Lion

I stared at the phone in my hand for a moment. Do I answer? What do I say? What will he say? Why, all of a sudden is he calling? To talk to me? I cleared my throat.

“Hello?” I questioned into the phone. I'm almost sure I meant something along the lines of ‘what the fuck do you want?’

“Hey, Matt…” it was weird to hear his voice. It had been a while, and the last time we spoke, it was not a very happy goodbye. Things got awkward quickly. I cleared m throat again. “I’m sorry for calling unexpectedly. I got a call saying something was happening with your son, and… I want to help you.” I almost dropped the phone. “I know this is sudden, and uncalled for, and it isn’t my first instinct to help, but…”

“But you can’t wait to help me fail at getting my son back.” I finished the sentence for him.

“Please don’t put words in my mouth.” Let me explain.” He sighed. Scarlet pulled me to sit on the couch. “I am helping you because I care about the safety of my grandson. His safety shouldn’t be brought between our fight. And your mother talked me into helping you. What happened between us is a terrible thing, and…. I would really hate for you to go through it too. As mad as we have been at each other, this is not something I would ever wish for you to deal with.”

“I… Do you really mean that?” I was blown away! This could have been a turning point between me and my dad! Would we apologize, and have a family dinner every week? Will they come to our Christmas and birthdays again? I would actually get to talk to my mother again, which is something that my father took control of when all of this started.

“Yes. I absolutely do. This has all gone on way too long.” He sighed into the phone. He meant it! But this also scared me. Was he starting to fall ill and felt the need to repair the problems of his past?

“Are you okay? You’re not dying or anything?”

“Not that I know of! I miss you, Matt…”

I could tell scarlet could hear the conversation clearly. Her fingers started to run through my hair again. I relaxed more, leaning into her hand. My dad was going to help take the stress off instead of add to it like normal. I closed my eyes and started purring lightly.

“I miss you too, Dad.” I heard him start chuckling at my purring. “Ha-ha, it’s funny.” I said sarcastically.

“Well I can’t believe that you still purr!” I don’t think I had heard my father purr since I was a young cub.

“Of course I do! I have never had a reason to stop!”

“My teasing when you were young wasn’t enough, huh?” and just like that, things were back to normal. Actually, things were coming to a new normal.