My parents are baffled.
“That’s what they’re teaching you at that fucking school I pay for? How to drink?”
I refuse to look at him or acknowledge him at all. Instead, I look only at my mother who is looking directly at her plate.
“What? You don’t talk anymore? College took away your brain cells?” He pulls at my chin and I’ve had it.
“I don’t go to college. I go to medical school, you fucking asshole. And no. I don’t talk anymore. Not to you anyway. The only reason I’m here right now is to see her.” I use my knife to gesture toward Mom and then dig back into my food.
“You ungrateful bitch.”
“Only because you raised me that way.”
Mom chokes on her water and I know I’ve gone too far. He’s not going to take this out on me. He’s going to punish her for my disrespect. And she doesn’t deserve that.
“Let’s just enjoy this meal that Lara cooked and then move on. No need for the dramatics.”
My mother is already up pouring her husband another drink and this time she places it out of my reach on the table. I wasn’t going to drink it anyway, I definitely don’t need any more alcohol tonight, but the gesture wasn’t lost on me. She’s afraid of him. Afraid of his reactions.
With a grunt but no retaliation, Kevin continues eating and I watch my mother visibly relax.
We eat in silence for a good maybe three minutes before she says something, never one to let a quiet moment rest.
“How was your flight this morning, Danika?”
“Fine,” I mutter, chewing through a particularly gamey piece of turkey thigh.
“Did you make a stop along the way home? I expected you sooner.”
Once again, her need to make small talk is going to send us into a spiral. My father has never cared much about my friendship with Margot but he absolutely hates Arden. Probably because he’s a man equal in stature but much broader in muscle and strength. A man who could easily overpower him in an altercation.
I should just leave it alone. I should lie and tell them I got stuck in traffic or that there was a lot of drama getting off the plane. I should tell them anything but the truth. And yet, that whiskey gave me a little bit too much courage because what I end up saying is…
“I stopped at the Davis house to see Arden.”
Not Margot.
Not Memaw.
Arden.
A vein in my father’s forehead threatens to burst but it’s my mother who speaks first.
“Arden? Why him?”
Then I look at her. “Because I’m dating him.”At least I hope so.“And living with him.”
“The hell you are. What the fuck, Lara?”
Kevin turns his anger toward my mother, which is the absolute last thing I want to happen. “Don’t accuse her of anything. Look at her face, she knows nothing about this.”
My mother’s mouth is open in shock but she closes it, trying to bring a semblance of decorum to the table.
“We can talk about this later,” she says, a hint of hurt in her voice. She’s upset that I’ve kept this from her but I had a good reason. There was no way she’d be able to not tell my father and then all hell would break loose, quite like right now.
“The hell we can,” Kevin polishes off his whiskey before turning his beady, glassy eyes toward me. “You’re not living with that prick. Move out.”
“No.”