A Sense of Guilt ✔

Chapter 41

Joe slowly opened his eyes, squinting at the light that was coming through Shannon's curtains, she never did close them properly. He was kind of surprised she didn't have blackout blinds when she was sleeping at such irregular times but she'd said they wouldn't match the decor. He couldn't help thinking they'd be an improvement on all the pink but he kept his opinion to himself, he was only supposed to be staying there temporarily and it had already been a week. Come Monday he'd start properly looking for an apartment, it was pointless now on a Sunday afternoon.

Inwardly he groaned, he never stayed in bed that late. 'Shannon?' He nudged her slightly trying to rouse her, and she pulled the covers more tightly around herself. 'Shannon, come on, wake up.'

She muttered something incomprehensible so he reached across her for his phone, properly disturbing her.

'Ow, Joey,' she whined finally paying attention to him.

'Oh, so you are alive then,' he said the corners of his mouth twitching and she scowled in return.

'I am now.'

'It's late, you can't lie around in bed all day.'

'Well, maybe I wouldn't be so tired if we'd gone to bed at a reasonable time last night,' she grumbled sitting up and rubbing her eyes. 'But you had your psycho ex calling until god knows what time.'

'Yeah, I know,' he admitted sheepishly. He should never have called Kat, it's not like he'd had much to say. Leave my mom alone probably summed it up, and that was pathetic. However having missed his call, he wouldn't have expected Kat to try and return it after midnight, or to have then spent the next two hours calling. Talk about stirring a hornets' nest.

'You shouldn't have called Katherine in the first place,' Shannon said getting into her stride. 'This fight is between her and your mom, and your mom is big enough to fight her own battles.'

'But it's my fault. My mom wouldn't have had Kat sending her abusive text messages if it wasn't for me,' he admitted feeling a pang of guilt.

Shannon flopped back down in bed. 'Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about Katherine.'

'It's only been a week Shan, give her time,' he said pulling Shannon towards him, and she momentarily tensed up in his arms.

'If I get any more anonymous calls I'm reporting her,' Shannon said leaning back to meet his eyes. 'She's not going to start harassing me.'

'I really don't think those calls would be from Kat,' Joe said stroking her hair, almost like he was trying to calm down a frightened animal. 'It's not her style.'

'And is texting your mom like that her style?'

Joe frowned. 'You've got me there. I think-' He stopped as his phone rang, and Shannon looked at him expectantly. 'It's only my mom,' he whispered as if his mom could hear him. He sat up before accepting the call, and Shannon shuffled closer to listen in. 'Hi, mom.'

'Joseph? I thought you weren't going to answer. It's so hard to reach you these days. Did you speak to Katherine last night, like we discussed?'

Joe shook his head. 'No, I tried calling but she didn't pick up. I'll try again later today.' Shannon rolled her eyes, and Joe mouthed to her that he wouldn't.

'I don't know what I've done to deserve all this vitriol,' his mom continued. 'I welcomed her into our family, I tried my hardest to get along with her but she was always so standoffish with me. I only offered to pay for the wedding to try to get closer to her. You know your father never agreed with us paying for it all.'

'Yeah I think I worked that out,' Joe said ruefully. 'But it's done now, you've got your deposits back.'

'I don't care about the money,' his mom snapped and Shannon's looked at him wide-eyed. 'That was down to your dad not me, I'm just the whipping boy. Or whipping girl.' She let out a hollow laugh. 'I daresay Katherine wouldn't dare confront your father.'