Unfortunately, I am related by blood to types of characters like this. They aren't as bad as this, nor as good. But they are better than they were before. I hope that when my relative finally learns to pick up the dog shit...
Michelle
"Dad, can you come over now. Please. Please hurry. Bring Pete's pickup and any boxes you have around the house. Right now, I'm putting my clothes in large new plastic garbage bags."
"Michelle?" He paused with worry in his voice, "What's going on?"
"Dad, I need to move back home for a while. Mom already said it's OK. I just called her at Aunt Nancy's house and she said OK. How soon could you get here?"
"It'll take me about 20 minutes. I'll text you when I'm near so you can unlock the back door and I can get into your apartment building."
I knew that there had to be a big smile on his face. Dad and Mom tolerated Stevie. They never confronted me about him, they never asked probing questions. There were there for me and were supportive. They did that because they loved me and allowed me to make my own life. They allowed me to make my own fuckin' mistakes. They loved me enough to let me hang myself with him. That's what I did. Tonight it was just too much. Tonight was the straw that broke the marriage that I'd been holding together.
"Michelle, are you sure you want to do this?"
"Dad, we can talk more when you get here and at our home. I'm finally done here." I exhaled out a ton of frustration.
It was 15 minutes later when both Dad and my brother Pete showed up at the apartment. Both were worried and wanted to talk.
"Talk later. I gotta get out of here now. Stevie probably won't be back here till after 2 AM or morning or whatever and I want to be long gone. Pete, go to the living room and start grabbing the garbage bags I've packed. Dad?"
My father looked at me with sorrow and fear in his eyes. "Dad, could you sit down with me and look at our financial papers? Help me figure out all that I need to take. He won't have a clue what's missing. Later I can return the originals or copies. I don't want anything left behind that I'll need for the divorce."
At the word divorce Dad's face broke from worry to stoic. During college decades ago, he'd been a Mall security guard at Christmas time. First thing he was taught was to show no emotions to the people that he needed to confront. He'd show warmness to the normal everyday people. In times of crisis, either causing or being on the receiving end, he needed to be stoic and expressionless. He would never show fear, never show anger, and never give them something that they could try to control the situation with. Dad did this his whole life. I've been with Stevie for 5 years and married for 19 months, it was my time of crisis.
Pete had made several trips to the truck when he joined us at the kitchen table. I immediately sent him into the bedroom to get what I piled on the bed. Then I told him when he was finished, we'd all go to the storage locker in the basement.
Dad made sure that I had all my tax returns and the two joint tax returns I had with Stevie. Stevie had done his own taxes for several years so I wasn't worried then. However, he sandbagged me and wouldn't let me fully check our first combined Fed and State tax return. That resulted in several automated letters from the IRS and the state for math errors and questionable entries. I did the taxes for the second year and we got our refund quickly.
Dad also made sure that I got the title to my car, the bank statements and the credit card information. "We'll talk later what you should do about this. I take it that Stevie is at a party and having a good time again?" I nodded yes.
"It wasn't the wedding that we were supposed to go to. We were supposed to be at Dave and Chloe's wedding. Stevie found a louder wedding next door in the banquet hall with an open bar and wouldn't come back." I started to shake with anger and Dad just reached over and held me in his arms while I quietly sobbed.
"These were his fuckin' friends, not mine. It was 45 minutes of texting him and getting his buddies to try to bring him back. Stevie just sat at one of the tables, drank from the open bar and had a grand time with talking with those women, those other guests. I sent Bill to get him, his close buddy Bill. It was 10 minutes later that Bill returned and told me Stevie was feeling no pain. He said that when a text from me came in, he'd read it aloud and the whole table would laugh. When I heard that I stood up, got my coat and came home. He can find his own fuckin' way to get here. I drove because he told me was going to enjoy himself again." That's when I chuckled. "You should have seen how pissed he was when he found out Dave and Chloe had a cash bar." We both let out a little laugh.
"Dad?" My father looked at me, "I'm done. It's over. I have to end this so I can get on with my life."
"Michelle, we'll talk more later. Your brother is back and now let's all head to the storage locker in the basement.
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It was after 1:30 in the morning when the last load of my furniture was unloaded into Pete's garage. I had the good but hand-me-down living room furniture, my dresser, lamps and my laptop computer. The laptop was going to have to be checked for viruses for sure. Stevie came with the x-box and a fast and high end gaming computer and 158 movies. He bought a big screen TV with the wedding money instead of paying our wedding bills. I left the TV for him.
His 10-year-old beater was in the parking lot with a flat tire. The tire has been flat for 2 weeks. Every day for the past two weeks he said that he was going to get it fixed while he borrowed my car whenever he could. We bought the bed together and he could keep it. His weight and bouncing on it like it was a toy already broke the wooden box spring in two places. He'd gained 30 pounds since the wedding and he gained at least 50 pounds before the wedding, starting when we became an item.
It took only 2 hours to move everything. Then we all sat around the kitchen table, just like old times. Drinks were poured to ease us all out. We talked, but we talked about everything but the elephant in the room. I was still wired, but looking at Dad and Mom I saw that they were quickly starting to fade. "Mom? Dad? Bed time?" They looked at each other and nodded yes.
