Rowan

   I maneuvered the Lexus into the empty parking lot. I noticed the street was lined up with a few more cars. I wondered if everyone was home for the weekend. Feeling a little more under the weather, I pushed the car into park and sat in the car for a while. I'd never been an overly social person, and I'd always tried to avoid the usual weekend meals in the family home, surrounded by all and under the watchful eye of my father. Today, I realized I wasn't going to get lucky. The first thing Sofia had taught me was to learn to blend with the society, to appear normal to everyone. The only thing that I wasn't.

   But, now, I wanted to try to become normal, for myself, for Minnie and Alana.

   "Daddy, aren't we going inside?" Minnie pulled me out of my thoughts.

    "Yeah. Let's go, sweetheart."

     I walked through the dimly lit foyer that was now decorated with a white plush carpet. A new white chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. There seemed to be a lot of décor changes in two years, Mom seemed to have replaced a tall statue with a giant flower vase. As I walked further, I noticed some picture frames hung against a far wall. It was a family picture from when my brother Drew was alive. There were few other ones with Minnie and me, and another one of our pictures from family vacations. They were all happy faces.

     Mom seemed to have spent hours digging up these pictures.

    Minnie was already running through the hallways to get to her room at the first floor.

   When I walked into the sitting area, I found my family lounging in. The laughter filled the entire house, echoing through the thin walls. They hadn't even noticed me walk in, my sister, Claire was the first to see me.

    "Rowan!" Claire placed her drinks on the coffee table and made her way towards me. She didn't even give me time to react as she pulled me in a bear hug. I think her eyes were brimming with unshed tears.

   I patted her back. "It's good to see you too, Claire."

   She stepped back and frowned at me, wiping her eyes. "You were here four days ago, didn't you think it was important to inform us?"

   "I just needed time to sort out my mind. You know, it's been a rough two years..." I explained.

    Claire wasn't buying it. Her frown grew deeper. "We are a family, Rowan. What kind of a shit excuse is that?"

   "Give him some time to breathe, Claire. Rowan's been in the house just for a few minutes." That was my mother, she walked towards me and enveloped in a hug. "My baby, how are you?"

   I had to lean all the way and I still felt like a Leaning tower of Pisa. I felt a wave of nostalgia as the familiar scent of her perfume entered my nostrils. I had to try hard to control my man tears.

  Shit, somebody's gotta stop cutting those onions now.

   I heard sobs, and I realized my mom had started her water works. She was always the emotional one in the family. I remembered when she came to visit me at the rehab, she'd talked to me, opened her heart and told me that I'd done the right thing by signing the program. Mom always preferred staying out of my business, be it getting expelled from private schools, an early pregnancy of my ex-girlfriend or my addictions, but mostly after that incident during my teenage years when I pushed her off the stairs, although I spent an eternity apologizing, I knew that it wasn't enough. She never said a word, never tried to yelled at me for things I did, and it pissed me off.

  I never needed my mother to be scared of me. I wanted her to understand me, and love me for what I was, and today I somehow miraculously was getting that affection and love.

   Today seemed like a free hugs day.

    I realized I hadn't answered her question. "I'm fine, Mom. It's good to see you. I don't understand, why are there cars lined up outside?"

   "Family dinner, duh." Claire said, "And since you're here, we are gonna celebrate by cutting the cake."

    "You got a cake? Are you kidding me?" I chuckled. "What am I? A preschooler graduated to grade one?"

   I was again masking the sheer glee that was going to lite up my face.

  "You are out of that goddamn asylum..."

  "It's a rehab." I corrected her.

   "And you are an international model and that calls for a celebration. C'mon, we even have champagne." She said as she locked arms with me and dragged me towards the dining area.

*****

   I wouldn't have been surprised as much if a group of hungry bears were seated at our dining table, what was even more uncanny was my father and Dwight seated at the table talking casually as I walked in. My father avoided family dinner's like a plague, he only came in if he thought it was important.  Katelyn, Dwight's secretary and the woman he had been perusing appeared to be seated at the table too. She was a nice woman, and I knew that if they had any future together, she would keep our family together. 

   They stood up as I made my way towards them, Dwight slapped my back hard and my father settled with a handshake that squeezed the life out of my hand. "Welcome home, son."

  "Thanks, Dad." I said, genuinely touched that they were all making an effort of making me feel at home.

  Katelyn shook hands with me. "It's great to have you back, Rowan."

"Thanks."

  "Bring in the cake, Molly!" Claire called out to the cook.

      Molly, our oldest cook in the house wheeled in the trolley that now towered a big ass white cake that was surrounded by what seemed like chocolate cake pops. Welcome Home Rowan was iced in big letters on the cake.

