“No, no. Johnny needs me for something. Could we stop by his place before we go home? Unless you’re tired, of course. I could drop you off before I meet with him.”
I could clearly hear her voice shift halfway through. That offer to drop me off and then visit her brother without me was just an afterthought. She not only wanted me to accompany her for some reason, I was fairly certain that she wouldn’t have a reason to visit John at all if I wasn’t accompanying her. I managed to not let my suspicion show and agreed to go with her.
The reason became pretty clear shortly after we arrived. As soon as we stepped through the door, Claire vanished with John, while Danny offered to keep me company in their living room. Though, I refused to sit next to her on the sofa when she offered me the seat.
The last time I was in this house, we had discussed buying the foreclosure houses at the kitchen table. The last time I was in their living room, however, was Ava’s sixteenth birthday. When I saw Claire fuck her brother on that very sofa Danny was now sitting on, and later saw Maggie suck off her father on that same sofa. Looking for alternatives, images of Logan fucking Danny on the Loveseat popped into my memory. The only piece of furniture that didn’t spark memories of the discovery that started me on this journey, was the armchair, so that is where I sat while ignoring Danny’s curious look.
“So.” she said, and straightened herself out after moving seats to sit a little closer to me. “How are you?”
“Fine. How about you?”
“You sure you’re ‘fine’, Tim? I thought we were past you holding back.” she smiled.
Realizing she ignored my question to keep digging, I understood what she was doing.
“So it wasn’t John who Claire was on the phone with when I came out of the store, it was you.” I observed, and her smile vanished. “How about you get to the point and simply tell me what you need this time, instead of trying to sneakily coax information out of me?”
She shifted uncomfortably, and it wasn’t just because of my cold tone of voice. I instantly knew my assumption was correct. It was remarkable how often that happened whenever I simply assumed they were trying to deceive me in some way. Now I knew they needed something from me. I took a good look at the room and the connected doors, waiting for one of those to open and reveal some sort of surprise.
“I’m sorry. Old habits. I assure you we don’t plan on deceiving you or anything like that. I just thought it would be better to ease into the topic.” She sounded like she actually meant it, and I decided that there was no use in speculating. I would learn the truth one way or the other anyway.
“Alright. Then, why am I here?”
“I hear you called Claire ‘Mom’ again.” she smiled again, waiting for me to say ... something. When that didn’t happen, and I just looked at her waiting to continue, she did. “And yet, you still refuse to respond when they tell you that they love you.”
I looked at her in astonishment for a moment before I found my voice again.
“Refuse? Danny, I’m not punishing them.” I said matter of fact, and could see I had hit the nail on its head by the way she recoiled in surprise.
“You ... you’re not?” she sounded just as astonished as I had felt a few moments ago.
“No. Why would you even think that? Did it never occur to you that I’m not refusing to say it, but simply refuse to lie about it?”
“You mean...” Her eyes grew big. That was obviously not a possibility she had entertained so far.
“Yes. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear from me, but that’s how it is. And it’s been that way for a while.”
“A while...?” She was still shocked. She REALLY never thought it possible.
“I couldn’t tell you the exact time. But, somewhere around Ava’s seventeenth, when I had effectively moved in with Tess and my life was on that short-lived uptake, I ... kinda took stock of myself. And I realized that what I felt for you all was more akin to familial obligation than love. We just ... grew apart, I guess.”
“Tim, that doesn’t happen so fast.” she protested. Either she was drunk, on drugs, or in denial.
“Danny, just because you only learned about what was going on
“But ... we’re your family! You don’t just...”
“Yes, you ‘just’. You offer couples’ therapy, right? Tell me, why do long distance relationships fail so much?”
She looked at me for a moment thinking about it, then her expression darkened.
