FRACTURES - PART 1
Will and Arianna walked through the town square heading around to the back of St. Luke's Catholic Church, across from the duck pond, "I thought you said that Dad was meeting us for lunch." Arianna said to Will, her eyes and thumbs never leaving her phone.
"He is. He got caught up at work." Will told her. "Ari, can you please stop texting for 5 minutes."
"Sorry, Daddy." She put her phone into her pocket. "Should we wait for him, or can we order?"
"We can order, he won't be long." Will pulled his phone from his jacket pocket as it rang and read the display. "It's work, sweetie, I need to take this. You go order and I'll catch up." he told her, then answered the phone call from his assistant, "Hey, Margie. What's up?"
"Okay, Daddy." Arianna said and headed over to Goombah's. "Hi, Angelo." She called to the pizza maker, walking up to the Dutch door he was leaning on.
Goombah lifted his head from the US Weekly magazine he was reading to greet her, "Arianna Grace!" his voice was musical as he said her name. He opened the Dutch door and stepped out to give Arianna a big hug and a kiss her on the cheek. "How's my favorite girl?"
"I'm really well, thanks." She said hugging him back.
Goombah stepped back into the pizza shop and shut the door. "School is good?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I made honors list again this semester."
"Good for you. You get the brains from your papa. He was a smart kid too." Goombah said, tying his apron on. "You want the usual?"
'Yes, please."
"You got it, sweetheart. 11 minutes, okay?"
"Thanks, Angelo."
Sonny rounded the corner of the church and headed over toward where he noticed Arianna sitting at the table by the duck pond. "Hey, Pumpkin." he said, leaning down to kiss her on her head. "Where's your Daddy?"
"He's talking to Margie." Arianna's face was buried in her phone as she motioned over to where Will was standing, still talking on the phone with his assistant.
"Did you order?" he asked her.
Arianna mumbled something barely audible back to Sonny, "Mmhmm.", her eyes and thumbs busy with her phone.
"Ari, put the phone away, please."
"Sorry, Dad." She quickly finished her text, and sat her phone down on the table. "Yes, I ordered. Do you want me to go get some drinks?"
"Sure." Sonny pulled some cash from his pocket and handed it to her. "Get me a bottle of water and your Daddy an Iced Tea, and whatever you want."
"Okay, I'll be back in a sec."
Will walked up to the table with the pizza in his hand, just as Arianna headed to the corner store for the drinks. "Okay, great. Tell him the 18th is fine. Thanks, Margie." Will hung up his phone and put it back in his jacket pocket. "Hi, Honey." he said, giving Sonny a peck on the lips. "Where's Ari going?"
"She's getting us drinks." Sonny patted the space on the bench next to him, inviting Will to sit. "What did Margie want? Wait, let me guess. You don't have time for lunch… again. You have to go back to the office."
"No, smart ass, she scheduled a meeting next month and wanted to let me know." Will set the pizza down on the table and sat down next to Sonny.
"A month in advance? You work too hard."
"Yeah, it's been a long couple years, but I think it might pay of soon." Will replied, "Get this, some Swedish company might want to buy my software designer. The president of the company will be in town next month for a couple days only, he asked for demonstration of the software and quote for multiple user licenses."
"Really! That's great, Sweets. How many licenses?"
"I don't know yet, but Margie says they're a big company…" Will took a bite of his pizza, finishing his sentence with his mouth full. "…and we could use the money, plus it's good exposure for HortonTech."
"Well, you've spent 6 years of long days and nights working on that software and building your company to what it is, so you deserve all the exposure you get." Sonny gave Will kiss on the cheek, "I'm proud of you, and it will be nice to have you around more."
"Thanks, Honey. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, it's just one meeting."
"I hate when you do that, Will. You need to think positive." Sonny chided him, "Think about what you did. You left a six figure programming job to start your own company. You single handedly re-designed the software that programmers use to design software! It's pretty impressive."
"I am pretty smart, aren't I?" Will smiled at Sonny and put his arm around him. "Seriously though, Son, thank you for being so supportive these last years. I'm well aware that it hasn't been easy on you and Ari with me working so much and I know it's caused some tension between us, but I…" Will's voice quieted.
"I know, Sweets, I love you, too. And I'm always behind you." Sonny nudged Will on the shoulder, "Plus if you're home more, then I can be behind you more, if you know what I mean." Sonny leaned over and kissed him again. Will let out a soft moan as the kiss deepened, moving his hand to the back of Sonny's neck, pulling him closer.
