Grace had burst through Karen's door seeming more distraught than ever. She was sitting on her kitchen counter eating through a jar of cocktail olives and turned to Grace with a confused look on her face. She had explained that she was still having the same problems with Nathan, but they had seemed to multiply and he was noticing as well. She once again needed help.
Felicity walked into her apartment after work to see her mother in an intense lip lock with Grace. She scrunched her face and cringed while she hung her purse up on a hook and closed the door. The two women never paid her any attention, they only renewed the kiss.
"What are you doing?" Her only response was Karen's forefinger in the air, just a second. She pulled her tongue out of Grace's mouth and bit her bottom lip as she pulled away.
"And that's about all it takes to make it happen, honey." Karen said to Grace as she wiped her smeared lipstick, seemingly unfazed by the mini-make-out session.
"Mom, what's going on? Nobody wants to come home to see that."
"Grace is having a little problem and I was helping her with it."
"What kind of a problem is there that you need to be all over each other?"
"Well, nosey, if you must know I was helping by teaching her how I turn myself on at the same time that I turn Will on. She's in a bit of a pickle." She turned back to face her friend while her daughter scoffed and walked over to the refrigerator for a bottle of water. She rolled her eyes as Karen gave Grace advice that only she would ever be daring enough to try, including a story about a blowjob in a restaurant. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Honey, could you get that please?"
Felicity sat her water on the counter and sighed. The knocking on the door persisted as she turned the handle and came face to face with the uninvited guest. He was very much an uninvited guest and it caused her to gasp in surprise.
"Dad?"
Karen's heart stopped when she heard her daughter's gasp and turned to see the man in the doorway. She felt as if she were getting ready to vomit when Felicity motioned for him to walk forward and she grabbed Grace's hand and held it tightly. Grace looked at her in confusion, but squeezed her hand back in a form of comfort while she awaited an explanation for her friend's sudden fear. The man finally spoke up.
"Felicity, I have been searching the far corners of the globe for you and I finally find out that you're here. Why the hell would you just run away without telling me? And worst of all, why would you move this far away from home?"
"I ran away because I had to find mom."
His eyes darted up from his daughter and met Karen's in a chilling motion. Her breath hitched and got caught in her throat, but she hid it well and held her head high. His jaw tightened in anger and he swiftly walked over to yell at her, standing too close.
"You couldn't stay away from her could you? You disgust me, you know that. She was fine and happy with me and all of a sudden you pop back into the picture. I should have known that you would look to ruin my life like this. It's revenge, right? Revenge because you were always a piece of shit and you couldn't handle moving on with your life!"
"How conceited can you be?" She angrily responded to the man who was yelling in her face. "She wanted to meet me. She came here to find out where she came from. Nothing in this situation is about you; it's about my daughter…"
"She's my daughter! You were just the whore who couldn't keep her birth control straight! By the looks of it you still have that problem!" He motioned to her enlarged stomach.
"Okay, you need to cool down." Grace said as she stepped in between the two feuding parents. "Maybe you should come back when you aren't so angry."
"Who are you, her lesbian lover?"
"Fuck you! What if I am?" Grace began before Karen pulled her away from the man. She hugged her by pressing her cheek against her face and whispered into her ear.
"Honey, please get Will over here. I'm scared." She pulled back and looked into her eyes, worry shinning in the back of her expression. Grace nodded and quickly made her way over to Will's apartment. "Matt, I really don't have anything to say to you."
"Then say goodbye to Felicity because she's coming home with me." He walked over to her kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
"Like hell she is! You can't make her leave if she doesn't want to go!" He slammed the refrigerator door and got right back in her face.
"She wants to go!"
"That isn't for you to decide!"
"Mom, Dad, stop!" Felicity screamed over the voices of her parents. They turned their heads to look at her and she walked forward. "Why is it that you two have to yell? I'm eighteen years old and I will live wherever I fucking please! I'm not a child anymore." As if he didn't even hear her, Matt continued yelling at Karen.
"Look how she talks now! Have you just been sitting on your fat ass and letting her run wild?" Will rushed through the door, knowing very well that Karen had a very heated past with her second husband. He walked toward her and stood behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders as she finished her statement.
"I think you should just leave." Will stared at the man; his eyes squinted in attempt to intimidate.
"Dad, please. I'll give you my cell phone number and we can all go to dinner tomorrow night. That is, if we can talk without screaming."
"That's fine, but you're coming with me."
"No I'm not. I live here with Mom and I'm not going anywhere." She handed him a slip of paper with her cell phone number on it before she opened the door and waited for him to leave. He kept his mouth closed and quickly walked out the door, knowing that it was time to stop. After the door closed behind him Karen sighed and felt her body deflate against Will's body.
"Sweetie, are you alright?" Will asked as he pulled her close from behind.
"I'm fine, honey."
"But Grace said…"
"Well, she was wrong. I'm fine." She snapped as she released herself from Will's grip and walked over to her daughter. "Honey, are you okay?"
"I'm just angry. I can't believe that he came in here and started yelling at you like that." She moved to sit on the couch and let out a deep breath. "But I think we can all talk it out tomorrow at dinner."
"I'm not going, honey."
"Why not?" She took a seat next to her daughter and took her hand.
"Because, I can't look at him without wanting to kill him."
"But he's changed. All of that stuff that you went through with him is in the past. I've lived with him my whole life and he's never laid a finger on me. Please, Mom, do it for me just once." She pleaded, looking deep into her mother's eyes. She was silently begging for a chance, a small favor.
"I'll think about it." She whispered after a small bout of silence. She kissed her daughter's cheek and walked around the couch to take Will's hand before she led him to her room and closed the door.
They didn't speak as she undressed and put on a pair of pajamas that Will had gotten her the past Christmas. She walked over to him and kissed him softly on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close as she broke the kiss and hugged him to her.
"Kare, are you going to be alright?"
"Just don't ever leave me alone with him and everything will be perfect." He stripped down to only his boxers before they lay down in bed together and he pulled her to him tightly. She buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arm around his waist.
"You told me before that the reason for your divorce was because you fought a lot." He put a finger beneath her chin and lifted her hazel eyes to meet his. "He used to hit you didn't he?"
The question was asked in a whisper, but the words were louder than anything that she had ever heard. She kissed him quickly and slid her leg in between his in a form of comfort. She knew that the day would come that she would have to voice her regrets to Will, but she was hoping for later rather than sooner. She gave a small, fragile smile before she began to tell him the truth.
"Please just don't leave me alone with him."
