Page 57 of Room Service

Dad let out a sigh. “I came here to talk. Like really talk, like I should have a long time ago.”

I was left stunned, and I couldn’t say anything to that. It was exactly what I’d wanted, but now that he was here, I wasn’t sure I wanted to have this talk at all.

“We can start with your mother,” he said, his voice going gruff. “I know I wasn’t there for you as I should have been when she passed away. I was too busy dealing with my grief at the time, and by the time I realized that it was too late. You were still a young boy, but you were slowly making yourself independent.”

I swallowed back the sudden lump in my throat. “You don’t have to say anything, Dad.”

He went on as if he hadn't heard me.

“When I realized what I’d done, I thought about how to fix it. I knew I couldn’t be there for you as much as I would like, and I didn’t want to leave you to be raised by nannies. So, I figured it was time to start looking for a second wife, maybe too soon, and I found her and brought her home. I wasn’t sure I could love again after losing your mother, but I grew to love her, and I started a new family with her. Again, it was too late by the time I realized you were isolating yourself from that family instead of trying to be a part of it. That was my second mistake.”

My hands fisted at my sides as he continued speaking. It wasn’t out of anger. My fingers were shaking, but even tightening them didn’t stop the fine trembling that was overtaking my body.

“I wasn’t sure what to do,” he continued, “as I watched you grow up looking at your half-siblings and stepmother like strangers. I tried to bridge that gap so many times, only to be met with failure, making numerous mistakes I stopped counting.”

“Why are you saying all this?” I cut in, speaking through gritted teeth, unable to stand much more. “Why are you saying all of this only now, huh?”

Finally, he turned around. His lips were flattened, and his eyes had a suspicious sheen to them.

“Because, Trent, I came here to apologize to the son I never did right by. I know this is coming late, but I would like to change that.”

I sneered at him. “You’re right about one thing—this is way too late. I’m not sure I even care anymore, so you just wasted a trip.”

“Why can't you give them a chance?” he asked with a narrowing of his eyes.

“I have given them chances,” I countered. “I talk to them, don’t I? Besides Emily, but what am I supposed to talk to her about?”

“What about Alice?” he asked, voice neutral.

I let out a harsh laugh. “There’s even less reason for me to talk to your wife. That woman is nothing but a menace, and you have no idea how many times I wish she never existed or come into our lives.”

“Trent!”

“Do you even have any idea what her brother did to me?” I shouted back, and that gave him pause. It was obvious that he had no idea. “And you seriously call yourself my father?”

We stood on opposite sides of the room just watching each other for a while. My body still trembled, while Dad just stood there looking calm. I knew he was a little flustered because I’d had time to read him under his professional mask.

“What do you mean about Alice’s brother?” he finally asked.

I let out a derisive snort. “Do you even care?”

“Trent,” he said my name in warning.

I watched him in defiance for a moment before speaking.

“You know he worked at the boarding school you sent me too, right? Right up until middle school, and then I made you send me to a high school with no affiliations to that school, and I ended up in the same place as Jessi.”

He nodded, prompting, “Go on.”

“He was my warden at the school. That gave him the right to administer disciplinary action, only, he didn’t always report it, just because he could.”

Dad’s eyes were narrowed, and I wondered if he was clued in already.

“He did something to you,” he voiced it as a statement, not a question.

I gave him a grin for his trouble. “You guessed it, Dad. The man was a bastard. And do you know what that bastard used to tell me, when he would pick me up for no reason, lock me in a room with him, then belt me until I was begging him to stop, and he still did it? He kept telling me how you were all starting a new family, how I was going to get tossed aside. And of course his sister’s little brats would be heir to everything, and she would hand him a nice little nest egg for his trouble in looking after an unwanted brat like me.”

Dad was looking at me with a shocked look that was at the same time the most satisfying thing, and yet not. I hated reliving the memories, but I wanted him to know. To realize just how deep my resentment for him went, and how it wasn’t all that unfounded.