Piece by Piece

Chapter 30

Sebastian (last July)

I spent three hours with my Grandma and Aliena at the nursing home. It's funny how quickly the time passed. We were playing Cribbage and messing around and suddenly, it was time for dinner. When Grandma asked me to stay, looking as hopeful as a puppy, I couldn't possibly deny her.

It also didn't hurt that Aliena accompanied us. Yeah, she seems like a really sweet girl and Rosie is a matchmaker pro.

But staying that long also meant that there was no way my father wasn't going to question my whereabouts. He knows I didn't have practice today since he developed my exercise plan himself, the controlling bastard.

I wish I could just go to my place but it's the old man's birthday tomorrow and I promised my mother I'd stay the night at their place tonight so I could help her prepare a few things for him tomorrow morning in secret. He doesn't deserve as much, of course, but my mother insists on constantly doing too much for him. The least I can do is make sure she doesn't overwork herself.

The reason we have to prepare everything so early is that she works in the afternoon and she wants things to be "perfect". I hate to see how desperately she tries to make sure their marriage is successful and that my father has everything he could possibly need with her as a wife. Deep down, I know she's just scared that he'll leave her as he did with his last wife.

That's why she never quit her job as a housekeeper. As insurance. That's also why she won't let him hire a housekeeper for their place, afraid that the story will repeat itself. Of course, my father has tried telling her that she doesn't need a job now that she's married to him since he's embarrassed to have a wife of a lower social status.

Never mind that he knew what her job was before they were ever together since that's how they met. Yeah, daddy fell in love with the housekeeper his ex-wife hired. My mother, bless her heart, was too naïve to recognize him as the pig he was and when he told her he was divorcing poor Diana to be with her, she was over the moon.

He proposed soon after and my mom saw no red flag concerning the fact that he cheated on his ex-wife with her.

Don't get me wrong, I love my mom. All I'm saying is that she shouldn't have been surprised when he occasionally worked long shifts... You know what they say, once a cheater, always a cheater. And I'm the one left to pick up the pieces when mom is crying over my bastard sperm donor.

Speaking of the devil; despite my best efforts to sneak into the house I still have a key to, my father is expecting me in the living room I sadly have to pass to get to my old bedroom.

"Where have you been?" he asks, his voice even and stern. I fight the urge to roll my eyes only because my mother enters the room at the same moment, coming toward me with a big smile on her face.

"My boy, hello. How are you?" she chirps, pulling me in a hug.

I hug her back, letting myself enjoy the comfort before I face my shithead father. "I'm good, mom. How are you?"

"I'm fantastic now that you are here. I'm always happy when you visit us," she says.

"Which isn't often," my father adds helpfully. Jerk. "You should have been here hours ago, Sebastian. Where were you so late?"

"Oh, William, don't interrogate him. He's young," my mother tries to reason. My dad ignores her.

I take a deep breath and swallow the remark that it's not even ten pm. Then I reply as calmly as possible. "I was with grandma."

Now, that has a thick silence swallowing up the room in an instant. Yeah, my father probably didn't expect me to look for his mother after he transferred her without telling me, and this is the only matter even my mother stayed out of. I don't hold it against her though, she's just trying not to disturb the fragile peace that exists in her marriage.

"What was that?" my father asks, his voice dangerously low.

"I said, I was visiting your mother," I repeat provocatively slowly.

"You don't know where she is. I took care of that to ensure you focused on your studies rather than that withering woman."

How dare he speak of his own mother that way? Did they have differences? Yes. But my relationship with her has nothing to do with him and still, he insists on disrespecting her in my presence, knowing how much it pisses me off.

The pressure in my body rises, my blood heats, and for a moment, I'm tempted to smash my fist into his perfectly kempt face. Oh, how satisfying it would be to feel his bones break under my clenched knuckles.

But that's my father. Always working hard to keep me on my toes and make my life a little harder. He calls it disciplining me. I call it being a fucking jerk that gets off on powerplays.

"Well, you didn't try hard enough. I found her," I say through clenched teeth.

Then there's that triumphant smile that I hate so much. He melts further into his chair, which he still hasn't bothered to get up from since I arrived.

"I'll just move her again. Far enough that you can't visit her. I'm sure there's a good nursing home on a Caribbean Island. Mother would surely enjoy that."

She wouldn't. She hates the heat. And the beach. He knows that.

"Don't bother. It seems that her condition has been rapidly worsening and she's unlikely to make it into the next year. At least allow me the decency of seeing her a few times in those last few months," I argue, hating how weak my voice sounds. Hell, I almost sound pleading.

My mother must hear the vulnerability because she swoops in. "Of course, he will." Then she hugs me again and whispers, "I'm so sorry, my boy." I can hear the truth in her words. I really can.

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False alarm, y'all aren't ready for chapter 31, my bad😭

Anyway, have a refreshing day, my lovelies<3