Quicksand

“Come on, Graceybabes. It’s time to say goodbye to grandma and grandpa.” Liza tells Grace, who’s still giving Maddy a tight goodbye hug.

The O’Briens just arrived in front of the apartment building from their dinner with Dante and his family, and are now saying their goodbyes before they go their separate ways for, presumably, the rest of the summer.

“I convinced Dad to give you guys more internet time, Gracey. You can video chat with me or Tricia whenever you feel like it, okay?” Maddy tells her younger sister.

“Okay.” Grace replies before making her hug just an extra bit tighter before letting go of her sister, and making her way to hug her Grammy and Grandpa Rick.

“You think there’s enough room for three people in their guest bedroom?” Maddy hears Sadie ask Tricia as they say their goodbye to one another.

“How about you get accepted to a college first before you start making plans for next summer?” Tricia playfully replies. “Besides, I’m not sure if I’ll be back next summer.” Tricia tells her.

“Why not?” Maddy can’t help but ask after eavesdropping on their conversation, and Tricia can’t help but laugh.

“If we can convince Dad about this, maybe I can convince him to allow me to travel to more places next year. You know, see the country? Maybe even see the world after graduating? Go on a gap year? I don’t know. It just feels like you've finally broken the barrier for us, sis.” Tricia answers with a hopeful tone.

“Oh~! I’ve read so much about Paris. The city of lights! The city of love! I’d love to go! Take me with you!” Sadie tells her sister excitedly.

“You and your romance novels.” Tricia teases her.

“What’s happening in Paris?” Connor asks, returning from their vehicle after tucking in the already sleeping Charlie into the back seat.

“Umm~ nothing, Dad. I’m going to the car now.” Sadie says before immediately leaving the conversation.

“Take Gracey with you, Sadie.” Liza tells her daughter, and Grace joins her sister on their way to their car.

“Bye, sis!” Tricia shouts after Sadie teasingly, and Sadie just raises her hand without looking back at her before quickly entering their car.

“Should I be worried about Paris?” Connor asks Tricia and Maddy as soon as Sadie’s out of earshot.

“No.” Tricia gives her honest assessment. “Although, she is already planning to stay here next summer.” Tricia reveals, and Connor just lets out a defeated sigh, knowing it’s going to be a losing argument to convince Sadie not to push through with that plan since her older sisters got to do it.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. She’ll always have a place here with us if she wants to stay here.” Mrs. O’Brien assures her son.

“Thank you, Mary.” Liza tells her, before motioning to give her mother-in-law a hug.

“Dad.” Connor just says, offering his father a handshake, and Mr. O’Brien accepts both the handshake and the fact that that’s the most he’s going to get out of his son right now.

“Thanks, Ma.” Connor then says to his mother after she and Liza are done hugging. Mrs. O’Brien offers him a hug, and Connor reluctantly accepts, while Liza hugs Mr. O’Brien goodbye as well.

“No, sweetie. Thank you. This weekend’s been wonderful, and I’m so glad you finally brought the girls here to visit.” Mrs. O’Brien tells her son during their hug. “You guys can drop by any time, okay?” Mrs. O’Brien adds, as she and Connor break away from their hug.

“The offer’s mutual, Mary. We’d love to have you visit our home more too.” Mrs. O’Brien replies.

“We would if we could,” Mrs. O’Brien replies sincerely. “But at our age, taking a six hour bus ride just isn’t on the table anymore, honey.” Mrs. O’Brien adds.

“Here.” Connor says, before throwing the keys to their other vehicle towards Tricia. Tricia catches it in her hand, and looks at the set of car keys in awe.

“Are you serious, Dad?” Tricia asks her. “I-I thought mom was driving the other car back home?” Tricia tries to clarify what’s going on.

“Just in case you get home sick.” Connor answers, and Tricia can’t help but tear up at how much trust her father is suddenly giving her, and she goes in to hug him as a sign of gratitude.

“Thank you so much, Dad!” Tricia says, as she buries her face on her father’s shoulder to hide the tears of joy in her eyes.

“Um… Liza?” Connor grabs his wife’s attention. “Can you help my parents back to their apartment please? I just need to talk to the girls alone for a moment.” Connor asks Liza.

“Of course.” Liza answers, and Connor’s parents give him one last wave goodbye before making their way up the apartment.

“If I knew how much you wanted that car, I’d have given it to you sooner.” Connor jokingly tells his daughter, which gets a chuckle out of both Tricia and Maddy.

“No, you wouldn’t have.” Tricia replies jokingly as well, but the three of them all know it’s the truth.

“No. I wouldn’t have.” Connor admits with an accepting smile.

“Don’t I get anything?” Maddy tries to joke with her dad, seeing the sweet little moment he’s having with her sister.

“You get a boyfriend that’s not dead.” Connor replies in a serious tone that’s an immediate shift from how he’s being sweet with Tricia, very reminiscent of the threatening tone he had with his girls whenever they talked back to him. “Is that enough for you, sweetie?” Connor tries to shift into a more jovial tone, having heard how his previous tone shocked Maddy a bit.

“More than enough.” Maddy shyly replies. Especially since her dad actually recognizes Jay as her boyfriend now.

“What did you want to talk to us about, Dad?” Tricia then asks Connor, reminding him why she asked their mom to leave the three of them alone for a bit.