"Gross, you guys, we're in public." Arianna set the drinks on the table and sat down across from them.
"Sorry." they said is unison, as Arianna took a bite of her slice of pizza and turned all her attention back to her phone.
Will watched Arianna texting away on her phone, turning to Sonny to roll his eyes at her, "Ari, why has your face been buried in your phone all day? What is so important? Who are you texting?" he asked her. Arianna kept texting. "Hey," Will said, grabbing her phone. "What's going on?"
Arianna grunted and reached for her phone. Will held it above his head, "Uh Uh, not until you tell us what's up."
"Spill it." Sonny chimed in.
Arianna let out an exaggerated sigh, "Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to freak out."
Sonny laughed sarcastically, "No, we can't promise that. You could say something that is completely freak out worthy, and we might be compelled freak the heck out, but because we promised, we wouldn't be allowed to freak out…"
Will covered Sonny's mouth with his palm, shutting him up. "We promise." He told her.
She craned her neck to Sonny, "Dad?"
Sonny pulled Will's hand from his mouth. "Okay. I promise."
"I've been texting a boy from school. He uh… he asked me out on a… a date." Arianna confessed. They sat there silently, staring at her blankly. Arianna waited for several minutes, "Guys?" she waved her hand in front of their eyes "Helllooo?"
Will shook his head from his haze, "Sorry, sweetie. A date huh?"
"But you're only fourteen." Sonny let out.
"Fourteen year olds go on dates, Dad."
"A date huh?" Will mumbled again, his face white with confusion.
"Fourteen year olds date?" Sonny asked with amazement.
"Yes, Dad."
"Huh?" Will mumbled aloud again, "…a date."
"Are you okay, Daddy? You look like you're going to faint." Arianna opened the bottle of iced tea in front of Will and placed it in his hand. "Here, drink some tea."
"Yeah… tea. I like tea…" Will said absentmindedly. "mmmm, cold…"
"Since when do fourteen year olds date?"
"This is why I didn't want to tell you. You guys are being totally weird." she said grabbing her phone from Will's hand and shoving it back in her pocket.
"We're sorry, Sweetie." Will reassured her, taking a big drink from his iced tea. "Ari, you just caught us off guard."
"Yeah, we're sorry, Pumpkin." Sonny agreed. "So… who is this boy? Do we know him?"
"His name is Dylan, he's in my Algebra class. He's really nice."
"Okay, so where are you going on this… date?" Will asked.
"We're going to get something to eat at the diner and then go see a movie at the theatre in the town square. Can I go?"
"How are you getting there, who's taking you?"
"Nobody, I'm going meet him at the diner, I can walk from home."
Will and Sonny looked at each other, somewhat confused as to what to say. "What do you think?" Will asked him.
"Um…" he mumbled.
"Please, Dad?" Arianna pleaded.
"Okay… You can go, but…"
"Yes! Thank you."
"Wait, I'm not done." Sonny said "You can go, but he has to come to the house to pick you up. We have to meet him first, that's the deal. Right Will?"
"Right." Will agreed. "We get to meet him first."
"And you tell us which movie, what time you're going and when you'll be home, got it?" Sonny added.
"Okay, that's fair." Arianna conceded.
"And he brings us two forms of picture ID." Will interjected.
"Daddy!"
"Okay, fine. Just one ID."
"Thank you, thank you. You'll like him, I promise." Arianna got up from the bench and ran around to the other side of the table to give her father's each a hug and kiss. "I'm going to go tell Angelo goodbye and text Dylan." She said, skipping off across the street.
"I want to see his report card, too!" Will called after her.
"It's here, Will." Sonny stated, shaking his head in doubt, "The day we've been dreading. It's here, and its name is Dylan. I'm pretty sure I already hate him."
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Will sat in his car in the driveway out in front of the house staring in disbelief at the offer on the piece of paper in front of him. "Holy shit." He said out loud to himself, counting the number of zeroes again. It was more money than he had ever seen, or ever dreamt of really. The meeting was supposed to be a simple demonstration of his software, but the Swedes were impressed, very impressed…
"You want to buy my company?"
"Not exactly, Mr. Horton. We want to purchase the rights to your program and any patents associated with it. HortonTech will remain yours."
