won’t have time to stop tonight. But you should absolutely come early tomorrow.
Monroe
Okay, I’m on it. I’ll be early.
Evie
Me too.
Hailee
I’ll do my best, Lil, but these kids…
Me
I get it, Hails. *pulls hair out*
Tatum
Nitro and I will come early.
Me
I love you all.
King’s POV
5:30 p.m.
It’s later than I would have preferred by the time I walk into Travis’s bedroom to talk with him this afternoon.
I’d hoped to get home to discuss shit with Lily before Travis arrived home from school.
That didn’t happen, and when I did finally get home, Travis was in a worse mood than this morning.
I know my son well, so I know his moods are due to him anticipating this conversation.
Travis might be a hothead like me and his brother, but unlike Cade, he cares more about what Lily and I think than almost anything.
He gets himself into some shit, but then regrets the hell out of it pretty fast.
He's sitting on his bed scrolling his phone when I step into his room. Glancing up from the phone, he watches me silently while I move to sit on the edge of the bed.
“How was your day?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Okay.”
“You did your detention?”
He nods.
My sons are like me; they use as few words as possible to get across what they need to. It’s only when I’m dealing with conversations like this one that I fully appreciate what Lily puts up with from me.
“You understand that you could be looking at a suspension if you get yourself into another fight at school?”
“Yeah.”
“And you realise that means you’ll also be off the football team?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s the plan here?”
He frowns. “What do you mean?”
“Do you have a plan for how you’ll stop getting yourself into shit?”
My question throws him. I know that by the confusion written all over his face.
“I figured you and Mum would tell me what to do.”
“We’ve been telling you what to do your entire life, Travis. Now, it’s up to you to take all that advice and figure out what to do with it.”
His eyes widen slightly for a moment. I don’t miss it though, and it’s what I was going for.
After thinking about everything Lily said this morning about Cade and Travis, I came home and suggested to her that we rely more on the natural consequences of Travis’s behaviour.
I want him to think more about his actions, knowing that Lily and I won’t always try to save him when he gets himself into trouble.
While we’ll still give him some of our own consequences, I think it’s time for us to stop trying to control things so much and just let the natural consequences of his behaviour run their course.
I’m a big fucking believer in life being the best teacher.
Fuck knows, though, if this is the worst idea I’ve ever come up with. Lily told me all we can do is try it and see.
He looks at me with more confusion. “So, you’re not going to give me a consequence?”
“Yeah, I am. You bet your ass I am. But these consequences don’t seem to encourage you to make good choices, so from here on out, your mother and I won’t be going to bat for you at school whenever something like this happens, we won’t be writing letters for you if you don’t get your homework done, we won’t be helping you ask for extensions for assignments, and we won’t be assisting your football coach with ensuring you do the shit you need to do to stay on the team.
You’ll suffer the natural consequence of every action you choose, Travis.
And on top of that, you’ll get to spend a shitload of time with me doing things you’d rather not be doing. ”
He groans. “You’re going to make me do yard work, aren’t you?”
“Son, you’ve no idea what’s ahead for you. I will tell you, though, that you can write off the next two weekends.”
“Dad! That’s not fair. You know I’ve got that party in a couple of weeks. And I didn’t start that fight!”
“What’s the one thing I’ve always told you, Travis?”
His lips press together, and he looks away from me, directing his gaze to the floor.
When he doesn’t answer me, I say, “We can sit here all night if we have to.”
He glares at the floor like it’s the cause of all his current problems.
I sit quietly, drawing on more patience than I actually fucking possess and wait him out.
Finally, he looks at me, still with that angry glint in his eyes. “I didn’t start it, but I shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
I don’t reply to that. I simply watch him in silence, waiting for him to say what I’m looking for him to say.
Another minute passes before his nostrils flare and he says, “Fine, I’ll own it. I chose to get involved in that fight.”
“Why?”
“Because Alec was defending his girlfriend and I agreed with that.”
“What was he defending her for?”
“Wesley Hardcourt has been telling everyone that Alec’s girlfriend is DTF anyone looking for it while trash-talking her all over the place. He’s thrown so much shade this week that Alec couldn’t just stand back and do nothing.”
It’s only thanks to Lily keeping up with teen slang that I know what the fuck DTF and throwing shade means.
Before I have a chance to say anything, Travis says, “You would have done the same thing in my place. I know you would have.”
He’s right; I would have.
And this is where parenting becomes fucking difficult.
I nod. “I’ve never lied to you, Travis, and I won’t start now, so yeah, I probably would have.
I’ve done a lot of shit I shouldn’t have in my time.
But here’s the thing—I’ve always paid the price for every action I’ve chosen.
And sometimes, the price has been steep.
” I pause and watch him intently for a moment.
“That’s where you’re at now in your life.
You’ve gotta start deciding if you really want to pay the price for the things you choose to do.
And then, you’ve gotta see that through.
” I pause again. “Do you understand what I’m saying here? ”
He thinks about that for moment before nodding. “Yeah.”
“Tell me what I’m saying.”
“You’re saying that I have to take responsibility for my actions and that sometimes shit’s gonna hurt depending on what I choose to do. I get it, Dad. And helping Alec was worth it.”
Fuck, he truly is my son.
I would have helped a friend defend his girlfriend, and I would have believed the consequence worth it too.
“Tell me that you’ll think beyond detentions and suspensions, though, Travis.
That you’ll think about how the consequences of today’s actions will affect your future possibilities in life.
I might have made the same choices you did, but I didn’t have the same options in life that you have.
You need to remember what you’ve got on the table with your football and with your education. ”
He glances at the floor again, but only for a moment before meeting my gaze and nodding. “I’ll think about that stuff.”
I place my hand on his shoulder. “Good.” I let him go and stand. “Now, your mother’s got a list a mile long for us to work through tonight and I don’t want to hear a word of complaint about any of it.”
He groans but he doesn’t complain. Instead, he stands and says, “Are you really not going to let me go to that party?”
I don’t bother answering that question. I just arch my brows at him and then exit his bedroom.
He follows me out, grumbling a bunch of words that he knows I won’t tolerate once we’re standing in front of his mother.
He gets them all out of his system on the walk down the hallway, and by the time we meet Lily in the kitchen, he’s got his shit together.
Lily glances between me and Travis. I know she’s assessing the situation, so I give her a quick nod to let her know it went well. Her shoulders relax and she smiles. She then goes back to the list she’s scribbling shit onto at the kitchen island.
Travis sticks his head in the fridge and spends a long fucking time searching for something in there at which point Lily looks at him and says, “If you eat anything from that fridge that you shouldn’t, there will be hell to pay.”
Travis swings his head around to meet her gaze. “How am I supposed to know what I can’t eat from here?”
Lily gives him a pointed look. “You’re not an idiot, Travis. You know what’s in there for the party. And anyway, dinner isn’t far away. You can wait to eat.”
Travis groans. “But I’m hungry now.”
I move to the fridge and close the door. “You heard your mother.”
“Mum,” Meredith says, joining us in the kitchen, wearing a short, tight black dress that’s missing a fuckload of the material that should be covering her stomach. “What do you think of this dress for tomorrow?”
Before Lily has a chance to answer, I shake my head. “No.”
Meredith gives me the look of hers that says “calm down, Dad” and then focuses all her attention back on her mother.
Lily frowns at the dress. “Where did you get that?”
“It’s Chloe’s.”
“You’re not wearing that tomorrow,” I say.