You come on like a flame, then you turn a cold shoulder

 By the time Tristan got to his parents' home at the zoo, Carmen was leaving. He hadn't wanted to bring Dale with him. After all, she was finally off work and looked exhausted. This was the last thing she needed. Especially, if his mom Pat went off the deep end and started in on the both of them about marriage and starting a family. After all, he lived in his parents' house in the burbs. 

He knew he was the villain in all this. It was  his idea of Liv going to Seoul in the first place. Really, he hadn't thought she'd make a home there. It was just to visit his friend Nic and from what he knew now. Not even Nic knew she was pregnant.

"Well, this is just crazy, just crazy," Tristan had stomped around a bit on the phone with Nic who had neglected to tell him about Liv's marriage to Woo.

"I didn't know," Nic was sure Tristan would know.

"Well, don't keep me in the dark about these things!" Yes, he'd been cross then, but of course, Dale told him to settle down. 

"You know, you're a lot like your mother," Dale told him after his high-strung phone call to his best friend. 

"I-I am not," he protested, but as he thought about it on the drive over, he knew she was probably right. And it pained him even more, wondering if he'd ever really change. Of course, Dale told him he was making too much out of it. 

It was all going to be fine. Which was exactly what he said to his mom when he got there even if she was in a pout and on her second cup of coffee.

"Let me make you something to eat," Tristan got busy and only found eggs, a jalapeno, some onion and cheese in the fridge. He started making ranch egg sandwiches.

Of course, this perked up his dad who said he couldn't remember the last time he had one.

"You're just going to have to get used to being called grandma," Trisan found himself snickering, thinking it was kind of funny. Although, Carmen's nephew Kenny called her mom.

She gave him the eye. He could tell she was coming around. But he knew he should have kept his mouth shut cause he knew he was asking for it.

"Are you ever going to be a father?" His mother snapped.

"Some day I guess," Tristan found himself a little silly. Wondering if he was his father after all. Still, he didn't think Dale wanted kids. She had health issues. He didn't want her to make those kinds of sacrifices. "But you know, we..we got to think about when we can have a wedding."

"Your sister is already married." His mother looked at him as if he was behind the times.

"Yes," Tristan sighed with a smile as he served up a toasted sandwich to his mother first. "So I hear."

"I bet it was a horrible wedding," His mother looked so sad as if it was an awful time.

"Don't say that, I'm sure it was good," he told her Nic knew this much. "It wasn't terrible". After all, Liv was still at the language school and probably learning so much more than she'd ever know if she'd studied back home. "This is what she wants. We have to be happy for her."

Tristan left it at that. Yes, it made him feel a little blue, but he didn't feel he was a horrible person, either. But maybe he was. Maybe he had been. They hadn't been kids in a long time. After all, this family rarely talked about the things they should. 

No, they liked the great outdoors. They liked to keep things to themselves. Communication had never been high on their list. And sometimes, they didn't know how to be kind to each other. But that was the past and Tristan wasn't going to stew around and let his mother get the best of him.