Will sat behind his desk, somewhat taken aback by the offer in front of him, he had read several articles on the man standing in his office. Mats Ellis was a shrewd business man and a respected participant in the tech industry. Will knew he would not make an offer such as he has unless it was sincere and worthy of his important time.
"Well, do we have a deal?" Mats asked.
Will stood up from his seat and walked out from behind his desk. "I'll tell you what, let me talk it over with my family and I will get back to you shortly. Would that be alright?"
"Absolutely, take your time, talk with your family. I look forward to hearing from you." Mats stood and offered his hand to Will.
Will shook his hand and escorted him to the door of the office, "It was great meeting you Mr. Ellis, I will talk to you soon."
Will put the offer letter back in the envelope and slipped it into the pocket of his jacket. He grabbed his bag from the passenger seat and opened his door, stepping out of the car. He started up the walk as the front door opened and Dylan, Arianna's boyfriend of the past month, came scrambling down the stairs past Will. "Dylan?"
"Hi, Mr. Horton. Bye, Mr. Horton." Dylan said, jumping on his bike and rushing off.
Will watched in confusion as Dylan hurried away then he started back up the stairs. He turned the knob and opened the front door, "You guys are not going to believe the news…" Will stopped at the front door as Arianna stormed past him with Sonny just behind her, yelling.
"Don't you walk away from me, Arianna Grace! We're not done with this!" Sonny said angrily.
"I don't have to listen to you, you're not my father!" she screamed back at him, stomping down the hall and slamming shut the door to her bedroom.
"Like hell I'm not! I have a piece of paper to prove it!" Sonny tried turning the doorknob to no avail. "Open this door, right now!" he yelled through the locked door.
"No! Go away!" she screamed back, turning her music up to drown Sonny out.
Sonny kicked the door in frustration and turned, heading back down the hall. "God damned it!" he bit out into the air. He stopped suddenly when he noticed Will standing in the front door with a baffled look on his face. "And where the hell have you been?" Sonny barked at him.
"I had the meeting with Ellis this morning, remember? We talked about it last night." Will shut the door and dropped his bag on the small bench in the foyer. "What is going on in here? Why is she so upset?"
"Why is she upset?!"
"Okay, why are you both upset? And why was Dylan running for his life out of here?"
Sonny's eyes were wide and furious, "That kid better run!"
"Son, please calm down." Will pulled Sonny into the kitchen. "Tell me what happened."
Sonny paced around the kitchen with his hands on his hips, breathing heavily. "I came home from work for lunch and I caught Ari and that little shithead Dylan making out on the couch!"
"Making out?" Will asked.
"Kissing, Will." He explained, pausing for a reaction.
Will stood there blankly trying to suppress a smile. "Oh no, not kissing." He said sarcastically.
"This is funny to you?" Sonny was getting angrier, "Our daughter alone in a dark house with a boy is funny to you?"
"No, sorry, it's not funny. But, Honey, come on don't you think your overreacting a little?"
"Don't 'Honey' me, Will, I'm serious about this. We have rules in this house and she knows Dylan is not allowed to be here when were not home. Yeah, this time is was just kissing, but what about next time? Do you really trust that kid?"
"Dylan's a good kid, Sonny, you know that. Besides, I trust Arianna, we've had the talk with her, and she's a smart girl."
"We?" Sonny said pointedly. "I'm the one thathad the talk with her, I'm the one that makes her do her homework, I'm the one that has to harp on her to do her chores, I'm the one who's unfair and horrible because I yell when I catch her and her boyfriend on the couch in the dark! I'm sick of being the bad guy."
Will looked at him in disbelief, "Son, where's all this coming from? Why have you never told me that that's how you feel?" Will pulled a chair from kitchen table and offered it to Sonny, "Sit down, let's talk about this."
"I don't want to sit, Will." Sonny kicked the chair forcefully, sliding it back under the table. "What I want is to not be the only one raising our daughter!" he shouted.
"What the hell does mean?" Will snapped back at him.
Sonny stood silently staring at Will and saw the hurt and confusion fill in his blue eyes. He regretted his words as soon as they escaped his lips. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, letting it out with a loud sigh, running his hand through his hair. "You know what… nothing, I'm sorry."
Will reached out for him, "Sonny, talk to me."
"Um... I need to get back to the coffee shop." Sonny said, avoiding Will's touch. "Can you go talk to her? Just make sure she's okay, please?" he asked, grabbing his jacket and keys and heading to the front door.
