Fine

Ten: Humiliated

"This is all your fault, and you know this!" he yells.

"I'm trying my best, Josh!" she yells back. "It's not easy being a single mom raising two children especially when one of them refuses to let me in!"

"That just means you're a horrible mother!" he throws back at her, and it just makes me want to storm into the living room for round two but I manage to hold myself back.

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"Well, you're no Father of the Year, Josh!" Ma rebuttals making me snicker silently. "You're never here for them! As a matter of a fact where the hell is Anya?!"

Pa snorts. "Stop with the dramatics, Lucille. Anya is safe and sound with Joey."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about, Josh," Ma begins. "You're never there for them. To be honest I'm surprised Anya still wants to visit you."

"That just means you're raising her correctly unlike Gwen," he remarks snidely. "I'm sure that you've been spewing lies about me which is why she hates being around me."

Ma scoffs. "Please, Josh. Haven't it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason she is the way she is with you is because she was old enough to understand the divorce?"

"Lucille, she just doesn't understand my side of the story," Pa says in defense making me roll my eyes.

"There is no 'your side of the story,' " Ma says angrily. "You wanted to put you penis into women without feeling guilty about it later. That is all, and it's a selfish reason too."

"See?! This is why Gwen is so cold towards me. You're feeding her lies," Pa retorts.

Ma cackles. "It's the truth! You just want to appear like the victim when it's actually me and the children. You chose the party animal lifestyle over your own family and you just can't handle the fact that there is one person in the world who refuses to fall for your charm."

"She needs therapy, Lucille!" Pa exclaims completely changing the subject.

"I've already tried that and it didn't work. In fact it made it worse," Ma states tiredly.

"I don't care! She's not okay, Lucille. She needs a professional to take a look at her so that she can go back to normal," Pa urges.

"By normal do you mean when she loved you as a father?" Ma asks softly almost enough for me to not catch what she said.

There is a pause of silence before I hear some shuffling then footsteps that get louder with each step. I quickly get up from the staircase and rush over to my bedroom but leave it open enough for me to continue listening in on their conversation.

"Goodbye Lucille," Pa says stiffly. "I'll come tomorrow to drop off Anya.," he informs her.

"Another business trip," Ma concludes.

Pa pauses for a moment. "Yes," he agrees.

Ma sighs. "Okay. Goodnight Josh."

Pa nods and out he goes out of the house. Ma locks the door after Pa then turns around and looks up at me from the door frame and walks up the stairs as I quickly get into bed. Arriving to my bedroom Ma sits down on my bed and smiles at me sadly getting a hold of my hands.

"You heard that?"

I nod.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that, Gwen," Ma says.

I shrug having gotten used to it over the years.

"You need to be kinder to your father, sweetheart," Ma scolds lightly.