Second Chance His Unending Love (Calista Hartwell) novel Chapter 8

Calista had just wrapped up with her lawyer when her phone rang again. She swiped to answer, and a shrill, furious voice came screaming through the speaker.

“Is this Mrs. Frost? You’re the one who told Austin to go to the internet cafe to smoke and drink and watch porn, right? Your son’s a bad seed, and now he’s corrupted mine! What are you gonna do about this?

“I can’t explain this over the phone. Get over here right now! Your family needs to take full responsibility for this!”

The woman on the other end sounded furious. She was so angry it felt like she wanted to reach through the phone and strangle Calista.

Calista just said “Got it” and hung up.

She already pieced together what went down from the mom’s rants earlier, and she could imagine what kind of trouble Austin was in.

Before, she would’ve jumped in her car and raced over there to save him. But not anymore.

The son she’d poured her whole life into was rotten to the core, and she’d been blind to it until now.

It shattered her heart, but she wasn’t going back.

When things were good, he never thought of her. But the second trouble hit, she was his first scapegoat.

Let someone else clean up his mess. It wasn’t her problem anymore.

*****

Austin relaxed when he heard Calista’s response.

He grabbed Nicole’s wrist and told her quietly, “Don’t worry, Nicole. Everything’s fine now.”

Calista always protected him. Every time he messed up, she’d sweep in and fix it.

Last year, when he got in a fight with a classmate and the school made him clean bathrooms for a week, Calista had done it for him instead.

No matter what, he just blamed her, and poof, problem solved.

The atmosphere in the room was suffocating.

Both sides were guilty, so no one called the cops.

The three boys sat quietly with their mothers. The mothers looked like they were building up to something big. They were just waiting for Calista to show up so they could tear into her.

Leon tugged carefully on Lauren’s sleeve.

“Mom, please don’t be mad. It’s my fault. I promise I won’t do it again.”

Lauren’s face was stormy, but she said nothing.

Leon just kept apologizing.

Austin rolled his eyes, making a grossed-out noise. “Ugh, what a wimp. So embarrassing!”

Leon’s eyes looked hurt. “Austin, that’s my mom…”

Isn’t apologizing the right thing to do when you upset your mom?

Austin sneered at him. “Psh, my dad and I don’t grovel like that.”

Lauren clutched her chest, her voice sharp with bitterness. “Yeah, you and your dad are both real pieces of work, aren’t you?”

Austin kicked his chair in defiance.

Today, he was going to show everyone how easy it was for him to control his own mother and make her do whatever he wanted.

An hour went by. The door to the private room opened again.

Austin grinned, smug.

He was about to snap, “What took you so long?” but the words caught in his throat when he saw who walked in.

The mothers who’d been ready to fight all froze too.

A tall, imposing middle-aged man stood in the doorway. The air in the room immediately turned cold and tense.

“Dad?” Austin’s voice shook slightly.

Oh crap. Why is Dad here?

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