He's here.
From my bedroom, I hear the car pull into the driveway. Couldn't he have waited until after I'd left for work? I think about disappearing through the back door and sneaking into the garage to get my bike but ultimately decide to get it over with.
Pulling off my durag, I make my way downstairs. The sound of hushed voices spill from the living room, where he's asking Aunt Maggie where I am and if i plan on coming downstairs. She tells him that I'm upstairs and then there are footsteps headed toward the stairs.
"Xavier," she says, stopping him. "Be nice to him,"
"He's my kid, Margaret,"
"Yeah? Who raised him?"
A smile stretches across my face. Aunt Maggie rarely stands up to him. He doesn't answer her, of course. To do that, he'd have to admit to all the ways he screwed up as a father. And he wouldn't do that.
I make my way into the kitchen at the same time he does. Our eyes meet and his eyebrows raise, likely because of how different I look since the last time he saw me. That was two years ago and I was two feet shorter with a whole lot less muscle.
"Lucas," he says, his only form of greeting.
"Xavier," I respond, taking his lead.
He chuckles. "Still a hard ass, I see,"
"Learned from the best,"
He nods, a smirk pulling at his lips, as though I complimented him. "How are you?"
"Peachy," I say. "How about you? How's your wife?"
He cocks his head. "You mean your stepmother?"
"I mean your wife,"
His smile drops for a split second. "She's good. I actually wanted to talk to you about something,"
"I'm listening,"
He stays by the entryway, but shifts in place, like he might be nervous. He clears his throat. "Julie's pregnant," he says with the biggest smile I've ever seen on him.
"Oh."
He grins at me. "I'm going to be a dad,"
A laugh slips out of me. He's going to be a dad. As though the child his wife is carrying is the first child he'd have fathered.
The look on his face and the conviction in his tone pisses me off. What the fuck am I then? I guess being absent for a decade out of the eighteen years of my life means he was never a dad.
A large part of me wants to punch him, but something holds me back. Perhaps the fact that I've always known that he doesn't give a shit about me. Perhaps the fact that Aunt Maggie is standing two feet behind him. Perhaps the fact that I don't want him to be right about me.
"That's great, Xavier," I say to him. "Congratulations,"
He didn't expect my reaction. "Of course, Julie wants you to be a part of the baby's life. She wants you to move in with us," he tells me, the smile still on his face.
Julie wants that. Not him.
I shake my head. "No, thank you,"
"Lucas,"
"No,"
"Will you at least think about it?"
"I'm not living with you, Xavier,"
"You can't live here forever," he says, his voice raising with frustration.
"That's okay. I'm moving out this year,"
His head whips to his sister. "What?" he shouts, "You're letting him move out?"
She rolls her eyes. "I'm not letting him do anything. Luke's an adult,"
He turns back to me. "And how will you pay for a place on your own?"
"Don't worry about it," I say, making my way to the door. "Aunt Maggie. Keys, please,"
"We'll leave together," she says.
"That's okay. I'll open up and get everything sorted before you and the others come in,"
She studies my face for a moment before giving up. "On the hook by the door,"
"Thanks. See you in a few,"