Page 5 of Father Figure

“Nicky, did you hear me?”

“Huh? I’m sorry, what?”

Cass chuckled. “You need to tell your dad. Tonight. We leave again in four days, for Antigua this time, and when we return, we’re heading right back out for Barbados.”

“I’ll tell him as soon as I get home. I swear!” He’d be much more agreeable if I explained I wanted to enjoy my last summer and make some spending money for college.

“I need you to actually work. You can’t just jack off all day, sunbathing and fishing. Sam and I will have guests on the boat most of the time and we need to be professional at all times. Understand?”

“Yup. Professional. No jacking off.” Cass laughed again and shoved a french fry in his mouth.

Three whole months together, out to sea. It felt like a dream.

“So, with that squared away, we can move on to other things.”

“What other things?”

“Sam wants to know if you’re dating anyone. Is there someone special who’s going to miss you this summer?”

His smile was cute, as though we were discussing a schoolboy crush like I was in middle school and not nineteen years old.

“Nope, no one special.”

“No one,” he prodded. “A cute girl…or boy?” he ventured carefully.

“Nope.” I wasn’t ready to spill the beans just yet.

I felt I owed it to my dad to tell him first, but every time I rehearsed what I was going to say in my head, it came out all wrong or didn’t come out at all. Therefore, I wasn’t coming out, either.

My mother wasn’t thrilled with my father when he came out as bisexual after five years of marriage. It wasn’t the only reason they split, but it hadn’t helped, either. My mom was a lawyer, like my dad, but she advanced in her career a lot faster than he did and was offered a job at a prestigious international firm in Tokyo. I rarely saw her in person anymore.

I didn’t know how she or my dad would react if I came out. Would she blame him for ‘turning’ me? That’s how she’d see it, most likely. Would my dad feel disappointed in me? I just couldn’t predict his reaction, and the fear was killing me.

“Well, maybe you’ll have a hot summer fling before hitting the books this fall,” Cass teased. “You don’t need to rush anything. You’ll know when it feels right.”

God, he always said exactly what I needed to hear.

CHAPTER THREE

“Chicken noodle or clam chowder?”

“Why can't it be both?”

I agreed with a shrug and tossed both cans of soup into our basket. “Let's just stock up on the essentials for us and I'll make another trip the day before we leave to purchase the client's menu. I'm still waiting to hear back about food restrictions.”

“Sounds good,” Sam agreed. “Let's get some jerky,” he suggested, sounding way too enthusiastic about dried meat.

“So, listen, Nicky came to see me yesterday.”

“Oh good, did you take him to lunch?”

“I did.”

“What did he decide about college?”

“That's what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Sam paused with his hand on a bag of jerky, looking at me with raised brows. “Is he not going?”

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