"Yeah, sure." Will replied softly, "Sonny…"
"We'll talk later. I just… I just need to clear my head, okay?" Sonny walked out, letting the door shut behind him.
Will stood in the hall staring at the closed door in front of him trying to figure out what had just happened. A wave of insecurity like he has not felt in years seeped into his bones. "What just happened?"
()()()()()()()()()()()()
Will knocked on Arianna's door, "Ari? It's me, open up."
Arianna opened the door and walked back to her bed silently, sitting back down against the headboard with her legs crossed underneath her.
He stepped in and looked around the room, noticing posters on the wall and pictures of Arianna and her friends that he had not seen before. Trophies and awards he couldn't remember. He suddenly couldn't think of the last time he was in his daughter's room. "Mind if I sit down?" he asked her, pointing to the space in front of her on the bed.
"No." she replied shyly with her head down, covered by the hood of her sweatshirt.
Will picked up some pillows off the bed and threw them on the chair, and sat down. He placed his hand on her knee, "Ari, sweetie, look at me." he said reassuringly. Arianna pulled the hood off and lifted her head to Will. He frowned when he saw her tear stained cheeks. "Are you okay?" Arianna nodded at Will, sniffling. "Do you want to tell me what happened with you and Dad?"
"Dylan and I were just kissing, I swear, but Dad went crazy, he got so mad." she told him.
"Why was Dylan here in the first place? You know he's not supposed to be here when we're not home."
"He wasn't in school yesterday; he just came by to get the Algebra assignment."
Will looked at her knowingly, "Come on, Ari. You couldn't just tell him that over the phone or text him? At the least you could have waited until your Dad or I was home."
Arianna nodded again, "I guess." She scooted to the edge of bed next to Will, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his chest. Will put his arms around her and pulled her close as she started to cry.
"He hates me." Her voice was quiet.
"Who, Dylan? He'll be fine, I'll talk to him if you want."
"Not Dylan. Dad hates me."
"Hah, are you kidding me?" Will chuckled to her, "Dad does not hate you, far from it. You're the best thing that ever happened to him. He loves you more than you could ever know." Will gently pulled Arianna's head from his chest and smiled at her, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Did I ever tell you about the first time he met you?"
Arianna shook her head, "No" she said softly, resting her head again on Wills chest.
Will wrapped his arm around her again, pulling her back in close. "You were about two months old. You're dad and I had just had a big fight, totally my fault by the way, and we hadn't talked to each other in a few months; again, totally my fault. I was a new dad and you're mom had just died…" Will's voice cracked as he mentioned Gabi. "Anyway, I was scared out of my mind. I wanted to call him so bad, but I just didn't know what to say. One night he just showed up at my door, and he was mad, I mean mad. He screamed at me for not talking to him, cussed me out for not letting him help me, he was mad. He forced me to talk to him until we worked things out, finally, and I was so happy. The happiest days of my life are the day you were born and that day, two months later when I saw him holding you. Your Dad and I were… um… getting reacquainted… when you started crying. I got up and he followed me into your room and watched me change you and put you back in your crib. He stayed in there when I went to get you a bottle… I don't know what he said to you, but… all I heard was you laughing and him laughing back at you… God, I loved that sound." Will wiped the beginning of a tear from his eye. "When I came back in he was just sitting there, staring down at you in his arms. You kept reaching up for his chin… and the look on his face…" Will smiled wide thinking of the memory of Sonny that night holding Arianna for the first time.
Will kissed her on her head. "He loves you so much. He just wants to keep you safe, sweetie, he's always going to protect you. But believe me, that's a hard thing to do when you're just growing up so fast. Sometimes he feels like… we feel like… you don't need us anymore."
"I'm only fourteen, Daddy."
"Yeah, I know." Will sighed, "But in a few years you'll be graduating from high school and then off to college..." Will looked around her room again at all the things he had never seen, and his voice cracked again with regret, finishing his sentence in a whisper to himself. "…and all I've done for six years is work."
Arianna looked up to Will, "Are you okay, Daddy."
Will wiped his eyes again. "Yeah, I'm fine sweetie." He stood up from the bed, "Tell you what, why don't you go wash your face and we'll go get some dinner? I'm going to go call your Dad and ask him to join us. Sound like a plan?"
She got up and wrapped her arms around Will, hugging him tightly. "I love you, Daddy."
