Counting Stars

Marisol’s POV- August 2014
I closed the doors and walked over to the desk. Isaac was in here, so he had a few papers out on the desk. Isaac got the papers and put them in their folders.

“So, what’s wrong with Jake?” I asked.

The computer in the office made a noise and Isaac turned to it.

“4 room reservation right?”

I nodded and he began typing as I looked at my dad and his wife. My dad was looking at Isaac who hadn’t even bothered to look at him since he came into the room. His wife nudged him and he looked at me.

“It looks like he injured his knee”

I nodded and his wife spoke up.

“Jake said you had a specialist help you with a knee injury you had”

I nodded.

“Yes I did” I said.

“I doubt he would work on Jake though”

I nodded and they both looked at me.

“Why not?”

“Jake didn’t have or needs knee surgery”

My dad’s wife looked at me.

“What did they repair”

“A bone fracture and my ACL” I said.

She nodded and looked at my dad.

“What does he have?” I asked.

“He had a light tear on his tendon”

“Which leg?”

“Right”

I nodded slowly and Isaac pulled out his phone.

“Let me give someone a call”

I nodded and he stepped out.

“So he can’t straighten his knee then?” I asked.

His mom nodded.

“He has a cast right now”

“That will do no good. He needs to move the leg” I said.

She nodded.

“He won’t go to therapy unless it’s here in LA”

I nodded, she was a bitch and all to me but you could tell she loved her boy.

“Ok, well Isaac is trying to get Tommy on the phone right now” I said.

My dad looked at me.

“Tommy?”

I nodded.

“Yup, his wife handled my therapy when we moved back to California” I said.

Isaac opened the door and nodded.

“They’re on their way”

I nodded and he sat down next to me. My dad then cleared his throat.

“My wife and I obviously can’t be here to take care of him”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Your house is big enough”

I laughed lightly.

“I’d have to ask Mike, but I’m sure he’d let Jake be here for a few weeks” I said.

They nodded.

“Isaac, mind getting Mike?” I asked him.

He nodded and left the room.

“Is he limping?” I asked.

They nodded and I looked at the phone that was ringing.

“Sorry” I said.

It was the hotel confirming the 4 hotel rooms we had reserved.

“Yes, limited room service only to the food requested” I said.

I nodded and smiled.

“Ok thank you, have a nice evening” I said.

I hung up and a phone call from Kara came in.

“Hello” I said putting my phone against my shoulder.

“How fast can you get here?”

“Not very fast. Mind coming over, seems like we have a family reunion” I said.

“No fucking way”

“Yup, Tommy is on his way too” I added.

“I’ll clean up and be on my way”

I nodded and hummed.

“Ok then, see you in a bit. Bye” I said.

I hung up and looked at them.

“Those yours?”

I turned around and nodded, our Bachelor degrees. There was a picture of Mike, Nana, Isaac and I on the day Isaac and I graduated. Ok so Nana really isn’t old. She’s 46 years old and according to most of the guys she’s a MILF. Ty thinks this as well and she is well kept for her age life Sofia Vergara. Most people used to think she was my mom when I was in high school and even in college. I never denied it; my nana was like my mom because she raised me. She was a girl who came from Colombia at age 3. She grew up in the States and she went to school and fell in love with someone who joined the military. Her and my mom, are not related though, they are friends of aunts or something like that. I looked exactly like my mom apparently. My mom had brown eyes and she had light brown hair though. Uncle Max was a gorgeous guy as well, and they made two boys and one girl who looked stunning

“That one is Isaac’s” I said.

She nodded.

“What do you do?”

“I’m a manager for a band” I said.

She nodded slowly.

“With Isaac?”

I nodded and my dad cleared his throat.

“You’re getting married?”

I nodded.

“Yes, this year” I said as the door opened.

Mike stepped in and looked at me. Isaac turned his head when he heard a small whine.

“Tommy is here”

I nodded and sat up.

“Jake was going to stay at your nana’s but she said she was busy”

“Tommy’s wife gave birth a week or so ago so yea. Nana has been quite busy” I said.

He nodded and I looked down at my phone.

“What do you need me here for?”

It all happened in like 10 seconds. Tommy came in and punched my dad hard in the face. My dad held his jaw and Tommy straightened up.

“I’ve been waiting 7 years to do that and it was worth it”

Tommy looked at me and his wife stepped into the room.

“Hey Vero” I said as she put the baby carrier on a chair.

“Ok, so first thing Mike. Jake needs a place to stay” I said.

He nodded.

“We got a few spare rooms”

I nodded and looked at Vero.

“Jake injured his knee” I said.

She looked at the X-ray and hummed.

“He just needs therapy”

I nodded.

“That’s where you come in. He wants it in LA” I said.

She nodded and pulled out her phone.

“Heels came in?”

I nodded and Tommy smiled.

“Did you try them on?”

I smiled.

“I just got them today, so I will try them on tonight” I said.

He nodded.

“Because your wedding is a few weeks ahead and those heels need to fit you well”

I nodded and my dad cleared his throat.

“Wedding?”

Tommy laughed.

“Decided you want to be a part of their life?”

My dad looked at him.

“You stay out of it”

Tommy laughed.

“You don’t tell me what to do and remember that it’s my wife who is helping your son. We’re helping your son because you two could rot in hell”

Isaac nodded slowly.

“Is that all you two came for?”

My dad looked at Isaac.

