I sat back in my chair and looked down at the table. “Okay, and what am I doing?”
“You’re taking him as far away as possible so you don’t have to see him,” she said. “It’s pretty obvious. If he were in Chicago, you’d have to see him all the time, visit, get involved with the place, the home. This way you won’t.”
I had had enough. It was now my turn to lean forward. “That is not true. That is not true at all. First of all, this is far and away the best place we saw. Far and away. And, as soon as I retire, I’ll go out there. I’ll spend summers out there. And he’ll come home for all the holidays and—”
“I have to agree there, Dad,” Mindy said. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
I felt my skin turning hot. “That is not true,” I said again.
“Maybe Mindy and I can split watching him. I can afford help. We both can. She makes a lot of money.”
“I don’t make that much money,” Mindy said. “You probably make more.”
I tried to keep my voice even and low, but I wasn’t having much success. “I appreciate the offer. But you two can’t even look at each other, much less raise Ethan together. Maybe if I had different daughters. Maybe if we were a normal family, things could have been different.”
“A normal family,” Mindy said.
“So it’s our fault?” Karen asked.
“It’s no one’s fault,” I said. “But your relationship played a part in your mother’s and my decision.”
“I haven’t decided anything,” Mary said.
“Normal family? You’re the one who left our family, Dad. You’re the one who went off and fucked that other woman,” Karen said.
“What does that have to do with this?” I threw my napkin down on the table and stood up.
“Where. Dad. Going?”
“Sit down, John. You’re upsetting Ethan.”
“I’m not upsetting—”
“Sit down, John!”
I sat back down.
“Why. Mad?”
Ethan was getting agitated, his bottom lip jutting out, a sure indicator of a pending meltdown. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and handed to him. He eagerly took it, his lip receding.
“Let’s talk about this later,” I said. “When he’s not around. This is not the time.”
Mary actually laughed. “We don’t have time. You’re forcing this decision.”
“So are you with them or me?” I asked her.
“I’m with Ethan. I want what’s best for him. This isn’t about you,” Mary said. “We’re just having a discussion here. Everyone gets their say. We should have had this discussion all along. Maybe we should go home and decide there, talk more. The girls have valid points, and they should weigh in.”
“We’re going to lose the spot! They’ll fill it. There’s a waiting list. All the good places have waiting lists years long. This is the right time.”
“The right time for what? To write your next book? Fuck another woman?” Karen said. “You think your entire life is going to get better once you dump him. You blame him for everything. It’s not his fault. It’s not his fault that you never wrote another book, Dad.”
“I don’t blame him for anything.”
“You kind of do,” Mindy said. “You blame him for the affair, you blame him for not writing, you blame him for being a high-school teacher your whole life even though I know you don’t like teaching anymore, for not traveling, for drinking.”
“I like being a teacher. And I don’t drink that much.”
“Ethan has been your excuse for years,” Karen said.
This was obviously a coordinated attack, an ambush, and much worse than I could have anticipated. Mary, with her half-moon earrings, had lulled me into a false sense of security at the bar. I stood back up. “Do you know how hard my life has been? Do you?”
“Save it, Dad,” Karen said. “He’s been your excuse for everything. You’re always walking around in an Ethan daze. You weren’t even going to make my wedding. You were going to be late, probably miss it.”
“That’s kind of a moot point,” Mindy mumbled.
Karen wheeled on Mindy. “At least I date men. At least I’m capable of having normal relationships. At least I don’t have to go on TV and wet my pants in some kind of pathetic attempt to get attention. At least I live in the real world and I’m not some bitter, cynical, class clown who hates everything and everyone. So fuck you.”
“You fuck you,” Mindy said.
“Stop it! Both of you! You’re acting like little girls. And that goes for you too,” I said, pointing at Mary. “All of you. I’m the one who pays the price if he stays.”
“Pays the price!” Mary said. “He’s with me half the time.”
“He’s with me a lot more than he’s with you. You know that! You always have some excuse. Your headaches. Sally.”
“That’s true, Mom, it seems you don’t see him that much,” Mindy said. “Maybe if you took him more, we wouldn’t have this problem.”
“You punt him off on Dad,” Karen said.
“Punt him off?” Mary’s eyes flared.