As promised, here is the next chapter. In general, I'll be updating this story every Tuesday. It will become more often if I'm ever more than five chapters ahead in terms of drafts. It might be less often if I fall behind. My goal is to always be at least one (if not two or more) chapters ahead of updates here…just because having people wait for eons with this story seems a little mean.
Again, this story does have language and adult situations. I might be overcautious in the M rating, but better safe than sorry.
It Was All About Love For
By: December
Chapter 1: There's a picture on my kitchen wall
Last time: "Okay. I'll start at the beginning of this mess, when my parents met. When Derek met Sally."
James had a far away look in his eyes as he started. "Derek was working there first. He'd actually been promoted to assistant manager, even though he was only a junior in high school. Other than that, he was your typical high school student. Girl crazed. Cocky. Believed he was invincible. Sally started working there her senior year in high school. She was a pretty blonde that didn't do drama. They had the potential to be great friends, until they screwed it up."
"Screwed it up?" Dr. Lawrence asked.
"They started dating."
"And that was bad?" Dr. Lawrence asked. "Kids are usually pro their parents dating back in the day."
"Not always," James returned. "But regardless, it was their reasoning for getting into a relationship that was the problem."
"Their reasoning?"
"Sally, although she would never admit it, was on the rebound from a relationship that meant more to her than anyone realized at the time. Derek, well besides his out of control ego, well…he was in denial about something. He was in such denial about it, that he tried to date the problem away. Sally wasn't the first. She wasn't even the first serious one – that was Kendra. Sally, however, could both be sub and anti for Derek, a way of getting what he really wanted but showing that he didn't really want it."
"That…that sounds-"
"Messy? Probably. But they were dense enough that they didn't notice it right away. And in the beginning, she was still around. Derek still had her in his life."
"Wait…so your father-"
"Derek," James corrected
"Derek," Dr. Lawrence conceded, "cheated on Sally while they were dating?"
"No, not cheating. Or at least no one would call it that. It was just that Derek could still fight with her, plot for her, with her, and against her. He could still annoy her. She was still there. It was in part why he needed Sally in the first place. But her presence was one of the reasons why Derek and Sally worked."
James shrugged. "So, Derek and Sally dated awhile. They got to be pretty serious, even though they were a school year apart and went to different universities. But, when Derek was a junior and Sally was a senior at university, he asked Sally to marry him – I guess because she was in a serious relationship of her own. And, as Sally had seen her ex recently and that meeting hadn't gone well, Sally accepted. So the idiots got married. They even had her in the wedding."
"Okay…so Derek and Sally married, maybe for the wrong reasons. But what-"
"I'm getting to that," James insisted. "Where was I?"
"Derek and Sally got married," Dr. Lawrence supplied.
"Yeah. Derek married Sally. They moved back to that town in Ontario. Sally worked as a special interest reporter at the local TV station. Derek worked as an independent film marker."
"Sounds exciting," Dr. Lawrence shared.
"Not really. He hadn't really done any impressive documentaries or feature films at that point. For the most part, during those years at least, he directed and filmed music videos for Canadian stars. He did that video for Emm Gryner that was finally picked up by MTV. He did some stuff for In Flight Safety, Ono-Otto, and even one of the former Canadian Idols. He wasn't famous yet.
"But he and Sally were pretty well known in the area. So, when Sally got pregnant, that little corner of Ontario seemed happy about it. Idiots."
"Why? A married couple having a child seems like a happy occasion."
"Maybe it would have been, it if weren't for her."
"Her?"
"Yeah. Derek and Sally had married because of their issues. But, as Sally's ex relocated to California in the States and she was still working on her masters so far away, the two could delude themselves for awhile. The months that Sally was pregnant were supposedly great." James shrugged.
"The two gave birth to a baby boy. They called him Mike. For the first three years of the baby's life, things seemed to go well. Then she came back."
"Is this the same 'she' that you've mentioned before?"
"Yes."
"Well, is she important? Who is she?" Dr. Lawrence asked. "Does she have a name?"
"She does, but if I tell you now, it would be like skipping to the end of the book before the stories over. You'll have to wait."
"James, I'm sure that Imani has told you that I have no patience," a genuine laugh came from Dr. Lawrence that time. "And I read the ends of books before I finish them all the time. Sometimes I read the end before I start the book."
"Well, you can't this time. So you'll have to wait."
