My Wish for You (21 page)

“And for the
record, I’m not going anywhere, because ‘Big Family Oriented Hot Shots’ don’t
leave their family for work. Especially their
children.
”

Knowing the
sarcasm in his voice, the emphasis on children made the hair on my arms stand
on end. I glared defiantly at him, worried about my near future and its own
financial status.

“Samantha,” my
mother cut in, her eyes not leaving my stepfather. “Go change please…you’re
dripping all over the hardwood floors.”

***

The night
honestly should have ended there. I rather wished it would have. This was
exactly why Brian and I ignored our birthday. Something bad like this
always
happened.

The time until
dinner passed ridiculously slowly. Quiet and withdrawn from the conversation, I
sat in the family room with Brian, Alisha, Cara, and Sarah. Sean was sitting
next to me, his arms wrapped around me protectively.

No one dared to
mention the incident, but I could tell that Brian was mad about it and that he
was worried about me. Every few minutes, his eyes would flash to me and his
legs never stopped bouncing, the way they always did whenever he was angry. I
knew he felt responsible for my college fund, but he was just being protective
and I wasn’t about to blame him for that.

If we were being
honest, I was worried as well. Knowing that I wouldn’t be financially strapped,
I hadn’t applied for any scholarships or any kind of aid because I didn’t want
to take it from people who were less fortunate. Always focusing on school, I
didn’t have a job. Any form of work I did was volunteer work. I sighed and Sean
rubbed my back soothingly, kissing the top of my head.

“It’ll be okay
Sammy,” he whispered. “I promise.”

I smiled
half-heartedly when Mr. W walked in and announced that dinner was ready. We all
got up and made our way out to the porch. The table was set and different trays
of food were set up on the table. Air thick with tension, we all sat down. Mr.
W brought in a tray of hot dogs and hamburgers and served them. Mrs. W carried
in a big bowl of mac n’ cheese, and I almost laughed in spite of myself at the
ridiculous scene laid in front of me. It was such an all American meal for such
a screwed up family. We fixed our plates in stony silence.

“Dad, would you
pass the ketchup please?” I asked, breaking the silence. Ignoring me, he
continued to finish his plate as if I hadn’t spoken at all.

“
Charles
,
would you
please
pass me the ketchup?” I said, a little sharper.

“Cassie,” he
requested lightly, continuing to ignore me. “Would you pass Samantha the
ketchup?”

“No, I will not.”

“Cassandra,”
Mrs. W warned.

“Don’t ‘Cassandra’
me. I don’t even know why I’m here.”

I blushed
crimson, freezing in my seat.

“It’s not as if
I like either of them. She’s a little home wrecking skank, and he’s a nosy know
it all, and neither of them can mind their own damn business.”

“Cassandra
Eileen. What is wrong with you?! I am appalled at your behavior. You apologize
this instant.”

“Not even,” she
replied, standing up from her seat and throwing her napkin on her plate. “I’m
out of here.”

And with that,
she was gone.

The rest of
dinner was completely silent. Presents and cake were falsely cheery. I sat
through each of them wishing that they would end so I could go be by myself
somewhere and cry. Finally, after the piles of presents, the clothes and
jewelry, and the things for my dorm room—that I didn’t know if I would even
have—were gone, I was free to escape.

I hid out on the
front porch, and told Sean that I just wanted to be by myself; begrudgingly, he
let me go.

I sat down on
the front steps, bringing my knees to my chin; resting my head down, the tears
flowed down my cheeks. Listening to the jovial summer sounds, I watched the sun
fall behind the mountains and the first summer stars start to glisten. Behind
closed doors, the sounds of my parents fighting broke through the peace that
the summer night was bringing me. I couldn’t understand what they were saying,
but it wasn’t good. A short while later, the sound of an engine disturbed the
quiet, and I watched as Mr. W and my father drove out towards the highway.

Soon after, my
mom opened the creaky screen door. I glanced up at her behind me. Half smiling,
she walked over to me.

“Mind if I sit?”

“No, go ahead
Mom.”

