Chapter 87
“Icannot believe you would let this happen.”
“I didn’t let anything happen, Mom.” Mel kept their voice level. Not that it was easy with the way their mom scowled at them. They’d had plenty of practice with that. “Someone took pictures of us, without our consent. All I was doing was coming out of my own house.”
“With two men,” their mother said, her voice shrill.
“Yes, Mom, with two other people, whom I care about. That’s not illegal.”
“Maybe not, but think about the influence it will have on your sisters. As if they aren’t hard enough to handle as it is.”
“Just stop, Mom,” Denny cried, coming out from their bedroom. “You can’t keep treating Mel this way. They do everything for us, since we’re too much for you. At least we know they love us.”
“How can you even say that, Denise? Of course I love you. That’s why I want the best life for you.”
“But, I don’t want your life. None of us do.
Forcing it on us isn’t helping. Mel is the best influence, because they actually listen to us.
To what we want, and who we are. They actually want what’s best for us, because they know that means the things that make us happy.
Which is never going to be sitting in a classroom for me. That’s torture.”
“It’s good for us to have different examples of relationships,” Sonia said, her voice calmer than any of theirs had been.
“You’re too young to know about that stuff,” their mother said.
“We’re sixteen. We had sex ed last year,” Sonia said, still calm. Mel was impressed, they could never keep their cool when their mom pulled them into an argument. And they'd had more practice.
“That’s still too young to be faced with the reality of sex. You have your whole lives ahead of you. There’s no need to derail it now for something so…debased.”
Their mother did know how the three of them had come into existence, didn’t she?
“It’s not like they did it in front of us,” Sonia said, her face darkening.
“Mel’s sole responsibility isn’t to be a good influence on us,” Denny said. “They deserve to have their own life, no matter what you seem to think.”
“I… I’ve never claimed otherwise.”
“Except you have.” Mel’s siblings’ defense of them helped to bolster their own strength.
“Each time you insist I drop everything to come take care of them. I love them, but I do have my own life. I want it to include both Rhys and Alfie. You might have control over if I can see my own siblings, at least for the next two years, but you don’t get to control who else I have in my life.
They’re both good men.” Even if Rhys was being stubborn right now.
“I think you’d see that if you’d only get to know them. ”
Their mom blinked several times then turned away. “I can’t fight with you right now. I have work to do. I’ll see you girls for dinner. I suppose you can stay here on your own, since you think you're so grown. See that you don’t destroy my house while I’m gone.”
Mel sighed as their mother grabbed her keys and hurried out of the house. “That didn’t go as terrible as I thought it could.” They grinned at their siblings. “And you finally get the freedom you wanted.”
“Because Mom thinks we’re going to fall down without her,” Denny muttered.
Still, it was something.
Mel’s phone pinged, and they took it out, hoping Rhys finally replied to one of their messages.
Dirk Johnson
We need to meet with you, Mx. Garcia. Come to the offices immediately.
Well, it looked like their shitshow of a morning wasn’t over yet.
“Caleb? Mel asked, as they answered the call on their tablet. They’d just been about to leave the center. As if this day hadn’t already been long enough. “Don’t you have a game or something.”
He shook his head. “Traveling today. I heard.”
“About Me and Rhys? I thought you knew.”
He waved that away. “That didn’t come as a surprise. Or the fact they twisted it into something ugly.”
“It’s doesn’t really matter.” Since Rhys wouldn’t talk to them.
“It does,” he said, “but we can get back to that. I meant the center. Why didn’t you tell me they want to close the doors?”
Mel didn’t know how he knew about that when he wasn’t even in town. “I didn’t think you would be able to do anything about it,” Mel said. “You had said you didn’t have much more than time to offer.”
Caleb sent a grin through the computer screen.
“Now, I barely have that. I am getting paid more, though. It’s still the minimum major league rate, so not millions, but it’s more than I made at the minor league level.
” He glanced at something over his shoulder then to the screen.
“I need to get on a plane soon for Atlanta, but we have a day off when we get back. I can shoot up there, talk to those idiot directors of yours, and tell them what a mistake it would be to shut you down.”
Mel laughed. It didn’t feel like they’d done that in days. “Try not to call them idiots when you do that. I don’t even know if it will do any good.”
“You should have Rhys talk to them. Our experiences aren’t the same, but I heard him say he wishes there’d been a place like that when he was growing up too.”
“He won’t even talk to me.” Mel wished they’d kept their mouth shut at the sympathy that came into Caleb’s eyes.
“Is this about those pictures?”
Mel groaned. “I don’t know, because he won’t talk to me..”
“Is that why the directors are—”
“No,” Mel said quickly. “It had nothing to do with their decision. They’d already basically written us off.” At least Veronica had been on Mel’s side and convinced the others to give them the time they’d been promised. It had been a close thing, though.
“Are you writing Rhys off?”
“Why would I? Just because his foster brother is a douche who never deserved to be anywhere near Rhys?”
“Did you tell Rhys that?” Caleb asked. “Or are you letting him think he isn’t good enough for you?”
“I would never tell him that. It’s not true. He’s so much more than people give him credit for.”
A small smile curved up Caleb’s lips. “Yes, I know. Does he know you think that? Have you reached out to him? I made that mistake the last time I got called up. Didn’t see how badly my boyfriend was spiraling because of everything else going on in his life, and I almost lost him because we both thought the other was just done. ”
“You think he believes that’s what I think?”
“I don’t know what he’s thinking. I do know Brock’s worried. Rhys is usually the one to keep it together during a game, and from the highlights I saw from last night’s, that was definitely not what was happening.”
“That’s what Denny said too. It’s not like the loss was his fault.”
“He won’t see it that way. Just like he’ll think losing you is because of what’s happened in his past. What other people have convinced him he is. If you don’t think that, tell him.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Like I said, I almost lost Brock because I let my hurt and what people said about me lead the way. There’s no need for you to go through that. Especially with a reporter like Cai O’Byrne coming to your defense as well. Ey are a good one. Actually…”
“What?” Mel leaned forward. He’d gone so still, they’d thought the connection had frozen.
“Sorry, just had an idea. It might help but I need to go. I’ll let you know when I know more. And I’ll be coming up on my day off. I’ll stop by.”
Mel stared at the screen, even after Caleb disappeared. What had that been about? What did he think he could do to help? He might be making more now that he was in the Majors again, but surely not that much more that it would make a difference.
They weren’t sure a one-time donation would do that much good. They needed to dig for more options, just in case he couldn’t come through.
It was his words about Rhys which circled in their head.
They needed to make clear to Rhys how much he did matter to them. It didn’t matter what else he did, he was worth fighting for.
They had to figure out how.