Eventually we got going and I told him to head to a tattoo parlour I had researched earlier in the week. Several of the tattoo artists were women, so I knew I would feel more comfortable going there. I’d already contacted them and they could get me in around noon.
“So you’d already had your mind made up before coming here,” he said, giving me a look while driving me into town.
“Well, I wanted you to feel involved in the process,” I said in my sweetest voice. He shook his head.
“So what are you getting?”
“I’m getting Batgirl on my left shoulder. Like the one on your t-shirt,” I said. “You know, the second day of the con, when I saw you wearing that shirt, I knew it was fate. I knew we were going to get together. That old cartoon is my favorite.”
He looked at me and shook his head and smiled. “Old cartoon. Right. I approve, of course, but may I ask why?”
“I’m a redhead from a small town,” I said. “I watched those cartoons on tv and fell in love with Batgirl, and I read as many of the comics as I could find. I even bugged the local library to bring in the graphic novels. So if I’m going to get a tattoo, it’s going to be her.”
“Makes sense. And why on your shoulder?”
I grinned. “Well, that way she’s always got my back, Daddy.”
“Oh dear god,” he groaned, which caused me to break out into a fit of giggles.
The tattoo was actually remarkably straightforward and undramatic. I’d forwarded the kind of design I was looking for, so by the time I got there they already had a draft ready for me to take a look at. I made a couple of adjustments in the color and size and they began going to work on my left shoulder. Daddy spent most of the time chatting with me and occasionally with that tattooist, just to make sure I was ok. I mean, it hurt, but it wasn’t too bad. When she finished, I looked at it in the mirror and fell in love. She did a great job. I could have hugged her.
I got the usual materials on taking care of the tattoo, which I promised to do. I was kind of bummed that the hot tub was out for the next few weeks, but I figured that was going to be the case. I was still wired from the endorphins when we left the shop.
“Food or home?” Daddy asked.
“The way I’m buzzing right now, I’d say home so you can take advantage of me, but I’m afraid I might resort to cannibalism before we got there, so I think food is probably the safer bet,” I said, grabbing his hand as we began walking towards a restaurant he liked.
“Well, Ben. This is a surprise,” I heard a voice from behind us say. I felt Daddy clinch my hand hard enough to briefly hurt before he turned around.
“Matt,” he said in a voice I had never heard before. There were hints of frustration, anger, and concern in it. “What brings you to Kingston?”
I turned with him. There was a man close to Daddy’s age, just not in nearly as good shape. He had some middle age man paunch and his hair was beginning to thin. Next to him was, I’m guessing, his wife. She was, somehow, thinner than I was. But it was like the years had calcified everything into sharp angles. If in another reality I was a Disney princess, I’m pretty sure this is what my evil step-mother would look like.
“Oh, we’re here looking for some summer places,” the woman said. “With Matt’s promotion at work I thought it would be nice to have a place to get away to.”
“Well, congratulations Matt. I guess when they realized I wasn’t coming back they kept on going down the list,” Daddy said.
Again, wow. There was serious tension going on. I’d never heard Daddy talk like this. Matt looked like he was about to say something, when his wife decided it was time to get a cheap shot in.
“My, I’d heard you were dating a younger woman, but that is quite some cradle robbing you’re doing. I suspect she’s too young for even our boys to date. I wonder what Beth’s mom would think of you dating someone so young so soon after her daughter died?”
It was like a bomb went off in my head. Fuck this cunt. She was a dead woman. Nobody talks to my man this way. I was starting to move when Daddy stopped me. I at least got to enjoy seeing the bitch flinch.
“Enough,” Daddy said. I looked up at him, and he had his eyes closed and was rubbing his nose. He looked sad, tired and furious all at once.
“Marie, in no particular order, Kit would never date your boys because one of them is gay and you’ve basically ostracized him to the point he’s in therapy. It would also require your other son to stop smoking pot in your basement for more than 10 minutes. Then again, given what’s facing him upstairs, it’s probably the sane option.
“Second, never speak my late wife’s name again. She was a kind, decent person who had patience for nearly everyone. Please know you were one of the very few she couldn’t stand and maybe reflect on what that says about you.