"Fine," Dr. Lawrence pouted and then smiled…before she seemed to remember why James was telling the story. Then she quieted and the smile dropped away.
Ignoring the queasy feeling that had replaced the lead ball in his stomach, James continued. "Like I was saying, life was fine, until she came back. She'd finished up her graduate work and was looking for a job in the area. Derek practically insisted that he needed to help with the search. At first Sally was okay with that…but as it took more and more time, Sally began to object. Which led to the fights.
"By the time Mike was four, the fights were continuous. When Sally wasn't screaming at her husband, she was looking for a way to escape the mess that was their household – relying more and more on substances to do it. Derek, when he wasn't shouting back at Sally, wasn't around. Derek and Sally had a messy split that year. Mike stayed with Sally."
"Did Derek then stop seeing Mike?" Dr. Lawrence asked, something like empathy shining in her eyes. It confused James for a moment until he thought about it. Imani had mentioned that her maternal grandparents divorced when her mother was young and that her maternal grandfather wasn't a big part of her mother's life. Of course, she would make the logical jump that Mike was abandoned.
"No. Derek and Sally actually had joint custody of Mike. It was something they fought over; Derek refusing to give away full custody. Sally would insist in many a discussion that happened later that Derek's refusal had nothing to do with Mike and everything to do with having a way to control Sally."
"But Mike lived with Sally?"
"Yeah," James shrugged. "Sally insisted that uprooting 'her Mikey' from his home wasn't fair. And Derek seemed to accept that initially, but probably because she was around. Six months after Sally and Derek's divorce was final, Derek married that woman. The one who was always there. The reason Derek was dating in denial in the first place."
"So this she became Mike's stepmother?"
"That would be the legal definition. Not that Mike really knew her at that point. Derek never brought her around when he came to see Mike. Even during the weekends that Mike spent with his father, she wasn't around. It was probably Derek's attempt to placate Sally – as Mike's mother wasn't in a good place."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," the young man shrugged, "in some cases divorces fix problems. It did for Derek at least," James couldn't help but sneer, "but for Sally? Remember, she was hung up on an ex who hadn't wanted her at the beginning of this mess, hence her relationship with Derek in the first place. After the split and his quick remarriage, Sally started on a downward spiral."
"Whoa. Poor Mike," was Dr. Lawrence's comment.
That comment caused James to pause. In the few times he told the story, no one had ever had that reaction before. Admittedly, two of the three times he told the story previously he wasn't…well, sober was probably the best word. But the third time, the so called professional hadn't expressed any sympathy for Mike.
"Why – why would you feel for Mike?" James finally asked.
Dr. Lawrence smiled encouragingly as she patted James' hands that were sitting her desk by this point. "Why wouldn't I? He lost his father, in a sense. Sure, his father was still around…but not in the same way he was when Mike was younger. And then, he had to watch his mother fall apart, blaming his father the whole time. And probably not paying as much attention to him as she should."
James shrugged.
"How old was Mike at this time?" Dr. Lawrence asked.
"Five," James answered. "He stayed with Sally for three years."
"So, from five to eight, the little boy watched his mother fall apart?"
"Yeah," James said quietly.
"What happened when Sally's Mikey was eight?" Dr. Lawrence asked after a few minutes of silence."
"The party. The party that changed the whole picture."
Lwdloveforlwdloveforlwd
It was a sunny Friday in October. As third grader trudged up to his house, he wondered what would happen that weekend. His father was supposed to pick him up tomorrow, which was guaranteed to make his mother scream bloody murder. She always fought when his father came to get him. And, although Mike did like spending time with his father, he couldn't express that to his mother. He had said that he liked seeing his father once in his mother's presence and she suddenly started screaming and crying, threatening to die and leave him to his father. That had scared Mike, so he had taken to hiding until his father came and then rushing out.
So, if his father came, he'd spend some time with just him. His father had remarried, and, while his grandparents had mentioned her at one birthday party years ago, Mike had never met her. And probably wouldn't meet he this weekend. Although his father never said, Mike figured that he had to be some kind of burden if his father couldn't have his wife around when his son was there. Sure, he'd probably have some fun with his father. There was a hockey game tomorrow night and his father was doing a documentary on the Leafs, so he might get to meet some of the players over the weekend.
