"There he is." Sheryl pointed Steve out to Olive as he approached them from the gate exit.
"Thanks for coming dad." Dwayne acknowledged his father with a very small smile.
"Hey, no problem, are you ok?" Steve looked at his son trying to read his seemingly emotionless expression.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Dwayne offered his father another small smile.
"And you must be Olive." Steve smiled down at Olive and bent his knees a little so that he was at her eye level. "I have heard so many good things about you. I'm Steven, Steven Caulbury, but you can call me Steve, Dwayne's father." He put out his hand for Olive to shake, and she shook it.
"Hi. It's nice to meet you." Olive smiled back at him, he seemed nice enough to her, but she still didn't want her half brother to go with him.
"Hey there Steve, it's been a long time." Frank shook Steve's hand.
"Well Frank, I'll be damned. Dwayne said you were staying with them, I didn't know if you'd come out or not. How have you been?"
"I've been a lot better lately," Frank smiled. All of the smiling was making Sheryl sick, everyone was so happy to see Steve but her.
"Hello Steve, it's um, well it's been awhile."
"Yeah, it has, hi Sheryl." There was an awkward pause for a moment. "Hey, let's go and get my bags." They all trudged towards the baggage claim in a semi awkward silence, no one really knowing what to say.
"I'll go and brink the car around, Olive, do you want to come?" asked Frank.
"No, I'll-oh yeah, sure." Olive switched her answer mid sentence as she caught the look on Frank's face that basically said to her 'let the three of them talk.' Frank and Olive headed towards the parking lot.
"So Dwayne, things are really getting bad huh? Sheryl told me about your, um, problem." Steve looked at his son.
"Yeah, I guess so." Dwayne wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "I'm trying really hard to fix that problem though."
"Good for you, good for you. When we get back to Florida we can find a really good doctor for you who can help you out."
"We could get him a doctor here too you know."
"Sheryl, stop fighting this. I wouldn't be here if I didn't think that taking Dwayne was the best decision. It's what he wants Sheryl." Steve looked intently at his ex wife. Dwayne's glance flitted between his mother and father. He had heard them fighting many times before, so this was nothing new to him.
"I don't think its best. I think that relocating him right now, at this point in his life, would only confuse things, and ultimately make them worse." Sheryl raised her voice ever so slightly.
"But what does Dwayne think? It's his life, he should have some say in the matter," added Steve in a calmer tone then Sheryl was using.
"He doesn't know what he wants; he isn't old enough to know what he wants yet!"
"Really Sheryl? Because I think that he does." The two of them began to attract attention as Steve joined Sheryl, and raised his voice.
"Let's talk about this later, ok?" Sheryl hissed at Steve.
"Sounds good to me." Dwayne grabbed Steve's bag, and the three of them proceeded to the car waiting/ pick up area where Frank and Olive were waiting with the car. They all piled in, Frank driving, Steve riding up front in the passengers seat, Sheryl and Olive in the middle row, and Dwayne in the back all alone. They drove up to the rental car agency where Steve was supposed to rent a car. "Dwayne, do you want to come with me?" Steve asked as he got out of the Volkswagen bus.
"Yeah, sure. Frank, Olive, I'll see you guys later, ok?" Dwayne hopped out of the car.
"You guys are gonna be alright, right?" asked Frank.
"Yup, we will be just fine, thanks."
"Steve, you have the home telephone number, and my cell number, right? Call us if you aren't going to bring Dwayne straight home.
"I will, we'll see you all back at the house soon." Steve and Dwayne walked into the rental agency office. "Hi, uh we made arrangements for a car?" Steve said to the woman at the desk.
"Can I have your name please?" she asked politely.
"Steven Caulbury."
"Ok, I see you have pre-paid, is that correct?"
"Yes, yes it is."
"Ok, well here are the terms, and the rental agreement, I am going to need you to read and sign both of those for me please." The woman handed Steve the papers, which he looked over carefully before signing them and returning them to the woman. "Ok, great, thank you." The woman input some information into her computer. "Ok, good, and here is the information on your car, the keys to the car, and parking space number that the car is parked in, as well as the space to return the car to. So you are all set to go. Have a lovely day gentlemen." Steve took all of the papers and things that she handed him and thanked her. They walked out of the office and into the parking area to find the car.
