After dinner, Dad cleans up the dishes. It’s one of the few jobs left to him since his failing memory can’t really do him any harm over the sink, so Kayla and I have decided to let him keep doing it as long as he can.
He’s gazing out the window as he scrubs the pots and pans when he says, “Someone’s coming.”
Immediately my mind goes to Lonnie. If my brother shows up to ruin our peaceful family dinner, I’m going to be mad.
Kayla joins my father at the window and looks out. “It’s Brandon,” she says. “He must be here to see you, Alicia.”
“Why is Brandon coming to see Alicia?” Dad asks.
I get his mystification. From his perspective, Brandon is the guy I rejected and ran out on twenty years ago, and he and I haven’t seen each other since then. It probably doesn’t make any sense to him that he would want to see me... or that I would want to see him.
And to be honest, right now I don’t really want to see him.
Today has been a lot. I’ve been talking about abdication with my dad, and Kayla knows who Emmy’s real father is, and it’s the worst possible time for another evening out with Brandon, even though it would be fun for me. I don’t like the feeling of being around him all the time and lying to him about his daughter. I don’t like taking the risk that he’ll find out the truth. Because if he does, it might get back to Lonnie. If he or Deidre found out that I had a baby with Brandon… Well, I’m not sure what they would do. But I don’t think either of them is above resorting to violence.