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Richie sat in the kitchen, deep in thought with an opened bottle of beer on the table. He had no idea why he opened it, to begin with. He remembered how his own father would sit in the kitchen, alone, drinking his beer. As much as Richie wanted to drown out today’s events, the drink remained untouched.
“We’ll talk about this more in the morning, Chloe,” Eddie’s stern voice echoed from down the hallway. Ever since returning home from school barely any of them spoke. Richie was completely bottled up in his own emotions that he hardly noticed the tears in the corners of his daughter’s eyes as they ate dinner, silently.
Richie heard the door to his daughter’s room close and then feet approaching the kitchen. Eddie walked in, hardly glancing at Richie. He walked straight to the counter immediately preparing some tea.
Richie waited. Eddie was settling for the right time to have this discussion with Richie. He tapped his fingers and made quick glances at the counter. Richie could feel the argument boiling up within his stomach. If Eddie was going to keep him in this agony Richie was going to explode.
Finally, Eddie turned around once his kettle was boiling. “Okay, now that Chloe is asleep, why don’t we discuss what happened today,” he said bitterly, crossing his arms.
Richie sat up in his chair and looked at Eddie with a similar frustrated expression. “Alright, what’s on your mind?”
“No, No, No, we’re not going to do that, Richie,” Eddie warned, shaking his head.
“I just want to know what’s on your mind, okay? Then I can get some clue to how you’re feeling so you’ll know how I feel and so we don’t have to argue.”
Eddie nodded in agreement although he was still lost in that tongue twister. “I just want to have a discussion about why you told Chloe it was alright to have a physical confrontation with those children who were bullying her.”
“I never told her fighting was okay!”
“Then why did Chloe’s principal tell us that Chloe said that her Daddy told her to stick up for herself and do what she feels to defend herself?”
“Defend: ‘Resist an attack.’” Richie explained. “I don’t know where she got punching from!”
Richie stood up and roamed around the kitchen pulling at his hair. His face heated up in anger. What he was more aggravated about was how the principal looked at him and Eddie while in the office. It’s as if he thought they were a bad influence. He knew from the start, marrying Eddie and adopting a child they weren’t going to be accepted by every single person. Just the way that the principal spoke to them was enough for Richie to hate him.
“You punched Henry Bowers once,” Eddie reluctantly admitted, hugging himself, still leaning by the counter.
Richie’s whole body went stiff. Of course, that wasn’t the person he needed to remember right now. And kind of a bad connection to this issue. He turned to Eddie looking at him as if he were out of his mind. “I only hit Henry once! I always defend myself with words. You know that!”
Eddie’s eyes shifted avoiding Richie’s angered eyes.
“What? You don’t believe me? What are you thinking? Tell me?”
Eddie stared into the floor. “Bill told me about that fight you two had. From the sound of things it got physical…”
The tension was even thicker in the room reliving the awful memory which happened more than thirty years ago now. They were both different people back then. They didn’t understand the values of friendship until that very point.
“Eddie, you weren’t even there! We were angry! We weren’t thinking straight!” Richie pointed out.
“I’m aware,” Eddie remarked, still not looking at him.
“You know I would never hurt someone! I wasn’t thinking straight. Is that what this conversation is turning into? I’m making our daughter a bad influence because I was a juvenile delinquent?” Richie said, pressing an accused hand to his chest.
“No!” Eddie let out an exhausted sigh, letting his face slip behind his hands. “You know what, that’s not the key issue. We’re talking about Chloe!”
“You’re the one who brought up the past!”
“I didn’t want to!”
“Chloe is a good child, you know!” Richie confronted, his voice rising.
“Yes, she is. We’re to teach her proper etiquette and not physical violence!”
“I w-” Richie raced over to Eddie and pointed an accusing finger right in his chest. “I was not teaching her about violence! I was showing her how she needs to stand up for herself! She’s lucky, too! She didn’t grow up the way we did!”
“This conversation is not about you, Richie!” Eddie stared darkly into his husband’s eyes.
“You just turned it around to you a few minutes ago!” Richie pointed out, turning his back to leave the kitchen. “Obviously you have to more to fight and accuse me about!”
Eddie put a hand on Richie’s shoulder. “We’re not done discussing this! Chloe needs to be told that violence is not an option.”
“Sure, go ahead, Mr. Good Manners!”
“Both of us!” Eddie yelled raising his voice.
“Oh, good I’m trustworthy again?”
“Daddy? Dad?” It was Chloe standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Tears fell from her eyes.
Eddie and Richie finally realized how close their faces were pushed together practically huffing like bulls. The kettle was whistling that irritating noise practically boiling over. They were definitely fired up from yelling at one another.
Eddie’s heart started pounding and rushed to his daughter’s side. “Chloe, I’m so sorry! Everything is okay,” he comforted as he hugged the little girl close.
“You were shouting,” Chloe cried.
“We were having a discussion,” Richie told her as he bent down to her side, crookedly smiling.
Chloe came out from Eddie’s arms looking at her parents with such a fearful look. “Don’t you love each other?”
“Yes, sweetie. Parents have their quarrels,” Eddie explained, brushing his hand through her hair. Oh, boy was that true. When he was little he was too scared to get out of bed when his own parents were having a heated argument.
“Are you gonna get a divorce?”
That question was like a knife shooting into their hearts. Eddie couldn’t speak practically fainting to the floor. Richie picked up the little girl taking her back to her room.
“Chloe, it’s been a hard day. Go back to sleep and we’re going to talk more in the morning.” Richie assured her as he kissed her good night.
“But, you and Dad love each other, right?” Casey asked, still crying. “I love you, too. I was only standing up to those kids! I was only saying I was lucky to have two dads when they said…”
“Chloe, it’s okay,” Richie cut her off, brushing away her tears and pulling up the covers “Your dad and I love each other with all our hearts.”
Richie closed the door and walked back to the kitchen where Eddie was still sitting on the floor.
“You okay?”
“She just turned seven,” Eddie said in this faraway voice which cracked.
“Now I know where Chloe gets her vocabulary from,” Richie said mainly to lighten the mood.
Eddie slowly stood up. He walked over to Richie. Taking one another’s hands their faces imitated the same broken look. Eddie collapsed in Richie’s arms holding the man tightly. “Oh, Richie. Forgive me! I’m just so worried. I didn’t mean to accuse you!” Eddie cried.
Richie smoothed his husband’s hair as he moved his hand in circles around his back. “No, it’s my fault. I should have been more specific with Chloe.”
They remained in each others arms taking in the warmth and letting their worries flow out from their bodies. Richie’s hands massaged up Eddie’s lanky back making him feel better. The smell of Richie’s cologne filled Eddie’s nose. It was his favorite scent.
“Are we bad parents?” Eddie asked.
“Who says?” Richie scoffed, parting from the hug to look at Eddie.
Eddie shook his head, staring into his eyes. “I don’t know.”
Richie held Eddie by his shoulders gently massaging them. “Nobody said this job was easy, Eds. We’re doin’ a great job. And the best part is that I get to do it with you. I love you.”
“And I love you.” Eddie smiled giving his husband a kiss. “Even though you are an asshole.”
“Yeah, you see where Chloe gets that name-calling from?” Richie teased him.