“I need to talk with you”

“We’ve got nothing to talk about. You said enough 2 years ago”

“Isaac”

He shook his head.

“I just want to be a family again”

Isaac laughed.

“I wanted that 2 years ago when I tried to kill myself”

My dad flinched.

“Yes, I tried to kill myself and what did you do? You told Marisol to deal with it herself. We proved we don’t need you in our lives and the only thing stopping me from hitting you in the face is that promise I made my mother the night she caught you cheating on her with your current wife”

“Isaac”

“Don’t make me break that promise, you died two years ago. The only reason you’re in our lives is because of Jake”

My dad looked at me and I grabbed Mike’s hand.

“You’re going to become a trophy wife?”

I laughed and looked at him. Tommy laughed and the attention was turned to him.

“More like Mike is the trophy husband”

Mike laughed.

“Well I do got an Olympic medal and two Stanley cup rings”

Tommy nodded and laughed.

“That you do man”

I looked at my dad.

“Get out of my house” I said.

He looked at me and I looked at his wife.

“Can I talk to you?”

I nodded and I looked at my dad.

“Get out of my house” I repeated.

Tommy began walking over to him and my dad stood up.

“I got this Mari”

I nodded and Mike kissed my forehead. Mike, baby Emma and Vero then went to the living room.

“I wanted to apologize for everything I did”

Isaac looked at her.

“I treated you two horrible and you two had the right to do those things to me when you were kids. I ripped your family apart and I didn’t see it that way”

I looked at Isaac who laughed lightly.

“How long has he been cheating on you?”

“A few months and I know he’s going to kick Jake out soon”

She covered her face and shook her head.

“I’m afraid he’s going to lift a hand on Jake one day. Jacob is getting mouthier and your dad is blaming you two. Jake is just tired of the fighting”

“Has he hit you?” I asked.

She nodded and let out a sob. Isaac sighed and looked at me.

“I got you two out when I saw how horrible he was”

“You did that on purpose?” I asked.

“Of course I did”

Isaac looked at me as she wiped her face.

“I’m not that horrible, but when Isaac cut his veins I tried to help and he said no”

She shook her head and looked at Isaac.

“You look exactly like your father, and I went to see you when you were in rehab. You may not remember me because you were strapped up”

“Those first 2 days”

Isaac nodded.

“I paid for Tessa’s education and Jake he has this passion for baseball. George wants him to study engineering so he could follow the family business”

Isaac chuckled and shook his head.

“I just want my baby boy to be happy. I tried to get Tessa out of the house but she wouldn’t let me. I’m just waiting for Jake to turn 18 to leave him”

I looked at Isaac who nodded slowly.

“You two are so successful, your mom would have been proud of you two. Very proud and you’re getting married. Congratulations and I hope you have a long and beautiful like with him. You too Isaac, You and Kara are going to be together forever considering how long you two have been dating”

“She’s my fiancé”

“See, you two didn’t need your dad in your life”

I nodded and she wiped her face.

“I should hurry. Your dad thinks I’m talking about living arangements”

Isaac nodded.

“I’ll talk with Vero to see when Jake can start his therapy and I’ll give you a call” I told her.

She nodded and wrote down her number. She handed it to me and wiped her face.

“Thank you so much”

We nodded and Isaac looked at her.

“I’ll lead you out”

She grabbed his arms and looked at the forearms. He had the scars. She covered her mouth and closed her eyes.

“I’m so sorry”

Isaac nodded.

“Come on”

He led her out and I followed them. I walked into the living room where Tommy was eating.

“Food is great”

I smiled and Mike looked at me.

“I’m fine, just a lot on my mind right now” I said.

“Like what?”

I looked at Tommy.

“She wanted us to leave said it was to protect us from George” I said.

He raised an eyebrow.

“He’s cheating on her” I said.

“Damn, Karma hits hard”

I nodded.

“He’s hit her” I said.

Tommy sighed and shook his head.

“God your dad is a psycho”

I shrugged.

“I don’t know if I should believe her. She said she visited Isaac when he was in rehab” I said.

Vero looked at me.

“So it was her?”

Tommy looked at her.

“You saw her?” I asked.

“She came out of Isaac’s room. I tried to talk with her but I got called in for work”

I nodded and Kara looked at me.

“I saw her too, but I didn’t think it was her”

Mike rubbed his face and sighed.

“Anyone want some beer?”

I laughed when everyone said yes.

“I can’t because I’m breast feeding”

Mike handed us the beer and ran out. I looked at Tommy who stood up.

“Shit”

He ran out and so did Kara.

“Go!”

I followed them out to see Isaac holding his fist.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I punched him”

His lower lip was bleeding and he shook his head.

“It’s just a graze. Fuck his face is hard”

Mike looked at me and kissed my forehead.

“He must have told Isaac something to cause him to snap”

I nodded and followed them in. My dad had infact said something to him. Said my marriage along with his would probably last a few years before Mike and Kara got tired of us and threw us to the side. Isaac lost it there and punched him earning a graze from our dad. Isaac threw another punch and our dad’s wife broke off the fight. Isaac told him to stay out of our lives or else. I knew what the or else meant. Isaac had found out my dad used all of my mom’s life insurance including the money we were supposed to get. My dad sold the house we used to live in as well and he kept the money. My dad was doing dirty things and Isaac could easily bring him down. The only reason why he didn’t do it? Jake.
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