“And finally, Matt, we’ve never seen eye to eye, but for god sake grow a pair or the staff will eat you alive because they’ve never liked nor respected you. Also, give Meg a call. I’m pretty sure she would work your divorce pro bono. I’d do it sooner rather than later before this woman drains every last cent you have because there’s no way you can afford your house in Toronto and another one up here,” Daddy said.
Then we turned and walked away, heading back towards the restaurant we had originally been going to. Apparently Marie got over her shock and yelled out loud enough to turn heads.
“What kind of sick bastard has sex with an underage girl. You pervert!” she screamed.
Oh, that was it. I yanked my hand from Daddy’s and started to march towards her. She actually took a step back to get behind her husband. I felt Daddy’s hand on my shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt, but firm.
“I’m 20, you stupid cunt. What’s wrong with you that you talk to a man who lost his wife like that? How fucked up are you?” I yelled.
Quietly behind me I heard him whisper, “Enough Kitten. Please.”
I allowed him to turn me around and we kept walking down the street away from them. But I swear I could feel her eyes burning into the back of my skull. I hoped she moved to this area. I would find out where she lived, get Michelle, and the two of us would fuck her up.
I could feel Daddy practically vibrating as we were walking down the street. So was I. The endorphins from the tattoo and that bitch attacking my Daddy, I was lucky I wasn’t hearing colors. We finally made it to the restaurant and because it was after the lunch rush, we had no problem getting a table. The waitress seemed to know we needed some privacy so sat us away from a few stragglers.
Daddy was sitting quietly at the table rubbing his face. My anger was turning into me being afraid. I hadn’t seen him like this before. Even the confrontation with Meg was different than this.
“Daddy? Please, you’re freaking me out a bit,” I said.
That seemed to snap him out of it.
“Sorry, Kitten,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that. A confrontation in the middle of the street with one of the worst human beings you’re ever likely to meet was not on my agenda for today.”
“Who the fuck are they?” I said. I was still riled up. If Daddy said let’s go back there and fuck them up I’d be out the door in a shot.
“I told you I did policy work before. Well, he was one of my co-workers. In his heart, I don’t think he’s a terrible human being. I just think he married the first person who gave him a handjob, confused that as true love, and discovered too late that he had married a vampire,” he said.
“Anyway, he always wanted more and more, partly I suspect to keep up with her spending habits. I think if he’d just stayed as a policy wonk, reading over documents and writing papers, he’d be perfectly good at it. And probably a lot happier. Now they made him a director. That man is the poster child for the phrase ‘promoted to your level of incompetence.’ The poor, doomed bastard. He’ll be fired within the next two years,” Daddy said.
“You’ll pardon me if I’m not terribly sympathetic,” I said. The waitress came back and we quickly ordered some sandwiches.
Daddy still looked pensive so I pried further.
“So, what’s the problem? Are you worried about her moving here? It’s a big area, I think we can avoid her.”
He shook his head. “Among Marie’s many delightful traits is that she’s a massive and vicious gossip. I assure you, our confrontation is being rewritten and retold as we speak. You’re now going to be 14 years old, by the way,” he said. When I looked shocked, he simply shrugged his shoulders.
“That confrontation was the definition of five minutes of pleasure to be paid for with weeks of misery,” he said. “I’ve wanted to rip into them like that for years. Beth actively loathed Marie to the point she wouldn’t go to staff Christmas parties if she knew she was going to be there. You don’t know Beth, but that says something,” he said.
I winced and I hoped it didn’t show. I still had enough energy roaring through my body that I said something that I ordinarily might not have.
“Daddy, I don’t mean to dump on you at this moment, but at some point we really do need to talk about you and Beth. It’s… weird for me sometimes. You reference her, but other than the accident, I don’t know much. She helped make you who you are. I think I should know more,” I said.
He nodded his head.
“Yeah, I know. Talking about my late wife to my current girlfriend… I just could never figure out how much you wanted to know or how to broach it. But you’re right, we will talk about her. It’s not fair for you getting ambushed like that,” he said.
I took a gulp of water. Wanting to murder someone was dehydrating.
“In the meantime, if that… bitch is as cruel as you say she is, you should call Meg,” I said. He looked a little shocked. “Look, short of going back out there, throwing her in the trunk of your car, and then sinking her into Lake Ontario, I don’t know what to tell you to do about her.”