Will choked back a sob, "I love you too, Sweetie. Now go get cleaned up."
()()()()()()()()()()()()
Sonny wiped the front counter of the off after the small rush of customers finished up. "Are you good by yourself for a little bit, Lauren? I've got some paperwork to finish up before I leave."
"Sure thing." Lauren replied.
"Great. Call me if you need help." He grabbed his clipboard and headed to the back office. Sonny pulled his phone from his pocket and saw that he had a missed a call from Will. He'd been going over in his head all afternoon what he was going to say when he apologized. Sonny took a deep breath, and called Will back.
Will was sitting in dark on the edge of the tub in his and Sonny's bathroom with his head in his hands, when the phone on the counter started buzzing. Will picked it up pressed 'answer', then put the phone to his ear.
Sonny heard Will pick up and could hear him breathing on the other end of the phone, but Will didn't speak. "Will?" He still didn't answer, just breathing on the other end. "Will, is everything okay?"
"You were right." Will said quietly, his voice low.
"Right about what?" Sonny questioned.
"You do it all. I don't know how I never saw it. I'm so sorry, Sonny."
"No, Will. You were right, I overreacted. I shouldn't have said that. You're a great father."
"Son, I feel like I don't even know her anymore. I don't know who her friends are or what her favorite subject in school is." Will sniffled and wiped his eyes with the backs of his sleeve. "I've missed years of her life… our life. How did I not see it?"
"Will, it's not that bad. You missed a couple spelling bees, so what. You're there every night, every weekend. You're being too hard on yourself."
"Even when I'm at home with you guys, my face is always buried in my computer. It's not fair to you or Arianna. I can't be that guy anymore, Sonny."
"I don't know what that means, Will." He told him. Will was silent again on the other end of the phone.
"It means I need a change, Honey." Will said. "Listen, Arianna and I are going to the pub for dinner, why don't you come and meet us..." Will pulled the envelope with Ellis's offer in it from his jacket pocket, "…I have some news to tell you."
"What news?"
"You'll have to come to dinner if you want to know."
"I have to finish some stuff here first, give me about an hour, okay?"
"Sure, Honey. Ari and I will meet you at the pub in an hour."
"Is Ari alright? Does she hate me?" Sonny asked.
"What is it with you two? She asked me the same thing about you. Of course she doesn't hate you, Son. She adores you. You just embarrassed her in front of Dylan, she'll get over it. You can talk to her tonight."
"Tell her I love her for me?"
"I will. We'll see you in an hour. Call me when you're on the way, okay?"
"Sure thing, Sweets. Bye."
"Bye, Son."
"Wait! Will? You still there?"
"I'm here."
"I love you."
"I love you too, Honey, so much. I'll see you in a bit."
An hour and fifteen minutes later Sonny was finishing up at the coffee shop. He slipped his jacket on and walked out to the front. "I'm taking off, Lauren. I'll see you tomorrow. Call me if you have any problems closing."
"Will do, Sonny. Have a good night." Lauren called to him as he walked out the door.
Sonny zipped up his jacket, taking his phone from his pocket to call Will and let him know he was on the way. He pressed Will's number and stepped out into the street.
Will and Arianna sat in the corner table of the pub waiting on Sonny. "Do you know what you want? He asked her.
"Probably the chicken wrap." she said. "That way I'll still have room for desert. Dad and I always split a piece of red velvet cake."
"He does love red velvet cake." Will agreed.
Arianna glanced down at her watch. "Why is he always late?" she asked Will.
Will laughed. "Sweetie, I've been asking that question for almost sixteen years. Some things will always be a mystery." The two of them laughed as Will's phone rang, "His ears must be burning." He said reaching for his phone. He picked the phone off the table but didn't recognize the number.
"Is it Dad?" Arianna asked.
He shook his head no to her, "Hello?" Will said, answering his phone. "Yes, this is Will Horton." Will stood up abruptly, and walked away from the table. "What!?"
Arianna sat at the table watching as Will talked on the phone and noticed his demeanor change. She couldn't make out what he was saying but could tell he was upset. He hung the phone up and turned back to her. Will's face was pale with fear and tears rolled down his cheeks. She started cry as soon as she saw him. Will walked back over to the table "Ari, Sweetie, Um…"
"What happened?" She asked through her sobs, "Where's Dad?"
"Sweetie… there's been an accident."
…end of part 1…