She sat next to
me and wrapped her arm around me, leaning my head on her shoulder. It was the
closest mother-daughter moment we had had in years. Stroking my hair, she
kissed the top of my head.

“I’m sorry your
birthday wasn’t spectacular, honey. I wanted it to be special for good reasons.
Not this…this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“I don’t get it
though, Mom. Why didn’t you say something?” I sat up and looked at her, a new
batch of tears rolling down my cheeks. “I mean, he’s taking away my college
fund, and you just…you just stood there.”

“Sweetheart.”
She wiped the tears off of my cheek. “There is a time and a place for every
fight, and that wasn’t the time or the place. Your college fund is fine, baby.
It’s not going anywhere.”

“What do you
mean?” I sniffed.

“Charles has
never deposited a single penny to the college fund. The checks were joint
checks, but I deposited them into accounts for the three of you that were only
accounts in your names for the three of you; my name is the only other name on
them, and now that you are all of age, they will be solely in your names.
Charles believed that simply because he wrote the checks, that it was only his
money to give.”

I sat there in
silence, soaking up this new information, joy spreading through me.

“Charles and I
are splitting up, Samantha.”

“What?” I choked
out disbelievingly. I wasn’t exactly opposed to it, but I never imagined they
would split up.

“He’s not coming
back up. Mr. W is dropping him off and then returning. We’re going to take this
time away from each other to think about what we really want.”

“Wow. Why?”

“I won’t let
anyone talk to my children that way. You guys are my babies. If he thinks he
can treat you like that, then he’s got another think coming to him.”

“Do you think a
week will really be enough time to tell?” I asked gently.

“I don’t know
honey. I think he already has his mind made up.”

Not knowing how
to reply, I simply put my arms around my mom. I had never known this mama bear
defensive side of her. It was a new thing to me and took me off guard. It
showed her in a new light. I felt like there was going to be a new beginning, a
reparation of burnt bridges coming. And as I sat there in my mother’s arms, the
summer night settling back into its peace, I felt safe, and I knew that I had
someone in my corner.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

My mother’s
strength about the separation slowly willowed away. Over the next few days she
spent a lot of time in her room, or doing what Mrs. W called “therapy baking.”
There were cakes, cookies, brownies, and cupcakes all over the kitchen and
dining room. It seemed as if we were eating pastries for meals.

Now, sitting at
the table in the family room spreading cookie and brownie crumbs all over the
Monopoly board, Cara, Alisha, Sarah, Brian, and I were preparing for an epic,
raging war, all thanks to Brian’s wonderful idea: staying inside for the day
since it looked like a storm was brewing outside.

“Hey guys. What’s
going on?” Sean asked, walking up behind me and rubbing my shoulders, kissing
the top of my head. I smiled to myself.

“Well,
I
am getting ready to beat the pants off of them. Care to join?”

“Thanks, but I
think I’ll sit out on this particular blood bath. I’m going out with my dad.
But beat ‘em good for me, baby.” He leaned down and kissed me. When he pulled
back, I smiled up at him, a smile that I knew had to be some goofy one, a smile
which he easily returned before standing up.

“No. Way. I can’t
believe I didn’t see this,” Brian said slowly.

“See what?” I
asked, looking around.

“Oh my God. You’re
right. And she didn’t tell me!” Cara agreed.

“Right about
what?”

“Mhm,” Alisha
added.

“That’s why they’ve
been so giddy around each other lately,” Brian concluded.

Sean chuckled
under his breath.

“I don’t get it.
Right about what? What are you guys talking about?”

Sarah gave me
one of those “you-know-what-I’m-talking-about” looks.

“Everyone seems
to be under the impression Sam, that….” She paused. “That you and Sean, for
lack of better terms, have done the ‘hokey pokey.’”

My jaw dropped
and I felt my face turn crimson.

“So?” Brian
pressed on.

“Uhh….”

Sean laughed and
I looked up at him. He was giving Brian some look that I missed out on. Missing
the full exchange, I was confused.

“I’ll…leave this
to you, Sammy.” He chuckled again, kissing my cheek and walking away.