   "You didn't have to do all this, guys." I whispered.

   "Where's the champagne?"  Dwight asked.

     After I'd cut the cake and everyone had had their piece of cake and champagne, they settled down surrounding the dining table for dinner. Mom took a seat beside me, and served me a large portion of shrimp lasagna which she had prepared especially because it was my favorite. Anything including shrimp was my favorite.

   I thought I was off their inquisition list as they continued to chatter about everything and nothing in particular, but that particular miracle never happened in the Masters' household, not with me at the table.

   "What are your future plans, Rowan, now that you're here?" Dad asked.

    I took my own sweet time to answer. "I haven't thought of it yet. I'm still under contract with my modeling agency, so I'm going to continue with that, as well as look for a teacher's job."

   My dad laughed like I was talking in Chinese and he hadn't understood a damn word. "Son, the position for the COO in our company is vacant."

   "What's your point?" I asked. I knew damn well what was coming next.

    "I want you to be the new Chief Operating Officer for the Masters Enterprise. What do you think about it?" He asked, "You could be useful to your old man. Dwight and I have discussed and we think you are suitable for the position."

    "It's too much of a responsibility and I have never had an interest in leading the company. I thought that was a known fact. I think I made myself clear years before that I have no interest in being part of the family business. I'm my own man, I do things that I like to do when I want to do."

  "Rowan, you should at least think about the offer..." Dwight began, in defense of my father.

   "I'm not interested. Why don't you guys understand? If I join the company, I wouldn't be able to do what I want to do. I wouldn't even be able to look after Minnie. I can't get so busy around life that I forget living, because it's not worth it."

   "You still owe me the money, son." Dad reminded me.

    "Honey, please." Mom protested.

   I knew this was his way of getting me into his business. The man had no shortage of money. He was just blackmailing me into working for him.

   I sighed. "So you want me to work for you and cover the rehabilitation bills?"

   "That's the only way."

    "Don't you worry about it. I'll pay you in installments soon." That said I continued to eat my meal in silence. Soon didn't have to be in the next six months.

   All of a sudden I heard the main door bang shut and the sound of footsteps. Everyone looked up from the meals, including me, but something told me they already knew who the intruder was going to be. I was the only one in the dark.

    "Yo, what's up, folks?" I heard a familiar voice boom into the room.

     Troy walked in with his easy swagger, people usually said Troy looked more like my brother than Dwight, I hated the resemblance. More so because he reminded me of when I used to be at his age. Carefree, stupid and fucking rebellious.

    But, why was Troy even here in this house? And why hadn't anyone said anything to me before?

    "Why the fuck wasn't I invited to this welcoming party?" He bellowed loudly shoving the guitar at a maid as he made his way towards the table.

   "You're not supposed to use foul language when we're in the same room, do you understand, Troy?" Dad said. He had zero tolerance for cussing with him in the room. He thought it was uncivilized behavior.

    "Yo, sorry, Uncle Gary." Troy leaned forward and reached for the garlic bread from the dinning. "This looks fucking good."

   Dad sighed. Claire rolled her eyes. It was going to take more than just an earful for it to sink in.

   Troy slapped me on the back. "Good to have you back, brother. Got lots to talk about."

    "How have you been?" I asked him. "How's Uncle Gordon and Aunt Judy?"

    Troy laughed, taking a seat opposite mine. "Jus' great,I guess. I mean, other than the whores dad brings home every now and then, and mom packing her stuff and moving to grandpa's, everything's normal. Life's good."

    Mom was acting like she had her ears plugged in and Dad seemed to be shaking his head.

   It was getting awkward. I knew things at Troy's weren't great because of my uncle's numerous love affairs and the upcoming divorce that was on the way, but I didn't think things had gotten so ugly that Troy had to move in here.

   "I called you almost ten times to tell you that the party was going to start. Where the hell were you?" Claire asked.

    "Oh, y'know, practicing with my band and then I was at my girlfriend's."

    "Your girlfriend?" Claire asked confused.

    "Wow, these pop cakes are so good, are these custom made, Claire? Or did you bake it at home?" Dwight asked, he was trying to change the subject for some reason. He always brought in food when he wanted to change the subject. Katelyn was trying to communicate with Dwight through her eyes.

    "Custom made, Dwight. I thought you were the one who ordered it. So, anyway, Troy, who is this unlucky girl we are talking about?"

    "She goes to my college, and she told me you know each other." Troy said with a mouthful of cake.

    "We do?"

    "Yeah. Her name is Alana." He said, "We met at a bar, and y'know we totally hit it off."

