Playing House Away From Home

Chapter 7

Elvis pulled himself to his feet, frowning at his cousin for a drawn out moment before finally bursting out into a fit of laughter. "Good one, man," he managed to choke out, "Real good. You had me for a moment there."

He swallowed hard upon noticing that Billy still wore the same expression as before, not even a hint of a smile on his face.

"She's really here?" Elvis concluded. All Billy did was nod. Elvis fought the urge to curse (Loretta might have told him that whatever bad language he used didn't rival her husband's, but she was still a lady).

"Where is she?" Elvis asked, making an attempt at a carefully controlled voice but without a doubt failing.

"She's with the other guys," Billy said.

Elvis rotated his head sideways to lock eyes with Loretta briefly. "I'll be..."

"You go on," Loretta said.

Billy ushered Elvis out of the trailer and into a golf cart. He didn't let Elvis take the wheel, which was a wise decision in a sense, though it left Elvis with nothing to do but sit there and let his anger fester.

When he saw her face, with its usual expressionless mask, Elvis was overcome with the need to yell. The muscles surrounding his jaw twitched, but he pressed his mouth shut and simply turned his volatile gaze toward her to silently ask for an explanation.

"Daddy!" A little voice called and Lisa Marie rushed forward so quickly that she would have stumbled over her own feet if it weren't for Elvis' quick reflexes. Elvis picked her up and pulled her into a hug, using her as a shield. She had gotten heavier since he had last held her, of that he was certain, but her head still fit perfectly into the crook of his neck. Elvis bent down to place a kiss on top of her head.

"Hi Elvis," Priscilla said, greeting him the way she would when he returned home on a regular day. "So, here we are," she added.

"You sure are," Elvis forced out.

"You said to come out on the weekend."

Elvis forced himself to focus on Lisa. "Hey, do you want a donut?"

She was a bright one, his little girl. The gaze she sent toward him was full of skepticism. "Yes?"

"Okay. Now the guys are gonna take you to get a nice big donut-"

"No," Lisa cut in. Elvis' throat tightened at the heartbreaking tone of her voice. He would do anything for that little girl, give her whatever it was she desired but the last thing she needed was to witness what would transpire between her parents as soon as she was out of sight.

"You'll get to play with Daddy all weekend," Elvis promised. "Tomorrow we can swim at the house and play whatever you want." But tomorrow might as well be an eternity away in her young mind, so he added, "Later I'll show you my trailer and everything but now Mommy and Daddy gotta talk."

Elvis handed the whimpering Lisa Marie over to his cousin, wasting no time to grab Priscilla by the arm and leading her to the aforementioned trailer. Priscilla struggled to keep up with his strides, but Elvis was too busy fuming to even notice.

He slammed the trailer door behind them before demanding, "What the hell is this Cilla?"

"You did say that we could come out on the weekend but then you refused to talk to me for some inexplicable reason-"

"You know exactly why I didn't talk to you," Elvis thundered. "So don't give me that."

"You don't have to yell," Priscilla shot back, her words only serving to intensify his anger.