“Hey!” I
protested. He turned and beamed at me one last time before heading off to join
his dad. I turned back around in my chair and everyone was staring at me.

“What?” I
hesitated.

“So…how was it?”
Cara pushed.

“Uh…I don’t
really want to talk about this.” I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. I felt
like I was being ganged up on.

“Was it really
that bad?” she teased.

“No,” I
defended. “It was amazing. I just don’t feel right talking to all of you about
it like this.”

Cara was about
to say something else when Sarah interjected.

“C’mon guys.
Leave her alone. Let’s play.”

“Yeah,” Brian
agreed, joining in on Sarah’s rescue mission. “Someone needs to finally beat
her.”

“Oh, that won’t
happen,” I told them, grateful for a topic other than my night with Sean.

Moving on, we
played the game. Why no one ever caught on to my strategy was beyond me. The
only one who knew was Brian, and since he didn’t care about winning, he was
usually my number one ally. I never went for the big properties. Boardwalk and
Park Place were too much money and too much trouble. What good was a monopoly
or even a property if you couldn’t put houses or hotels on them?

Before long, I
owned the most properties, had a monopoly, and was in the process of buying
houses.

“I would like to
buy six houses,” I informed my brother, the banker.

“How is she
doing this!?” Alisha asked no one in particular.

“We used to play
all the time,” Sarah told her.

And we did. We
used to spend hours, days even, playing Monopoly. On rainy days or when it was
too hot to go outside, Sean, Brian, Sarah, and I would break out the board and
play for hours on end until we were forced away from the game. When that
happened, we would store the board underneath someone’s bed and pull it out the
next time we had free time.

All of it
started one rainy morning while we were searching for some kind of
entertainment in the cabin, and stuffed in the back of one of the closets was
Monopoly.

Today wasn’t
much different. The sky was an ominous grey and it was extremely muggy. Rain
threatened with each roaring clap of thunder. I had no idea why Mr. W, or even
Sean for that matter, would ever want to go out in this weather.

“I will give you
two railroads for Virginia Avenue,” Brian proposed to me. I considered it.

“Yeah,” I
shrugged, popping a piece of a cookie in my mouth. “Why not?”

“Brian, baby, do
you not see that she already owns
half
of the board, and that she has
hotels and houses on almost all of it?”

“Yeah, I do, but
it’s just a game Alisha. And I’m getting something to help me.”

He picked up the
dice and went on with his turn, buying the last railroad.

Sarah rolled her
eyes; she was such a good sport. Cara picked up the dice and rolled them,
landing right on my highest light blue property, which had a hotel on it. She
had the least amount of money, and no way would she be able to pay it off.

“You have got to
be kidding me,” she groaned as she counted up all of her assets, which only
equaled two-hundred thirty seven dollars. “Come on Sam.”

“It’s just a
game Car.” I took another bite of my cookie.

“Ugh!” She
tossed her stuff towards me and crossed her arms. I pulled the dice towards me
and looked at Brian.

“What do you
want for your other railroad?” I asked him.

“You don’t have
anything I want.”

I picked up the
last bite of my cookie and popped it in my mouth.

“Nothing at all?”

He looked down
at the other two cookies sitting on my napkin.

“You could give
me the rest of your cookies.”

“You want the
rest of my cookies?” I laughed.

“You guys are
really gonna make a deal about cookies?” Sarah cracked up.

I seriously
considered his proposition. They were amazing cookies, and I didn’t want to get
up and get more.

“Yeah, that is
my intention. They were awesome cookies. I don’t want to get up to get some
more,” Brian explained.

I laughed at the
fact that my brother and I were on such similar wavelengths and handed the
cookies over to him.

“Fine. Give me
the railroad.”

He handed me the
card and Alisha threw down her stuff.

“This is ridiculous.
You guys aren’t even playing Monopoly anymore. You can’t trade cookies for
property!”

“Aw, c’mon babe.
Don’t be like that.”

“No. This isn’t
fun anymore. I don’t want to play.”

With that, she
got up and stormed out of the room. Brian looked at me with a whole cookie in
his mouth.