Isaac
The angrier I felt, the harder I scrubbed the dishes. I felt my jaw set and my teeth clench. My eyes narrowed and my eyebrows angled into a downward slant. It was barely five minutes before I felt like I wanted to smash at least half the dishes on the counter, breaking every last one, and then use one of the shards to kill Annie with.
I knew that that was pretty irrational, even though I had taken over for Taylor when he had gone to say good-bye to Annie. Parker was fitfully distracted on the telephone with Gina. I couldn’t hear any of the conversation, but I could hear the reassurance in his voice. Probably telling her that everything was all right. If only he knew.
And that was really the point. The fact that he didn’t know. Annie had come to our house that day, setting the whole household on a taut tightrope half of us had to struggle not to fall off of. For what? Obviously she hadn’t told him a thing like we all had thought she was going to. Oh no. He had spent almost the entire time with me in the bedroom I was sharing with Zac, listening to me play the guitar and even strumming out a tune and a half himself. Taylor didn’t even have the courtesy to entertain him his first day at our house.
He was Taylor’s brother for God’s sake!
A fact that was pretty hard to ignore, considering I couldn’t even tell them apart. Even in the airport. I had purposely memorized what Taylor was wearing in preparation for that eventuality. And it had come and it had turned out that no prepartion had really helped. I still couldn’t tell them apart until Parker stuck out his hand to me. I could swear that there wasn’t a difference between them. No weight or height difference or even difference in their hairstyle, which was a little disturbing considering the fact that I knew Taylor had gotten his hair cut while he was with Annie. Neither of them made mention of the coincidence and neither did I. Even if it was eerie. But there was truly
no difference between them except maybe a small accent difference. I couldn’t tell them apart when they weren’t speaking.
And what did that say about me?
I began to purposefully slam the dishes into the drainer. Parker glanced up at me with raised eyebrows, but I didn’t look back. I couldn’t look back. I would be looking at Taylor and all the reasons Taylor wasn’t Taylor that I couldn’t see in Annie.
I was almost through with the dishes when Taylor decided to enter the room.
“Sorry,” he apologized immediately. “It took longer than I thought it was going to. I can finish up if you want me to.”
“No. You can do it tomorrow or something,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” he said again. “It just...It took longer than I thought,” he repeated.
“Giving the full report on your own family probably does take a while,” I whispered harshly to him, turning the faucet so the water was coming out harder. Parker walked out of the room with the phone as I expected him to when I did it. “Nice way to treat Parker today, by the way.”
He sighed. “I know. I don’t have an excuse for that one.”
“You’re right. You don’t. And how come he doesn’t know about Annie yet? Wasn’t that the master plan? Wasn’t that the whole point of the wrecking ball coming over for dinner tonight?” I hissed.
“The ‘wrecking ball’?” he repeated. “Do you mean Annie? My mother?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Yes, Isaac. That was what she was planning on doing, but it didn’t exactly work out,” he said. “It takes a little more than that to tell your long lost son that you’re his biological mother.”
“Gee, it didn’t when she told you,” I said.
“She didn’t tell me, Isaac. I figured it out,” he said.
“How the hell did you figure something like that out?” I asked. “She must have had a blinking neon arrow over her head for you to figure something like that out.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” he said.
“I never have,” I said.
“Apparently,” he said back. “Thanks for doing the dishes,” he added, not sounding very thankful as he stalked out of the room.
I sighed to myself and rolled my eyes, scrubbing another dish and resisting the urge to purposely break it.
Another moment later, Zac came up behind me.
“Couldn’t you shut up about that for two seconds?” he asked, his anger showing clearly through his voice. Then he added, “Parker can probably hear you.”
I simply sighed with frustration as he walked away and went up the stairs, presumably following Taylor.
I couldn’t do anything right, could I?
Did you enjoy it or not? I have to know these things, you know.
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Sixteen
I knew that that was pretty irrational, even though I had taken over for Taylor when he had gone to say good-bye to Annie. Parker was fitfully distracted on the telephone with Gina. I couldn’t hear any of the conversation, but I could hear the reassurance in his voice. Probably telling her that everything was all right. If only he knew.
And that was really the point. The fact that he didn’t know. Annie had come to our house that day, setting the whole household on a taut tightrope half of us had to struggle not to fall off of. For what? Obviously she hadn’t told him a thing like we all had thought she was going to. Oh no. He had spent almost the entire time with me in the bedroom I was sharing with Zac, listening to me play the guitar and even strumming out a tune and a half himself. Taylor didn’t even have the courtesy to entertain him his first day at our house.
He was Taylor’s brother for God’s sake!
A fact that was pretty hard to ignore, considering I couldn’t even tell them apart. Even in the airport. I had purposely memorized what Taylor was wearing in preparation for that eventuality. And it had come and it had turned out that no prepartion had really helped. I still couldn’t tell them apart until Parker stuck out his hand to me. I could swear that there wasn’t a difference between them. No weight or height difference or even difference in their hairstyle, which was a little disturbing considering the fact that I knew Taylor had gotten his hair cut while he was with Annie. Neither of them made mention of the coincidence and neither did I. Even if it was eerie. But there was truly no difference between them except maybe a small accent difference. I couldn’t tell them apart when they weren’t speaking.
And what did that say about me?
I began to purposefully slam the dishes into the drainer. Parker glanced up at me with raised eyebrows, but I didn’t look back. I couldn’t look back. I would be looking at Taylor and all the reasons Taylor wasn’t Taylor that I couldn’t see in Annie.
I was almost through with the dishes when Taylor decided to enter the room.
“Sorry,” he apologized immediately. “It took longer than I thought it was going to. I can finish up if you want me to.”
“No. You can do it tomorrow or something,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” he said again. “It just...It took longer than I thought,” he repeated.
“Giving the full report on your own family probably does take a while,” I whispered harshly to him, turning the faucet so the water was coming out harder. Parker walked out of the room with the phone as I expected him to when I did it. “Nice way to treat Parker today, by the way.”
He sighed. “I know. I don’t have an excuse for that one.”
“You’re right. You don’t. And how come he doesn’t know about Annie yet? Wasn’t that the master plan? Wasn’t that the whole point of the wrecking ball coming over for dinner tonight?” I hissed.
“The ‘wrecking ball’?” he repeated. “Do you mean Annie? My mother?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Yes, Isaac. That was what she was planning on doing, but it didn’t exactly work out,” he said. “It takes a little more than that to tell your long lost son that you’re his biological mother.”
“Gee, it didn’t when she told you,” I said.
“She didn’t tell me, Isaac. I figured it out,” he said.
“How the hell did you figure something like that out?” I asked. “She must have had a blinking neon arrow over her head for you to figure something like that out.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” he said.
“I never have,” I said.
“Apparently,” he said back. “Thanks for doing the dishes,” he added, not sounding very thankful as he stalked out of the room.
I sighed to myself and rolled my eyes, scrubbing another dish and resisting the urge to purposely break it.
Another moment later, Zac came up behind me.
“Couldn’t you shut up about that for two seconds?” he asked, his anger showing clearly through his voice. Then he added, “Parker can probably hear you.”
I simply sighed with frustration as he walked away and went up the stairs, presumably following Taylor.
I couldn’t do anything right, could I?
Did you enjoy it or not? I have to know these things, you know.
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Sixteen