Of course, he'd come home to a wreaked house. His mother always had parties while he was away. "I was so lonely," she'd say when he'd get home. "Your bastard of a father was out having fun – taking you away from me. What was I supposed to do? My friends help me forget."
Her friends broke stuff, acted weird, and in general made Mike uncomfortable. And he'd be the one to clean up the mess. His mother didn't work anymore, but it didn't mean she cleaned anything. If he didn't want to spend days around bottles, cans, glass, spoiled food and the like, he had to clean. So his Sunday afternoons after seeing his father, he spent cleaning. Naturally, those weekends his homework wouldn't get done…usually resulting in a phone screaming match between his parents.
He kinda wished it was already Tuesday.
"Mom, I'm home," he called as he walked into the house. As he passed the living room, he noticed that there were bottles in coolers and stacks of plates on coffee table. "Mom?"
"In the kitchen, Mikey."
Mike walked back to the kitchen to see his mother unwrapping trays of food. "What's going on, Mom?"
"I'm having a party!" she replied gaily, as she stayed focused on her task.
A party. Uh-oh. But she usually didn't throw her first party of the weekend until Saturday afternoon. "But it's Friday," he told his mother.
"So?"
"I thought that you had parties on Saturdays."
"Well, I wanted to have the party on Friday this time. I have the time; I should be able to have a party anything I want."
"It's just that," Mike hesitated, "well, Dad is coming to get me this weekend."
"So what? I'm sick of changing my schedule around for that bastard shit."
Normally, that would be enough for Mike to drop the subject. But he was worried about what the house would look like on Saturday. His dad's place was always so clean, and this house looked okay before the parties. But after them – it looked pretty bad.
"I just mean, wouldn't it be better to wait until-"
"Hell, no!" his mother stopped to shout. "I'm my own woman. I can do whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want. I'm through with playing second or changing my schedule so that fucking bastard shit could have things easier. Screw him. You bend over backwards for an asshole, the shit just leaves anyway."
"Uh, Mom-"
"God! Sometimes you are just like your father," his mother said. And it was clear that wasn't praise.
Her comment did finally silence him. He figured some of his discomfort showed on his face, because his mother paused in her task and walked over to him. Giving him a hug, she said, "Sorry, baby. I just want to have some fun. I'm so lonely when you're gone. And you'll be gone most of the weekend. I just hate these Friday nights-"
"It's okay, Mom," the boy mumbled, hoping that would be enough to stop her from crying. Luck seemed to be on his side, because he didn't hear a telltale sniffle.
"Good. Love you, Mikey."
"Love you, too, Mom."
"Oooo! You can help me get ready for the party!" she suddenly exclaimed.
That's how the boy found himself in the kitchen, unwrapping food trays, filling ice buckets, and taking chilled beer and wine coolers out of the refrigerator. As he looked up at the wall by the sink – he was rinsing out a punch bowl for something his mother called cosmopolitans – he saw a familiar picture. It had been there as long as he could remember; he thought it was maybe something that his father had put up. He thought it was a picture of The Last Supper. He'd heard about the Last Supper from the few times his mother or father had dragged him to church, although they hadn't done that for a long time.
He heard the car in the drive, but he ignored it initially. But, after he didn't hear a car door close, he looked up. There was a nice car in the driveway, it belonged to one of his mother's friends. He'd seen it in the drive after parties before. At first, he didn't think people were in the car. Squinting a bit, he was able to make a person – or persons? One of them seemed to be in the others lap. And there must have been kissing, because their faces were smushed together. That was a sign that he should finish up.
So, as the party got started, the boy trudged upstairs to hide. Hoping and praying that the house wasn't a total mess in the morning.
Lwdloveforlwdlovefor
"Wait," Dr. Lawrence interrupted. "Why did Mike go hide?"
James shrugged. "It was his mother's party. They tended to get a little…out of control."
"Did any-" Dr. Lawrence stopped as if she was wrestling with a rather nasty idea. "Did any of the party guest ever hurt Mikey? Or make him uncomfortable? Or try to touch him a place they shouldn't-"
"No!" James shouted. "I mean, no," he said a little more calmly. "Sure, Sally was a mess, but she wouldn't have allowed that. No, Mike hid because he – well, I guess he didn't like the way his mother looked an acted at those parties."
"Understandable. But what made this party so different? Besides that it took place on a Friday night."
"What made this party different was the fallout Saturday morning."
- to be continued -