"Are you driving yet? I remember you looking over that driving manual last time I saw you." asked Steve.
"Yeah, I've had my permit now for almost seven months, I'm all set to get my license in a couple of months on my birthday."
"Why don't you drive then?" Steve tossed the keys to Dwayne, who caught them with the hands he wasn't using to carry Steve's duffle bag. "And I think that this is us right over here." Both of them looked at the sparkling silver Jetta in front of them.
"Ok." Dwayne pushed a button on the keys and the door unlocked, then he popped the trunk and threw Steve's bag into it. Then he proceeded to the driver's seat and started up the car.
"So, are you sure you are ready for a change to Florida?"
"Yeah, I am. I'm going positively crazy here. It's time for a change I think." Dwayne focused his eyes on the road.
"Well, from what I've seen so far and what I've heard about Richard from you, that's understandable. He isn't hurting you is her?" Steve's eyes were focused on the bruise that Richard had given Dwayne he had grabbed him. The bruise looked vaguely like a handprint.
"Not physically, no. What makes you ask that?"
"I was just wondering you know, since you hate him so much. So is he hurting you emotionally?"
"Sort of I guess, he's mainly just fucking around with my head right now."
"I'm sorry about him. When Sheryl was awarded custody of you initially, we all thought that she had better judgment in men. I apologize if he is wrecking your life." Steve sounded genuinely apologetic.
"It's ok, it's not your fault in any way. Things will get better. Do you really think that mom will take this to court?" Dwayne asked. He felt weird asking it, but he wanted an answer, so he put it out there anyway.
"No, I think that when it all comes down to it, it's going to end up being your choice." Steve said. "I'm all for letting this be your decision. You wrote to me and asked me for help, so I'm just here to help you. If you feel that staying right here in Albuquerque is the right thing to do, then do it. I'm behind you whatever you choose."
"So, are we going to your hotel first or are we heading towards home, because I need to know so that I go the right way."
"Uh, let's go to your house, I need to talk to Sheryl." At Steve's proclamation, Dwayne turned on to his street, and pulled up in front of his house.
"Ok, here we go…this is it." Dwayne turned off the car, and returned the keys to Steve. The two of them walked inside.
"Hey," Frank said as they walked into the front room of the house.
"Do you know if Sheryl is here?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, she is. Sheryl! Steve and Dwayne are back!" Sheryl came out from the hallway when she heard Frank hollering at her.
"Frank, Dwayne, Olive, why don't you guys go to a movie or something, Steve and I need to talk. Richard won't be back until later anyway, so stay out as long as you like." Sheryl explained to them.
"Alright," said Frank, and he, Olive, and Dwayne left Sheryl and Steve alone.
"We need to figure out what we are going to do about this…today," said Steve.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Are we going to take this thing to court or not?"
"I have been thinking about this a lot, and Dwayne has enough problems without a court case on his mind. I really want to keep him here with me, but he's making it very clear that this isn't what he wants, and I want him to be happy…" Sheryl trailed off, not wanting Dwayne to leave, but wanting him to be happy.
"So we let him choose?" asked Steve.
"Yeah, I guess so." Sheryl gave in. For the next hour and a half, they worked on logistics for Dwayne's impending move to Florida. Just as they were wrapping up, the others came home from their outing. They looked from Sheryl, to Steve, and then to each other.
"So, what's going down?" asked Dwayne.
"Frank, Olive, Steven and I need to talk to Dwayne alone." The two of them quickly left the room. "Dwayne, we talked, and we decided that it was up to you. If you go to Florida, you will have to go in just about a week so that you can settle in before school starts," Sheryl explained.
"Ok," Dwayne shrugged, "I'm going to Florida."
"Honey, don't you at least want to think about it?" Sheryl asked.
"What do you think I've been doing for the past week? I just know that Florida is the right choice right now, ok?" Dwayne spoke with conviction.