*Roughly eleven years after Shorty*
"Kyle, get the door!"
"I'm going, I'm going!" I yelled back. I walked to the door and opened it.
Amber stood there in the doorway holding Aiden by the arm. She roughly pushed him inside. His lip was busted and he had a nice bruise coming along on his cheek.
"Talk to him," she said and turned to walk back to her car.
"What the hell happened?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Let him tell you. Nothing I say gets through to him."
"Go inside," I said to Aiden. "Let Imogen clean you up."
Once Aiden was inside I walked over to Amber. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Amber, please don't cry."
She shook her head. "I can't with him sometimes, Kyle."
"I know, alright, he can be difficult but don't let him make you so upset."
Next thing I knew she threw her arms around me and started sobbing into my chest. I had no idea what to do. I did my best to comfort her and say nice things. "It'll be okay."
"I'm so afraid he'll get himself seriously hurt one day."
"Don't think like that, Amber. I'll do my best to talk to him."
She nodded against my chest then let me go. "Sorry," she muttered, embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it," I said.
"You can keep him for the night. I need a break."
I opened her car door for her. "Yeah."
She got into her car, waved, then drove off.
I went back inside and into the kitchen where Imogen was giving Aiden an ice pack. Obviously, it hurt me to see Aiden hurt but I couldn't bare to see Amber upset because of it. It seriously pissed me off. Aiden knew better than that.
Imogen was giving me a look. A look that said she knew I was pissed and I needed to calm down before I went off on Aiden. She was right of course. I did need to calm down.
"I don't need the ice pack, Imogen. I'll be fine," Aiden said. He set the ice pack down on the counter.
"She's trying to help your dumbass, Aiden," I snapped.
"Kyle, don't start," Imogen said as she put the ice pack back in the freezer.
"Tell me what happened," I demanded.
Aiden shrugged. "I got into a fight."
I really wish he wouldn't be so nonchalant about it. "Why did you get into a fight?"
"Well, I..."
"You what?"
"I... don't know," he said.
"So let me get this straight, you just go around picking fights for no reason?"
He nodded.
"That's dumb," I said.
Aiden threw up his hands. "Well it's the only way I get to talk to you."
"If you want to talk to me, you pick up the phone and talk to me like a normal human being, Aiden." That was just a pathetic excuse.
"I call and I get a can't talk right now. You're always busy."
"Aiden, your dad is a busy man," Imogen said, coming to my rescue.
"No one's that busy," Aiden replied. "I just want to talk sometimes. I mean, sometimes I get angry or sad or something and talking to mom just doesn't help."
"What about Steven? Talk to Steven," I suggested.
Aiden shook his head. "It's not the same."
I didn't know what he wanted from me. I knew how to yell at the kid and scold him for his mistakes but I didn't know how to talk to him. I was never in my feelings enough to talk to someone when they were. "Look, Aiden, I can't talk to you about that stuff."
"But you can listen."
***
Aiden and I talked for what felt like hours. He told me how he felt about his mom and I, how he felt about Imogen, and how he felt about his sisters. He told me stuff I would've never known. Was I glad we got to talk? Of course. Was I happy about how he went about it? Absolutely not.
This time I'd let him off the hook just because the outcome was so great.
"I learned a lot today, Aiden. Thank you."
"I do what I can," Aiden said, smiling. "Does this mean I'm off the hook?"
I nodded. "I guess. But if you ever get into a fight again and I find out about it, Aiden-"
"I know. I'll be in trouble."
"Damn straight. And Aiden, if you ever want to talk just pick up the phone, please. Don't go around trying to get my attention."
"Alright. I'll just call you."
"Love you, kid." I gave him a fist bump.
"Love you too, dad."
