Page 33 of Never Forever

I ran. I worked. I studied.

I put my heart on ice.

The night of the dance Dad told me I didn’t need to work, so I went running while some fucking actor I didn’t know took the ferry out to pick her up for the dance and take all the pictures her mother wanted.

I ran and I ran.

Except I found myself back at the ferry dock at the end of the night, like a bruise I couldn’t stop poking. I wanted to see her in her dress. I wanted to see this actor her mom thought was good enough for her. I wanted to poke and poke and poke.

I found Dad at the railing at the end of the dock, looking out at the water, the island, the view that never changed.

“Matt?” Dad asked, drinking his last cup of tea before the final ferry. Steam rose from his cup, enveloping his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Nothing,” I lied.

He nodded and kept quiet, the two of us looking out at the water. The island floating in the distance. Always there, that island. I ran my whole life between this town and that island.

“Dad?” I said. “Have you ever wanted more than-”

Beside me Dad pitched a little sideways and I thought he was reaching for something.

Only he was falling.

“Dad?” I caught him around the waist, keeping the old man on his feet.

“Oh, son,” he said with a weak laugh. “I just got dizzy for a second.”

I didn’t know what to say. Dizzy? My dad? My dad was nothing but steady. Rock solid.

“Here, sit down.”

I got him onto one of the benches at the edge of the pier, but he looked all clammy.

“I think I had a bad piece of fruit,” he said.

“You don’t eat fruit.”

“This is why.”

“Dad, seriously? Are you sick?”

He took a deep breath and let it out his nose. “For sure, I don’t feel great. I think I’ve got that stomach bug going around.”

“I’ll take you home. Then I’ll come back and do the last ferry run.”

Dad looked at me with those knowing eyes. “You sure, son?”

We hadn’t talked much about the Carrie situation. A week ago he’d asked if I was taking her to the dance and I said I wasn’t. He’d patted my shoulder and left it at that.

Plus, he would have seen her and herdateearlier.

I sighed. “I’m not such a jerk I’d let my sick dad work just so I don’t have to see a girl in a dress.”

“Hmm. Well, it was quite a dress.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

He smiled at me and then clapped his big hand on my shoulder. “Come, son. I’ll take you up on that offer.”

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