Page 77 of Remember Me?

Well, shit, Graham looks around the room, trying to see if anyone else was hearing this. Is this normal for a five-year-old? His mom is talking to Melody. He can see by the tense set of her shoulders and back that whatever they are talking about is highly unpleasant.

"Dr. Stevens, can I ask you something?” Ollie’s little voice brings his attention back to the carpet.

"Sure, buddy, but you can call me Graham if you want. You don't have to call me Dr. Stevens all the time."

"Okay. Are you my dad?" He asks, catching him completely off guard. His little face, with wide eyes and a serious set to his jaw. Much more serious than any child should be.

"Why do you ask?” He probes.

Oliver takes a deep, sage-like breath. "Well, we have the same name, we were both on the swim team, we have the same hair and we are the same color." Graham doesn't really know how to respond, so he stays quiet.

"Look," Ollie says, putting his arm against his. We are the same. Uncle Duke and Mom are not like me. We match. See?” He smiles wide, his little face beaming. God, his heart hurts.

"Would you like that, Ollie? For me to be your dad?"

He shrugs. "Maybe you like dinosaurs, and you bring me pizza." Ollie looks down at his dinosaurs, sorting them alphabetically like Graham showed him. "But, I don't think Uncle Duke will like it so much."

"Uncle Duke, huh? Why not?"

"I heard them fighting. He told Momma that he wanted to be my dad, for real, not just my uncle," Oliver says, shifting his dinosaurs around.

Graham makes a humming noise in the back of his throat, trying to coax a little more information out of Ollie. He really wants to know what kind of relationship Melody had with Duke, and he needs to think about how he is going to handle that.

"Momma said I already had a dad. But Uncle Duke asked, 'And where was he then?’” He stayed quiet after that, signaling that it was now Graham's turn to speak. He clears his throat, trying to form the right words to appease a little boy. Turning to the living room, trying to see if anyone was within earshot.

"Well, to answer your first question. Yes, Ollie, I am your dad.” Man, saying those words out loud made this shit real. It was official. “Is there anything you would like to ask me?"

After a lengthy pause, Graham thought maybe that was the end of the conversation. But it seems like Ollie was trying to muster up the courage.

"Where were you then?” His big blue-green eyes trained on him. “I couldn't find you?”

Fuck, these were some hard questions. How much should he say? How honest should he be? He was a little kid and didn't want to blow it.

"I couldn't find you either, buddy. But that's okay because guess what? In the end, you were the one that found me." He smiles wide at that.

"I did, didn't I? Hey, what does pterodactyl start with? It's not a ‘T,’ right?" Ok then, that was the end of that conversation.

Thank God.

He hears Marisol squealing from the kitchen. "Oh my God, Oh my God, we are gonna have so much fun!" She yells. Melody is smiling at her from the bar stool, and Mami is looking right at him with apleased look on her face. What is that woman up to now?

"Mijo, come! Did you hear the news?" He unfolds himself off the floor, leaving Ollie to his dinos.

"What news, Ma?" He was really tapped out in the news department. He really doesn't know how many more surprises he can take. Melody looks scared, well, worried.

"It's not a for sure thing. I still need to get the job." She says apologetically. What could she possibly be apologizing for?

"Melody is moving back home!" His mother announces joyously. "That means little Ollie can spend more time with Abuelita." She says smugly.

How much does she actually know? In our culture, we call family friends Tio, Tia, and even Abuela. But something tells me she caught on pretty quickly to what is happening but is letting them work through it on their own. However, not without some meddling, it would seem. He sees his mother’s head spinning, trying to find a way to make this happen, and for once, she isn’t conspiring against him.

This really was the best news he could have hoped for. He hadn't even given any thought to what would happen after summer. That appears to be his fatal flaw, but he knows that if Oliver left for California, he would definitely follow him, no questions asked.

"Well." He says seriously. The entire kitchen grew quiet. They don't know what he is going to say. His mood had been getting pretty rough there, but he doesn't know why everyone looks so uneasy, this is Melody, his Melody. Suddenly, everyone is tense and seems to be protective of her from him. Why would she need to be protected from him?

He turns to Ollie, the only person in the room who isn’t worried about what he would say. "I think this calls for ice cream!" He swoops down to pull Ollie over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief. Had he really been that bad? "Who wants ice cream?" He asks when no one breaks the tension.

"I dooo!” A little shriek from over his shoulder confirms that Ollie does indeed want ice cream. Graham smiles and looks at Melody. An equally happy smile graces her as she stands up to get ice cream.

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