     When Troy said the name, I thought I heard him wrong. "Hold up. What's the name again?"

      "Alana Hayes." He repeated.

    I glanced at Dwight, who was looking everywhere but me, his eyes were closed and he was acting like Troy hadn't just spewed those words.

  "Is this some kind of a sick joke?" I asked, taking turns to glare at each one of them.

   "Troy, I heard someone call you upstairs." That was Claire, shaking like a Chihuahua for the drama that was about to unfold and obviously regretting her decision of digging deeper into Troy's personal life.

    "Didn't hear nobody." Troy replied.

    "No one is going to move from their places unless and until you tell me what this is about and why he is talking about Alana." I said.

   "Because she is my girlfriend. I think I made it obvious, yo. Why is there a problem?" Troy appeared to be clueless, although I thought otherwise.

    I pounded my fist on the table. "DON'T LIE TO ME!"

   "Why would I lie to you?" Troy didn't even finch. "Wait, why is everyone acting like I just slept with your girl?"

   Slept? I couldn't breathe.

     I was having one of those panic attacks again. My hands were shaking violently. My mind was on Alana. How could I let this happen? Alana couldn't do this to me, I thought, then I realized I'd told her to move on and she had gone ahead and hooked up with my cousin?

   No wonder Alana seemed guilty when she said wanted to tell me something. It had to be about Troy, or the fact that she was in love with him. She had probably agreed to give me a chance because I looked desperate and she didn't want to hurt my feelings.

   They were all looking at me, wondering if I was going to explode and lash out. The truth was, I wanted to stab Troy. My anger was blowing up so bad that I wanted to crash my plate, but I didn't do any of that and neither did I ask for further explanation, instead I picked up my fork, clenching it until my knuckles were white and began shoveling down the food as if I hadn't been bothered by what Troy had said. I heard the sound of the cutlery which meant everyone else had resumed their meals.

   Presents were towered over the side table, but I ignored them all and made a beeline for the staircase. I needed my meds, without those, I was going to rampage around the house and I didn't want my family to think that I needed to get into lockdown.

    I scrambled up the stairs and Dwight followed after me. I sat down on my bed with my hands covering my face. I was going to have a serious meltdown and difficulty going to bed. Dwight appeared to be standing in the doorway, contemplating his next move.

   "Rowan, I was going to tell you about it." He said finally.

    I glared at him, not angry at him, but at myself. "When exactly did you plan to tell me? Possibly when she was going to walk the aisle in a fucking white dress with Troy at the end of it?"

   "You're overreacting. You still have time."

    My breathing was irregular. I quickly reached for my jeans pocket and pulled out my meds. I always carried them around. Dwight rushed with a glass of water which I downed as I swallowed my anti-psychotic meds.

There was moisture pooled up at the corner of my eyes. Minnie stormed into the room before Dwight had time to close the door.

   "Daddy, can we play house tonight?" Minnie asked.

    "Not now, baby. Daddy is not feeling fine." I said, trying so fucking hard to not cry in front of my child.  

    Suddenly her lower lip quickened. "Ish...ish daddy going to da hoshpital again?"

    "No, sweetheart. Of course not." Dwight said. "He is not going anywhere."

    Minnie wasn't convinced. When I'd been admitted in the rehab, she kept asking what was wrong with me and they just told her that I was sick, that I needed to stay in the hospital to get better. She didn't understand my illness, but she did know about my panic attacks.

    "I don wansh daddy to go to the hoshpital." She mumbled and melted down into a racking sob.

    I pulled her into my lap and assured her that I wasn't leaving. I wouldn't go anywhere, because even if every single day was a fight, I wasn't going to give up. I rocked her back and forth and sang her a lullaby softly and a few minutes later her breathing relaxed and I knew Minnie had fallen asleep. Mom was at the door looking concerned but I told her I could handle so she left us alone.

    I placed Minnie in bed and pulled the covers over her, tucking in her favorite teddy-bear.

    Dwight was still there. "I think it's better you speak with Alana directly rather than coming to some conclusion."

   "What do you want me to do? Beg her to take me back?" I whispered. "It's over, Dwight. I fucked up."

"It's not too late. All's fair in love and war."

  I tried to sleep that night with that thought in my head. The meds weren't kicking in because Sofia was a sly woman, she didn't want me to rely on sleeping pills.

   Maybe I should speak with Alana and ask her if she really had feelings for Troy.

   Before I had time to think about it, I reached for my phone from the dresser and texted Alana.

   Me: Hey! Are you awake?

*****

A.N: Hey everyone! Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter :) Please don't forget to Vote and comment telling me what you think. It's always lovely to read your thoughts and theories. Stay blessed xx 💜❤️