Page 70 of Finding Delaware

Turning to my dad with a frown, I see him staring at the table while Maisie gently rubs his shoulder. “Dad? What was that about?”

When his gaze rises to mine, I’m taken aback by the shame swimming in them.

“Let’s go into the garage and talk, son.” He sighs as he lifts from his seat, Maisie helping him stand. I follow him out but hesitate at the food still covering the table.

Maisie gives me a kind smile. “It’s alright, I’ll clean up. Go spend some time with your father.”

When I step out into the garage, I find him staring down at the 1970 Chevy Nova we’ve been fixing up, looking sad. We started working on it together when I was ten.

My chest tightens, and I reach up to rub it. “We’ll still finish it. Plenty of time left.”

It feels like a lie because I don’t plan on staying here any longer than I have to, but his expression right now is tying my stomach into knots. He throws me a small, knowing smile before turning toward the fridge in the corner. Opening it up, he pulls out two beers and offers me one.

I gape down at it for a moment, stunned. “I...since when do you drink, Dad?”

He chuckles as he pries off the cap with the edge of his wedding ring. “I’ve always drank, Huck. Just knew how to hide it.”

Dazedly, I take the beer, studying him like I’ve never seen him before. My mind runs through all the times growing up I might have seen him with liquor in his hand or witnessed himdrunk, but other than wine on New Year’s Eve, I come up with a blank.

“I missed my chance at sharing a beer with you on your twenty-first, so we’re making up for it.” He plops down into a camping chair, taking a sip, and I sit opposite him.

“Does Maisie know?”

“She does...now. Not in the beginning, though.”

My entire world has just been rocked, but I take a swig and rest my arms on my knees. “So what did you want to talk about, pops?”

He stares into his beer for a long moment as if gathering his thoughts. When he finally speaks, his voice sounds gritty. “Did I ever tell you why I left the Priesthood, son?”

My body locks up, and I shake my head as I look away. “No. I just always assumed it was because of...what happened that night. At prom.”

Dad excommunicated himself a year after everything went down, and I carry so much guilt over it. He’s never come outright and said it, but I guess it’d be hard to be a Bishop when you have a gay son who tried to commit suicide. Bad for the image, right?

“I’ll be honest, that was part of it,” he admits, and it feels like a punch to the gut. Tears sting the backs of my eyes. He quickly shakes his head when he glances up and sees me trying to blink them away. “Not for the reasons you think, Huckslee. I failed my sons. Both you and Taylor.”

“What?” Curling my lip, I gaze at him incredulously. “How in the fu-” He throws me a look, and I correct myself. “How the heck did you fail Taylor?”

Taking a long pull off his beer, a sight I don’t think I’ll ever get used to, he leans forward in his seat. “Something happened, Huck. A year after you left for California. Something I never told you, and I suppose Taylor never did, either, because you never asked about it.”

A sweat breaks out on my neck as he takes a deep breath and speaks.

And what he tells me has my blood boiling with rage.

Taylor

The cameras do not do Huckslee Davis justice because,holy shit.

Cranking the strap that secures my bike to the bed of my truck, I take a deep puff off my cigarette. If it weren’t for the end conversation with Maisie and Aaron, I wouldn’t have even needed one right now; seeing him again felt that good. Like I’ve been half alive for four years, and his presence just breathed new life into me.

The California weather turned his skin a glowing golden brown, sun bleached his curls, and the years of football filled out his form to the point where his sweater stretched around his biceps and chest. He’s fucking beautiful.

And still hates me.

Not that I blame him. I still hate myself for what I did, too. I guess I’d just hoped...well, it’s ridiculous, but I’d hoped that he had lived such a good life out there that he’d moved past what had happened between us. But that’s just the coward inme talking. Nothing in my life has ever been easy; why would it start now?

Giving the strap one last good tug, I pinch the smoke between my lips and check my phone, seeing one missed call and text from Salem.

MySalGal: Fucking call me, asshole. NOW.

---