Page 65 of Roll With The Punches

Chapter Seventeen

Jeff nervously waited for the girls to emerge. He was first going to make sure Em was okay to drive, and then they were going to follow them home. Grace was supposed to spend the night anyway, since they had summer classes tomorrow and Emma wouldn’t have practice tomorrow morning.

When they emerged, Emma headed straight to them and, without a word, wrapped her arms around both of them, burying her face against Stuart’s chest, where she burst into tears.

Jeff and Grace held both of them while she cried, and that pretty much answered Jeff’s question for him.

“Stuart, why don’t you drive Emma’s car, okay? They can ride with you. I don’t want her driving this upset. Have her call Brandon while you drive home.”

Emma sniffed and pulled her keys out of the side pocket of her bag and handed them to him.

Jeff kissed the top of her head. “Stuart talked to Brandon already and got him calmed down. He’s going to call the attorney and let him know.”

“I don’t care that she’s my mother, I’mdone. I don’t want to see her again. Ihateher.”

“I know, sweetheart. Let’s let the attorney handle it. That’s why we pay him.”

Well, technically Brandon paid him. If necessary, Jeff would move for him and Stuart to take over Brandon’s monthly share of household expenses for him and Emma so that Brandon could put it toward legal fees. Or directly chip in for legal fees, if he needed help.

Whatever it took to keep their family together.

They got the girls home and while Emma took a shower, Stuart helped Grace get the leftovers ready while Jeff uploaded the video from his phone to Dropbox for Ed and Brandon.

When Emma emerged, she wore an oversized T-shirt over leggings, her damp hair long and loose and her expression dour.

She looked…aged.

And angry.

Jeff didn’t try to get her to talk. None of them felt like talking.

It was Emma who eventually broke the silence as they were finishing.

“I hope Dad puts her in jail for this.”

Stuart started to say something, but Jeff reached out and touched his shoulder. Tonight, Jeff had sat in Brandon’s seat, Stuart where Jeff usually sat.

“Honey,” Jeff said, “let your dad handle it. Don’t call her. If she calls you, don’t talk to her. Not until the attorney tells us what to do.”

Grace set her fork down. “Can I just say there is something fundamentally wrong with a dude who is his age and worked for the same place for so long and is only an assistant manager? How stupid is he, really?”

“Stupid enough to not realize there’d be multiple cameras covering every square inch of the public areas of that facility,” Stuart snarked.

That cracked them all up, including Emma, Jeff was relieved to see.

By the time they fell into bed that night, Stuart wasn’t feeling very romantic either. “Can we just cuddle tonight?”

He pulled him into his arms. “Yeah. That sounds good. Real good.”

At least the distraction had taken all of Stu’s focus off him and how he felt. He’d stop by the drugstore tomorrow and pick up more vitamins. All this stress couldn’t be helping, that was for sure.

* * * *

Brandon had never been so happy to get home as he was when he walked out of the airport gate area Friday night to find Jeff, Stuart, and Emma awaiting him.

Stuart and Jeff waited while Brandon first pulled Emma in for a long, strong hug, holding her, relief on his face.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here, honey.”