Authors note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Weekend Bully: Part Two
Chapter One:
The drive home from his office job was something Mark enjoyed tremendously. Since he found himself trying to spend time with his daughter Cadey in the evenings when he got back home, and with his weekends devoted to sleep and his second job, it was his journeys in and out of work that became his only 'me time'. Mark liked to cue up a true crime podcast or some sort of documentary, listening to it as he made his commute.
This Friday though he was too distracted by his own thoughts to focus properly on the story unfolding through the speakers of his car. Irritated at losing track, he turned it off, electing to drive the last five minutes in silence.
He was worried. Well, worried was too strong a term, concerned was probably better. Cadey had always been so self-reliant, able to make him feel like a passenger in her life rather than a guide and mentor, his role as a father. This week though she'd been acting out of sorts. It was her last summer before heading off to college, he'd expected her to be out with friends each day, bugging him for some extra cash to spend on... whatever. Instead, she'd been withdrawn, quiet. The normal interplay between them, that had been muted, Cadey failing to rise to many of his teasing barbs. Mark had asked her if there was anything on her mind. She'd denied it, falling back on a tried and tested excuse of 'women's trouble' that never failed to make him back off. Still, he couldn't quite make it fit, Cadey seeming more preoccupied than out of sorts.
Mark knew that a lot of his worry was tied up to being a single parent, busy with two jobs and stressed with financial woes. He took solace from the fact that Cadey understood and never blamed him for their situation or that he was away working so much. Instead, she did everything she could to help out. She was a good kid, a better daughter than he deserved. All of which meant that he worried all the more for her when he felt there was a problem but couldn't help out.
His driveway came into view at that moment, Mark slowing down to pull in. Friday's were tough, he worked his first nightshift on a Friday night, only having a few hours to grab some sleep after working a nine to five shift at his full time job. Bad enough, but Friday also invariably meant that the weekend residents of the shore town he lived in began to show up. That meant that his obnoxious neighbor Jermaine would arrive from the city. Sure enough, Mark could see Jermaine's expensive SUV parked in the next-door driveway, the loud music he often blasted out audible as Mark wearily climbed out of his own car.
The man was a bully. Mark knew it and he knew that Cadey was all too aware of it as well. Another regret, one of a thousand that dogged his life, that he wasn't strong enough to stand up to the man. Mark didn't do confrontation, not well at least. He tried to reason with people, appeal to their better natures rather than stand his ground, fight his corner. That was all well and good except that Jermaine didn't have a better nature. He delighted in the myriad of small insults and torments he could send Mark's way. Pissing onto Mark's property, letting his big Rottweiler shit in Mark's backyard, playing music loudly even though he knew Mark worked a night shift on weekends. Snide comments, some veiled, most not, all designed to make Mark feel small. And it worked.
Shaking his head at his misfortune to have such an entitled asshole move next door, Mark pulled his house keys out, opening the door to his home.
<<0>>
"Hey Sweetie, I'm home." Her Dad's voice roused Cadey from her reverie. The young woman rolled off her bed where she'd been lying, just looking up at the ceiling. On her feet, she opened her bedroom door and went to greet her father.
"Hey old man" she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Cadey had to force some cheer into her voice and she suspected her Dad picked up on that, but even so she saw a genuine smile of relief on his face with her greeting, both of them taking a little comfort from each other. "Good day at work?" Cadey bustled about the kitchen, relieving her father of the Tupperware he'd used to carry his lunch in with.
"Same as any other. How about you? Get up to much?"
"Nah, just chilled out, read some, chatted to some friends," Cadey said, loading the dishwasher, keeping her head down.
"Okay good. Right, so...uhh, do you want to hang out for a bit before I head off out to work?" All Mark wanted was his bed, a few hours sleep. He wanted sleep but he needed to be there for his daughter. Cadey shook her head, stepping in to give him a hard hug that melted some of the worry from his heart.
"Don't go talking crazy. At your age, old guy like you needs all the sleep he can get. Go lie down for a couple of hours Dad, I'll call you in time for work."
"You sure?" He asked half-heartedly, already shuffling away.
"I'm sure. Hey?"
"What sweetie?" Mark turned to look at Cadey.
"You want some warm milk before bed?" The grin on her face was pure mischief and he loved to see it.
"Sure. You want my foot in your ass while you fix it?"
"So that's a no then? 'Kay, sleep Dad. Talk to you in a couple of hours." Her father blew her a kiss, heading off to his bedroom.