“I wanted to say…” Connor begins to say, but can’t seem to find the words. He then noticeably shifts his demeanor into a more serious one before continuing. “I wanted to say I didn’t raise freeloaders.” He then continues, taking Maddy and Tricia by surprise.

“You two will find work while you’re here.” Connor elaborates. “I don’t care if it’s for Dante, but I would prefer if you two found something on your own. The last thing I want is to make him think I owe him anything. Then again, I’d at least know he’ll look after the both of you if you do work for him; so whatever you choose, is up to each of you.” Connor informs his daughters further.

“You will do chores for your grandparents while you are staying with them. Once you find jobs, take them out to lunch with your first paychecks; and make sure to buy your grandmother her favorite donuts. Is that clear?” Connor asks them, and Tricia and Maddy nod in response like they usually do when their father turns into Sergeant O’Brien for them. They’re both even standing straight at attention out of pure muscle memory.

“Also, if your grandfather orders pizza, you will immediately tell him to cancel that order and remind him he’s almost seventy and he should grow the fuck up.” Connor continues, to the confusion of Tricia.

“What?” Tricia asks him in confusion.

“Maddy knows what I mean.” Connor replies. “Don’t you, Maddy?” Connor addresses her.

“Yes, sir.” Maddy replies.

“You have my permission to tell him what I said verbatim, and you will tell him verbatim if he dares try that stuff while you girls are staying with him. Is that clear, Madeleine?” Connor asks, and Maddy nods her answer this time, not wanting to give away the fact that she actually has tried weed with Jay’s other girlfriends.

“What’s he talking about, Maddy?” Tricia asks.

“I-I’ll tell you later.” Maddy replies.

“Good.” Connor says with some finality, resulting in the three of them just standing in silence in front of the building.

…

“A-are we dismissed, sir?” Tricia asks, as her father was just staring straight past them blankly for a moment. The question gets Connor to close his eyes and shake his head in frustration. He seems to be having an internal battle with himself, and it’s percolating to the surface that even Maddy and Tricia can easily recognize it.

“No.” Connor replies, and his answer triggers Maddy and Tricia’s shared anxieties as they don’t know what they’re father might say next based on the body language he has currently.

“I…” Connor begins to say, before pausing again, and taking another deep breath. Maddy and Tricia can’t help but glance at each other to see if the other knows what’s possibly going on with their father.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry.” Connor apologizes, taking his daughters by surprise. Connor’s eyes are still closed, giving Tricia and Maddy an opportunity to glance at each other again to check with each other if they weren’t imagining what their father just said.

“This weekend has been… eye-opening, to say the least; and I’d like to apologize for not having listened to any of you girls and what you might have wanted while growing up.” Connor adds, and Tricia can’t help but utter “Dad…” with a concerned voice, and Connor raises a finger towards her to tell her he’s not finished with his apology.

“You don’t need to patronize me, Patricia. I think you, most especially, wanted me to understand that I’ve been too stringent on all of you. It’s only now that I’ve been made to realize that my excuse of doing it for your betterment and well-being was not something shared by the majority of this family.” Connor continues.

“Yes. Admittedly, I turned a deaf ear to your protests over the years, and it helped build the frustration you had for me even more…” Connor adds, before having to pause to find the right words again.

...

“Permission to speak, sir?” Tricia asks him, and Connor blinks his eyes in recognition that he’s been blanking for a while now. He gives her a nod to allow her to speak, and Tricia asks, “Permission to hold your hand, sir?”

“What?” Connor asks her, and Tricia does it anyway without getting her father’s permission.

“I was never frustrated with you, Dad. I loved my life back home. I loved having mom as my educator. Admittedly, it was an adjustment when I went to college, but I’m pretty sure I’m top of my class because you and mom instilled discipline in me to prioritize my education. What frustrated me was this feeling that my future was in… quicksand. That I was stuck with the life you wanted for me; and the more I struggled to get out of it, the harder you pulled me in. It felt like I just had to accept the path you laid out for me.” Tricia admits to her father. Words she wanted to say earlier when they had another family meeting after Charlie’s outburst, but the discussion was less productive during that time with more voices in the room.

“What you laid out for us.” Maddy chimes in. “I think Sadie and I both saw what happened with Tricia as a warning that any deviation from the plan meant severe repercussions for all of us. When you put us on lockdown after Tricia’s pregnancy scare, and we couldn’t socialize even with people from our town, we felt like… prisoners.” Maddy shares her own feelings with her father, and Maddy’s last word hits Connor much deeper than anything else. Connor’s reaction prompts Maddy to do the same thing Tricia’s doing, and take her father’s other hand.

“Thank you so much for taking care of us and caring so much about us; but we want to have the opportunity to take care of ourselves too, Dad. What Becca said earlier wasn’t just something she made up to get into your good graces. I told her that. I told her you raised us to be capable women… I just wanted you to see that too.” Maddy tells her, and Connor can’t help but hug his children. He starts tearing up, which causes his two girls to get as emotional as he is, and tear up as well. It’s the first time Connor can remember crying since… ever.

“I heard all of that.” Liza says, as she joins the family hug from behind Maddy and Tricia. The four of them can’t help but chuckle at the fact that this is the closest they’ve been as a family, while tears flow down their cheeks.

…

“HEY! What’s the hold up! It’s really hot in this car!” Sadie shouts, sticking her body out the window.