Page 88 of Pride High 3: Yellow

The trinket box now had an intricate pink bow of interwoven loops on top. “It’s perfect!” Cameron breathed. “You really are amazing.”

“With our combined talents, we’re an unstoppable team. Hurry up and graduate from high school so I can make you my business partner.”

“I would love that.” The smile faded from his face as he thought of the reason that had brought him here. “Hey, remember when we were talking about my mom and her drinking?”

“Of course!” Charles said, instantly attentive.

“That support group you mentioned… Is it in town, by chance?”

“Yes, it is. The schedule might have changed since I last attended, but I believe I have the address and phone number around here somewhere. Shall I look?”

“It can wait,” Cameron said. “There’s something I want to try first. I’m going to talk to my dad. Anthony’s idea. I think he’s right.”

Charles eyed him with concern before opening his arms. “Come here,” he said, hugging him when Cameron stepped forward. “I wish I could go through these things for you. Why isn’t it possible for me to take the wheel, just for a little while? I’d get your entire life sorted out so you wouldn’t have to face such hardships.” His friend took a step back, a hand cupping Cameron’s cheek affectionately before he pulled away. “Then again, I’d be depriving you of crucial life lessons, and you do weather them with remarkable maturity.”

“I’m open to advice,” Cameron said.

“Speak from the heart. If that doesn’t get through to your father, then the onus is on him, not you. Remember that.”

“I will,” Cameron said. “Thanks.”

After they said goodbye and parted ways, Cameron wished—and not for the first time—that parents were something you got to choose. Charles would be like a mother and father rolled up into one. Not that Cameron would abandon his mom so easily. Nor was he ready to give up on her.

The evening was growing late when his thoughts returned to the subject once again. Mindy’s party had been nice. Her family had done everything to make it a special occasion. He felt encouraged by how well her parents got along, despite being divorced. In fact, had he not known, Cameron would have assumed they were still happily married. So when he returned home and found his father packing for another business trip, he decided the time was right.

“How long are you going to be gone?” Cameron asked, sitting on the bed next to an open suitcase.

“A week,” Trevor responded.

“Like a business week? Or a school week?”

His father seemed too distracted to hear him, but he answered after adding a stack of white T-shirts to the luggage. “I’ll be back on Sunday and fly out again on Monday.”

Cameron’s stomach sank. “You can’t be here for the entire weekend?”

“Jesus,” Trevor hissed under his breath. “You’re starting to sound like your mother!”

Cameron swallowed before forcing himself to press on. “She doesn’t do okay when you’re not here. Mom drinks. A lot.”

“I know,” Trevor said, returning to the open dresser. “That’s why I stopped answering her calls at night.”

Cameron’s mouth moved as he struggled to find words, and when they finally arrived, they were coarse with anger. “But that’swhyshe drinks so much! Because you aren’t there for her. Like, at all!”

Trevor slowly turned around, wearing an expression that warned he wasn’t in the mood.

Cameron wasn’t dissuaded. “Why?” he pleaded. “How come you can’t be here more?”

“I’ve gotta earn a living,” Trevor grumbled.

“Yeah, but you can at least come home for the weekends. Fly back on Friday night like you used to. Please!”

Trevor resumed packing.

Cameron waited for a response that never came. “Mom’s not the only one,” he tried. “I need you too.”

“For what?” Trevor demanded, hurling a bundle of dress socks to the floor. “What do you need from me, Cameron?”

Love. Support. Security. He didn’t bother saying these things aloud. Love had to be given freely, and his father seemed incapable of doing so. The only support they would get from him was financial, and Cameron could barely remember what a sense of security felt like.