Page 115 of Remiss

“That cunt didwhat?” Diesel roared, almost forgetting Uncle Christopher’s presence.Almost. “Any particular reason why that fucking bitch discussed her sex life with a child?”

“Mom was really mad and sent Gypsy home,” Axel responded, not answering Diesel’s question. “I wanted to tell you last night, but I didn’t know how with Rebel right there and already upset about Torie.”

Draining his glass of orange juice, Diesel slammed the glass on the table and growled in frustration.

“Anyway, I have to go. Aunt Kendall, Mattie, Aunt Zoann, Harley…well everybody is leaving this afternoon. They have to pack.”

Diesel understood the relief on everyone’s faces. He felt it deep in his bones. “What time are you are getting in?”

“Wearen’t, although Mom said I can come home with everyone else. I’m still thinking about it. She definitely isn’t coming back today. Neither is Reb. I’m scared if I leave without them, Mom and Reb will forget about us and decide not to come back. She’s even sending Gunner back home.”

The stark look on Uncle Christopher’s face matched the hollowness Diesel suddenly felt. He didn’t even respond when Jana grabbed his hand, instead standing as still as a statue, afraid of what this meant for their family.

CJ was as ashen as Uncle Christopher, Bishop, and Kaia. Ryder and Ransom squirmed in their seats and pressed their lips together.

“I broke into Mom’s room to steal a Milky Way from her purse,” Axel continued. “It wasn’t really stealing ‘cause I left a penny with a note asking for my change.”

Leave it to Axel to lighten the mood.

Unable to stop his smile, Diesel shook his head and finally squeezed Jana’s hand before pulling his away. “You can’t get fucking change for a penny, Ax.”

“What about the ha’penny?”

“That was in the UK,” Diesel said, “and discontinued decades ago.”

“Don’t we have something similar?”

“We had the half cent,” Diesel said, “pulled from production over a hundred years before the ha’penny.”

“Oh brother! I’m going to have to sneak into her room again and take my fucking penny back.”

A half-smile curved Uncle Christopher’s lips.

“Anyway, my penny and Mom’s last candy bar isn’t the point. She was sleeping in Dad’s shirt. I think she misses him, but she’s mad again.”

“Because of Rebel,” Diesel gritted. Fucking Gypsy and her big fucking mouth.

“She’s mad because of Father Wilkins too,” Axel announced. “Spying is so fucking hard, D. But I try to keep tabs on Mom and I heard her talking to Aunt Bunny. She said she wanted to call Dad and Aunt Bunny told her that was probably a good idea.Then, Mom started to cry again because Dad’s a stupid motherfucker.”

“Aunt Meggie said that?”

“Didn’t we go over this on another call? Mom thinks Dad is brilliant. Just like she thinks he’s good.” And again the little motherfucker roared with laughter. “Then she started talking weird about Dad being Christopher and Outlaw.”

“He’s Christopher to us and Outlaw to the world.”

“Yeah, well, he needs to be Outlaw for Mom too ‘causeChristopheris a fucking jackass. He’s soft and changes his mind a lot.Andhe lets everybody disrespect his woman,” Axel said in disgust.

“Ax–”

“I figured Mom was going back to her room, so I snuck in and hid under her bed. She didn’t take too long showering and stuff, but this is what made her mad at the priest.”

Diesel had almost forgotten that.

“She asked for him to arrange a visit with Rule and he told her no. Mom begged him, too. I felt really sorry for her because she was crying then too and she ran to the bathroom. That was when I escaped. And then this morning Aunt Zoann woke us up to let us know the new schedule. Nobody told me Mom was staying because of those other stuffs, but as much as she misses Dad, she would’ve come home too if Father Wilkins had been just a little nicer. But everybody’s being mean to Mom. It made me wish that motherfucker had burned in that fucking fire instead of him being allowed to fucking live.”

Diesel straightened. “What the fuck did you say?”

“Mom asked about how the priest was and how glad she was that he was able to make it out before the fire and smoke overwhelmed him. That motherfucker said he was lucky he’d been shown mercy and not met a gruesome and bloody death.”