Nights Like This

Chapter 44

Late that night, when the guests were gone and the kitchen cleaned, Metty looked in the refrigerator. "Mom," she asked, "Can I take the leftover spaghetti for lunch tomorrow?"

"Help yourself," said Sylvia.

Metty scooped some of the noodles and meat sauce in a microwaveable bowl and fastened its lid. She put the bowl in the refrigerator. Sylvia sighed. Metty looked at her. Sylvia's elbows were on the kitchen table, her head resting in her hands.

"Mom? Are you OK?" Metty looked around. "Bryan and Bryany haven't come home yet. Do you have a headache?"

Sylvia lifted her head. She was pale and sagging, looking older than her 57 years. "No." She paused. "I just, I'm."

"What's wrong? Are you sick? Or Bryany? Bryan's never been sick a day in his life."

"Nobody's sick."

"Where is Bryan anyway? It's past ten and Bryany has school tomorrow. He's been gone," Metty checked the time, "almost two hours."

"He says he's working with Russ, that friend of his, the one whose wife is tutoring Bryany."

"Mr. Johnson? What are they working on?"

"Repairing the Johnson's garage."

"Oh." Metty picked up her coffee and sat across from Sylvia. She stirred the cup and let the silence build.  "So, what's the problem?" She sipped the coffee.

Sylvia shook her head. "He spends too much time at the Johnson's. Russ has been in Florida a lot the past few months. Bryan says Bryany needs the tutoring and her schoolwork is improving with Alice's help. That much is true," Sylvia said bitterly.

"Mom, is he, how are your finances? Is he holding out on his share of the expenses, again?"

"No. That's what so strange. When he left me the last time, he stopped paying his share and left with the money. When the woman kicked him out, he came back broke and so he wouldn't have to pay child support for Bryany."

Metty shook her head. "And you took him back."

"He's Bryany's father." Sylvia began to whine. "She needs her father."

"He's cheap unless it's for him or Bryany. He uses you."

Sylvia started to shake her head. "He loves me."

"He's got it pretty soft here. He doesn't pay his rent. He complained he was paying too much for groceries. I reminded him he didn't pay for me. He won't work around the house or yard unless he has to. You argued all the time when I lived here. What's going to happen if I move back after school?"

"Everything will work out," Sylvia said. "Where's he going to go?"

"Who knows? We can argue till the cows come home, but Bryan will do what he wants. I'm going to get ready for bed," said Metty. "I have my last exam tomorrow." She got up and put her cup in the sink. "Good night, Mom. Pleasant dreams. I hope everything goes ok."

She patted Sylvia's shoulder and left the kitchen.