Page 7 of Awakening the Sheriff
“Like you weren’t looking at girls at that age,” Byron sneered. “Oh wait, I forgot. You looked at boysandgirls.”
Right before we moved to Forestville, Byron had caught me looking at a picture of me and a boyfriend I’d had in college, so I’d told him I was bi. Not that it had ever been a secret. Mandy had always known, but I didn’t think it was relevant to tell my boys. They’d been too young, and I hadn’t been dating anyway. Ever since, Byron had made it clear he had issues with it, and I had to admit that the biphobia coming from my son hurt far more than the occasional snide remark from Mandy.
“Yes, I did. That’s how being bisexual works.” I kept my voice level, quite the accomplishment, considering the familiar ache settling in my chest. I loved my kids more than anything, but they could also cause me more pain than anything or anyone else. They were my world, these two boys, yet they seemed so distant sometimes, like planets orbiting around me but never quite connecting. I felt like an outsider in their lives, unable to bridge the gap between us.
“Whatever.”
“Byron, is there something you want to talk about?” I glanced at him in the rearview mirror. He met my gaze with a stormy expression, then looked away.
“What is there to talk about?” he snapped. “You don’t wanna listen anyway.”
I offered a silent plea to the universe for patience. “We have an hour’s drive ahead of us, so I have nothing but time to listen.”
He wasn’t going to take me up on the invitation to unload. That was my first thought, but then he let out a deep sigh and stared out the window.
“I just… I hate it here, okay? I don’t want to live in stupid Forestville.”
“I know it’s been hard adjusting to the move, Byron, but—”
“Hard?” he asked, his voice rising. “It’s more than hard, Dad. I’ve lost all my friends, and now I’m stuck in this boring town with nothing to do. It’s fucking freezing here, and I can’t even ride my skateboard with all the damn snow. Why can’t I just live with Mom full-time?”
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. I gripped the steering wheel tighter, struggling to keep my emotions in check. Heck, I didn’t even have the composure to scold him for swearing. Not that it would have any impact. “You know why. Your mother’s job doesn’t allow her to be there for you guys and take care of you all the time.”
Unshed tears burned in my eyes, and I kept my face averted so they wouldn’t catch my hurt.
“Then why can’t she get a different job?”
Mandy worked as a flight attendant, mainly on long-haul, international flights. She had the boys one weekend a month, plus part of the school breaks. “You’d have to ask your mom that. That’s not a decision I can make for her.”
“She said you filed for primary custody and didn’t give her a choice.”
Had she said that? I couldn’t imagine it. That was as far from the truth as could be. No, Byron must’ve misunderstood. “That’s not how it went, but I know it must be confusing for you.”
“Confusing.” He harrumphed. “The only thing confusing here is you. Why the fuck did you have to move us here? We all liked Atlanta far better, including Mom.”
“You know why we moved.”
“Because of a misunderstanding?”
“You got arrested, Byron. There was nothing to misunderstand about that.”
“I’ve told you a million times I didn’t do it.”
“You may not have been guilty of shoplifting, like the three so-called friends you were hanging out with, but you sure were drunk. That in itself was reason enough to get you out of there.”
He shot me a look that would’ve incinerated me if I hadn’t become somewhat immune to them. “I know friendship is a concept that’s hard for you to understand since you don’t have a social life, but those guys were my friends. And you dragged us away from everything we knew so you could chase some fantasy life.”
My sixteen-year-old knew exactly which buttons to push and never failed to do so. I swallowed hard, fighting to maintain control over myself. “Byron…” My voice cracked, and I took a steadying breath. “I didn’t choose Forestville on a whim. I moved us here because I got a great job opportunity, and I thought it would be a good place for you and your brother to grow up.”
“Just because you loved growing up in some small town in the middle of fucking nowhere doesn’t mean we do. We all loved Atlanta. You were the only one who wanted to move. Mom said so herself.”
I clenched my teeth. If Mandy had thrown me under the bus like that, I’d have to have a word with her about it. She couldn’t do that to me. Yes, she had loved Atlanta, but she’d seen the warning signs with Byron as well, and we’d made the decision to move together. Or I at least thought we had.
“Mom agreed this was the right thing to do. I’m doing my best as your father… All I want is for you and your brother to be happy.”
“Happy?” He snorted. “You don’t care about our happiness, Dad. You only care about yourself.”
“Byron, that’s not true, and you know it. I love you both so much, and I know you can be happy here, make new friends, and build a life. Please give Forestville a chance.”