Chapter 28
Your Dad Was What?
“Brandon started dating a girl my dad didn't approve of, and things got ugly,” Adrian explains.
I can tell this is going to be a hard story for him to tell, so I wait and listen.
“He did everything he could to keep them apart. Brandon’s junior year, dad paid off her parents to basically move her out of town and keep her away from him. Brandon was never right after that. As soon as he graduated high school he went looking for her. My aunt helped, thinking he would see her, get his closure and he could move on. After all, it was only teenage love, but having her ripped away, seemed to make him love her more.”
I know all too well what that’s like. I remember the day that Jack, my high school sweetheart left. We had talked about our future together, then one day he was gone, with one text to say goodbye.
“Did he find her,” I ask, trying to push away my own memories.
Adrian shakes his head. “No, a few months after he started looking, he joined the marines.”
I’m horrible at being supportive and saying the right things when people need it, but I am good at using sarcasm.
”All of that and they’re still not together. That doesn't sound like a book I’d want to read."
Adrian shakes his head. "No, but you may get to hear it in person soon. He’s got leave coming up, so he’ll be visiting.”
I give him a genuine smile. I like the idea of seeing Adrian with his brother.
Trying to lighten the mood again, I tease. "Oooh is he hot? Maybe I can help get him on the path to trying out new women."
I fully expected Adrian to tell me to stay away, but I didn't expect to see the anger that flashes across his face.
“Don't even think about it. I love my brother but if I see his hands or his mouth anywhere near you, I will kick his big bad marine ass all the way back to Texas."
Well, okay then. Moving on. “Tell me how you got back here, to Ohio?”
He tucks my hair behind my ear, then stares at my lips for a few beats before looking away, and going on with his story.
“My mom’s sister, Diane, lived back here in Ohio, and we were in Texas. Diane would call and come see us a couple times a year, but she had no idea how bad things were. It wasn't until my junior year in high school that I finally reached out to her. I was getting close to turning eighteen and was terrified of what would happen to my brothers. Typically, when my dad and I got into a fight, he’d threaten to throw me out of the house, and that was before I was eighteen. I had no doubt that once I was eighteen, he wouldn't hesitate to throw me out, leaving Brandon to raise the boys.”
I can’t picture Adrian, this guy who goofs off, and acts like a kid at the age of twenty-one, raising four boys. When he was twelve, he would have been changing diapers on the twins, worrying about what to feed them, and what else? Was he in charge of where they went for daycare and did he pack lunches for everyone?
By the time he was seventeen, he’d practically been a dad for five years. He knew how hard it was, plus always wondering when his dad would get drunk again and he didn’t want Brandon to have that burden.
“What did you tell your aunt?” I ask although I want to ask much more.
“The truth,” he says, shrugging. “I told her how everything had been since mom died, my dad was only providing for the family. The only thing he cared about was that we were all getting good grades, and staying out of trouble.”
So Adrian did homework with the boys? He would’ve had to for all of them to keep good grades. I close my eyes, trying to fully grasp all he’d been through.
He goes on. “My dad only cared about those things because it would reflect badly on him if his boys were hoodlums.” He pauses for emphasis. “Because he was the town mayor.”
My eyes fly open and I try again to turn to face, but he squeezes his arm tighter around my waist. Apparently he wants me where I am.
“Your dad was the mayor?” I repeat because it just doesn’t seem right. He was responsible for an entire city, but couldn’t take care of his boys.
"Yep, every time I would see him on TV or we would have to go to some public event with him, I wanted to scream out and tell everyone what a fake he was.” I feel his body getting more rigid the more he recalls. “Anyway, after I told my aunt she started getting things in place. By the beginning of my senior year, she came out to Texas to see us. She met with me first and told me she was going to work with my dad to get custody of the boys, but I had to agree to go to college and work hard to get my degree. Of course I agreed because the idea of getting my boys out of that house was all that mattered to me."
I love how he calls them “my boys.” I guess when you raise kids from the ages of two and five, they do become like your own.
"When did you all move out?"
He lets out a long breath as if just the memory gives him relief. “Right after I graduated. My dad gave guardianship to my aunt, not custody. He didn’t want to look like a bad father giving up full custody of his children. He told everyone that my brothers wanted to be close to me, where I was going to school, which is why they were going to live with Diane. To this day he still has custody and could take back the boys at any time, but my aunt threatened to fight him, at which time all the details of what happened after my mom died would come out."
"I like your aunt,” I say sincerely.
"She is an amazing lady,” he agrees. “My only regret is that I didn't call her sooner. I wish the boys could of had her as a parent instead of their teenage brother who had no clue what he was doing."
Adrian transitioned from an eighteen-year-old parent of four to a college freshman with no responsibility. I definitely understand him better. Unfortunately, that merely makes it harder for me to pretend I feel nothing for him. I feel so much for him right now, at this moment, I’m in danger of saying incredibly stupid shit.