Finding Daddy

“Danielle Marie Edwards, you will get your ass on the way home right fucking now,” my mother growled from the other end of the phone.

“I don’t think so. The only reason I’m calling is because I had a turn of conscience and decided to let you know I’m not dead. Like you’d care anyway,” I murmured the last part as I stood and looked out at the ocean from the balcony’s view.

“I care now. I want to strangle you myself,” my mother seethed.

“Oh, that’s nice. Tell your child you want to kill her. That’ll make me want to rush home,” I laughed sarcastically.

“Enough of this Danielle, come home right now,” she sighed.

“No mom. Guess what? I met Matt.” It was dead silent on the other end of the phone so I continued on. “He has a nice home, and a lovely wife. They’re sweethearts. You know the best part? He believes me and he accepts me.”

“You’re lying,” she spoke quietly.

“Oh, believe me, I’m not. He also informed me of how you left without mentioning a word to him. He didn’t abandon me, you abandoned him. You were going to let me live the rest of my life without ever meeting him!”

“I did it to protect you,” she spoke sternly. I laughed loudly.

“When is the lying going to end, Mom?!” I took a deep breath, calming myself. She wasn’t worth losing my temper. She had already cheated me out of a lot of things, my anger wasn’t going to be another. “I am not going to come home until the end of the summer. This is something I have to do, I don’t expect you to understand.”

“I don’t. This is stupid Danielle,” my mother snapped.

“Goodbye then.” I hung up and quickly unhooked the phone from the wall. I wasn’t expecting to need the phone in the hotel anymore. And I knew my mother would continue to call until I picked up and told her what she wanted to hear. Something I didn’t plan to ever say. I never did as she wanted before, why start now? I turned to Autumn to see her perched on the edge of the bed with wide eyes. I smiled sadly.

“What else happened at Matt’s house?” I opened my mouth to dish out some kind of lie, but she held up a hand and gave a slight shake of her head. “Don’t give a bullshit excuse. I knew something was bothering you the second you walked through that door. Now what happened?”

I sighed, plopping down next to her on the bed. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I melted into her side. “It really was great. But there’s this kid, Charlie…”

Matt’s P.O.V.

When I returned home, I was already furious. Danielle would never admit it, but she left because of the interaction with Charlie. What was that about anyways? Charlie was always such a nice kid to people and now… Well I don’t know. It’s crazy. He’s like a completely different person.

I locked my truck with a honk of the alarm setting. I hit a button on the wall that closed the garage door and walked through a door to step into a short hallway. At the end it emptied into the kitchen where Val was dishing out the pasta into three, matching blue bowls. She looked up with a smile.

“Good timing.” She noticed my anger and frowned. Sighing, she placed the stirring spoon into the pot and leaned a hip on the counter. “Matt, he’s almost a teenage boy. He has raging hormones and those kind get very territorial. Remember you when you were a kid?”

“I never ran another teen out of my house for no reason,” I retorted.

“You did with Johnny. Multiple times, might I add.”

“Johnny’s different. He’s…Johnny.”

“And had done nothing to you when you chased him out. Face it. Like father, like son.” I grumbled incoherent words, but Val was right. Charlie was becoming a teen and we’ll be a lot alike. I knew the day was coming one day, but let’s face it, I was hoping I was on tour or something when it happened. I'm just hoping the fist fights won't be a problem.

“Fine. I’m still going to have a talk with him.”

“Don’t you hide anything from him.” I came to a halt in my stride that was heading for the door. Did she just really say that? That was the opposite of what I expected. I slowly turned to face her. She was giving me an intense stare, as if challenging me to argue with her. “It’s going to be hard for him to accept this idea he has a half sister, but he has to be told. And don’t give me that look. You had a hard time accepting Johnny as your bassist, but you needed to when the other asshole walked out.”

“What’s with all these Johnny analogies?” I asked, flabbergasted.

“For some reason all your teen angst came out around him,” Val said with a shrug in response. I ran a hand through my hair. I hate when she’s right.

“Fine! But the only reason I’m agreeing is because I don’t want those teen hormones to come after me first,” I spoke, making an effort to point in her face. I guess as a way to emphasize my statement? Either way, it got the message across. Val smiled, pushing my hand to the side, and wrapping her arms around my waist while looking up at me.

“Fine, for your safety.” I pecked her on the lips which made her smile.

“And we’re doing it together.”

“Why, so he can just equally despise us if he doesn’t like the truth?”

“Remember, we’re doing this for my safety.” Val rolled her eyes at me, but the smile was still apparent on her face. I gave her one last peck before heading for the exit of the room. “I guess I’ll go get Angst.”

“You are not going to refer to Charlie as ‘angst’ now,” Val sighed.

“But you were the one who said he had a lot."

“To make a point!”

“And I’m emphasizing it.”

“Just go get him.” I nodded, heading up the stairs. I walked to Charlie’s room which happened to be the last one on the opposite side of the house. I knocked on his door before pushing it open. Charlie laid on his back on the bed, tossing a tennis ball in the air and catching it. Paramore was coming out of the speakers of his stereo which was mounted on the wall. I swear, he has this infatuation with the singer Hayley. I have to constantly remind him I met her and he loves to glare at me.

“Paging Mr. Williams!” Charlie glared at me, like I said, with a tint of pink to his cheeks. He tried to throw the tennis ball at my face but I easily caught it. He had a good arm, guess Zacky needs to start training him for baseball this summer. “Seriously, lunch is ready.”

“Dad, you’re a jerk sometimes,” Charlie murmured, climbing off his bed. I tossed the ball in his bowl chair as he turned off the stereo with his remote before following me out the door. We went into the kitchen and grabbed our food from Val before settling at the dining room table. The meal went on as any meal ever has and I almost forgot that I had even fully met my daughter today. That is, until Charlie brought her up.

“So,” he paused, chewing his pasta. Once he swallowed it down with a sip of his apple juice, he continued. “Who was that girl earlier?”

Val, who was sitting across from me, looked at my face. I suddenly felt a wave of anxiousness. I was going to have us talk to him after lunch, but that was no longer possible. I placed my fork down in my bowl, scratching the back of my neck. How to even begin? Val noticed my hesitation and spoke up. “Charlie, your father and I have something we need to tell you.”

“What? Am I in trouble? I didn’t do anything!” Charlie fretted, setting down his own fork. He looked absolutely terrified, probably put on edge from the stress of summer school. I smiled softly at him, shaking my head.

“No Charlie, you’re not in trouble. We want to tell you something that is really important and we think you’re old enough to handle.”

“Okay...” He slowly looked between Val and I. I looked at her too and she nodded at me encouragingly. I took a deep breath before turning back to my son who look positively confused.

“Before I met your mother, I dated this woman named Cameron in high school. My junior year she moved to Colorado. Two days ago that girl came to me and told me she was Cameron and I’s daughter. I met with her again yesterday and she really is. I didn’t know about her until that day.”

Charlie was quiet, staring at me. He slowly looked over towards Val for confirmation. She nodded, letting him know I wasn’t off my rocker. When he looked at me again, he was guarded. I knew he didn’t believe for a second that she was telling the truth. Growing up he had dealt with the fakes just as Val and I had. He was just as unhappy as we were when they showed and he had become quite numb to the idea.

“If you say so,” was all he said before continuing to eat. I shared a look with Val, deciding to not mention it again until his mood wasn’t quite so sour.

And dear God, I hoped that was soon.