Mommy Dearest Page 8

  I sigh. It is such a big blow to Salter that his dad moved this far away. I know he is excited to see him again. I hate to see that look in his eyes. He doesn’t know his dad cheated on me. He only knows that he left, and that is enough. I know he feels guilt and questions if he had something to do with it. I try to tell him it wasn’t because of him, that sometimes grown-ups grow apart, that they can’t make it work anymore. I am not sure he is convinced.

  “Sure,” I say.

  Salter smiles and grabs my phone and finds his dad’s number. While driving towards the beach and listening to him talk to his father, I feel a chill go through my body. I watch the big signs for Ron Jon’s surf shop go by and realize my hands are shivering. Everything about this place gives me the creeps. I haven’t been back in almost twenty years. Not since I left for college.

  Blake was three years old back then. Joey and I have lived all over since. He worked with whatever he could get his hands on, mostly as a carpenter. I spent five years working for CNN in Atlanta, which became my biggest career jump. Before that I held a position with USA Today in Virginia. I started my career as a journalist at Miami Herald and we lived for a while in Ft. Lauderdale before my job took us out of the state, something I had dreamed of as long as I could remember. To get away.

  Salter puts the phone down.

  “So, what did he have to say?” I ask, as we approach the bridges that will take us to the Barrier Islands. In the distance, I can see the cruise ships. A sign tells me I can go on a casino cruise for free. Gosh, how I hate this place…with all its tourists and tiki bars.

  “He can’t wait to see me,” Salter says.

  I turn onto A1A, where all the condominiums and hotels are lined up like pearls on a string.

  “At least you’ll have fun seeing your dad,” I say, while wondering what is waiting for me once I arrive at my childhood home. What is it going to be like to see my dad again? What about Blake? I haven’t seen him in several years. He visited me in New York five years ago, but other than that, we have mainly spoken over the phone or on Facebook. We aren’t very close, but he is still the only one in my family I like. He is all the family I have, and I will do anything to help him out.

  Anything.

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