Page 36 of Finally

Mom gasped loudly. “Oh my God! Why would you do that?” she asked incredulously. I took some comfort in knowing that at least she hadn’t been involved.

“I’d like to know that too. Why would you do that to me? To us?” I asked, my eyes pleading with him to explain, to make sense of all of this.

Dad’s eyes swam with unshed tears and regret. “Please, believe me. I had no idea. I thought it was just a teenage infatuation and I worried that he’d cause a distraction. You’d told me about all your dreams and goals for your future and I didn’t want you to lose sight of them over some good-looking boy. I had no idea what he’d been through or what he meant to you. The first sign I had that he was becoming more than just a friend was when we walked in and found you two kissing. You were just days away from your graduation and then you were going off to college, then law school, and I just thought I needed to do something to get you back on track.”

“You had no right!” I shouted, slamming my hand down on top of the table. “He was special to me and I loved him, and you destroyed that. For twenty years I’ve wondered why he walked away, and Greg…” My hand went to my chest as a sharp, burning pain settled where my heart was. “He spent the last twenty years thinking that the boy he’d trusted with his heart had decided that he wasn’t good enough.” Tears rolled down my cheeks and I sucked in a ragged breath.

“But your dreams—” he began, but Mom cut him off.

“Dreams change, James. You should know that better than anyone. You’d always dreamed of being a world-class surgeon, of joining Doctors Without Borders and helping people in countries where quality medical care was impossible to find. But then we got pregnant with Christopher and all of that changed. We changed because the focus of our dreams turned to him.”

Tears flowed freely down Dad’s face as he looked at me and Mom and saw the disappointment in both of our eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

I used my napkin to dry my eyes and then placed it on top of my plate of uneaten food and cleared my throat. “I believe you. I can see how sorry you are and that you regret what you did and that’s a good start.” I gave him a sad look. “But you took my choices away from me and tore my heart out in the process. You broke my trust, Dad, and that’s going to take some time to get back.”

Leaning over, I kissed my mom’s cheek and stood up. Dad looked shattered as he gazed back at me. “Just so you know, Greg is in my life again, and with any luck, he’ll want to stay there. I hope he’ll want that because I’ve never stopped loving him and he makes me happy. But you should know that I won’t let anyone hurt him again. Not even you.”

Carlos rose to his feet as I walked past the living room and out the front door. He caught up to me as I reached the car and held his hand out in front of him. I wasn’t sure how much he’d overheard, but I thought I saw approval in his eyes as I handed him the keys. He drove us home in silence, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I was shaking by the time we pulled into my driveway and the front door swung open as soon as my feet hit the porch. Suddenly, Greg was there, watching me and I could see the strain on his face. He let out a sorrowful sigh as he saw the tears that were now streaming down my cheeks. He opened his arms wide and I quickly closed the distance between us, breathing out all the pain I’d been feeling and letting the comfort and safety of his embrace fill my lungs.

“Come inside and let me love you,” he whispered. Not trusting my voice to speak, I simply nodded, and as he took my hand and led me inside, the rest of the world slipped away.

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