Page 61 of Barron's Second Chance
"You've got to be kidding me!" She pointed a finger at his chest, digging it deep to emphasize her point.
"Your mom came to our house worried about the guest performer falling through. I did this to help your mom out not - not -," she sputtered, unable to speak as she was so offended at his insinuation.
"You know what? I don't need this shit!" She hissed, making sure to keep her voice low. She knew that Kelly had gone upstairs, but voices could still travel.
She went to spin away but was again stopped by his hand on her arm. He gently moved her back to him, wrapping his arm around her stomach. She immediately tensed, and her breathing grew shallow at the feel of his body against hers so intimately.
His mouth pressed against her ear, and she felt him inhale deeply as if he was breathing in the very essence of her.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. She felt his forehead come down against her temple. "I'm sorry," was all he said.
She paused, closing her eyes against the rush of emotion. All the fight left her body at his huskily worded concession.
After a moment, she pried his hands from her body and slowly walked away.
"So, what's your endgame here, son?"
Barron jumped at the sound of his Dad's voice. "Jesus, Dad! Where did you come from?"
"I was in the study. Voices travel from the door; you know that." He walked up to Barron and squeezed his hand on his shoulder.
Barron blew his breath out and ran his hand through his hair in unrest. "Yeah, well, I didn't know you were in there."
"What's going on between you two?"
He stared at the ceiling, a mixture of jealousy and turbulence streaming through him.
When Eden turned up at their house, he'd been elated, thinking she had decided to hear him out after all, let him explain about the fuck up with Tracey.
His joy turned to disappointment before quickly jumping to jealousy at hearing her ex-boyfriend's name coming from her lips.
He knew that she and Joshua Gates had dated for a while - how long, no one knew. Their relationship only became public when a photo of the two of them appeared on a gossip site, which then made its way to New Haven's Instagram page.
They were hand in hand with matching rubber boots, strolling through the mud at Glastonbury. There was a link to the story, and in a moment of weakness, Barron had clicked on it. It was a bunch of speculative bullshit about how their friendship had blossomed and a guestimate on how long they had been together. Just as quickly as he read the article, he clicked out of it and threw his phone away from him, cracking the screen.
He hadn’twillinglylistened to The Living English since those photos surfaced. It was difficult to avoid them entirely since their songs always hit top 10 lists and were in rotation at The Homestead.
"I don't know, Dad. Things are up and down. Bad at first, then okay, then I thought it would get better, and then -" he bowed his head. "- it got fucked up all over again."
"So, back to my original question. What's your endgame with Eden? You know your mom is over the moon to have her back in her life. Shit, Son, so am I. She’s like a daughter to me -"
"Yes, yes, I get it. I fucked things up. Don't you think I know that, Dad? Don't you think I'm trying my hardest to get her to forgive me? This is the most she's let me back into her life, and I'm barely in the door as it is."
Frustration caused his voice to rise. He was desperate. Time was running out - she would be leaving New Haven soon. But to know that her ex was coming to town to see her? That they were obviously still close? It gutted him.
"You're trying to win her back." It was a statement, not a question.
He turned to face his Dad, conveying everything he was currently feeling through a single look, unable to hold back the truth from the person he looked up to the most.
His dad was utterly devoted to his mom. Something he was unashamed to hide from his son. Barron had every intention of mirroring his dad's reverence for the woman in his life.
And yet he couldn't even make it to his eighteenth birthday without fucking it up.
"I love her, Dad. Never stopped," he simply stated. "But I keep screwing it up. I'm trying to make amends, to see that I'm not that dumb kid that I was, but it's like a comedy of errors." He shook his head in annoyance. "Except it's not funny."
"Susan's staying the night at Mike's tonight."
He frowned at his Dad. Out of all the reassuring things he had hoped to hear from him, that was not what he expected.
