Page 46 of Hazel and Elijah Find Out: First They F*cked Around

“Son.” A muscle jerked in his tight jaw.

“Dad.” My voice was void of all emotion. I didn’t have anything else to say to him, and I moved to walk around him.

He stayed where he was, not blocking my way, but not making it easy for me to go around him, either. “I told you to stay away from her.”

I willed myself to keep going, to not give him the satisfaction of a response.

“I knew you’d take her down to your level. I should never have let you come here last year.”

I had taken a step past him, but despite my better judgment, I turned to face him.

“What exactlyismy level? I don’t pretend to be anything but who I am. You’re the one hurting people, not me. I’ve been a grown man for a while now. You don’t tell me what I can do anymore—andthat’swhat you hate about me.”

“No, son, I hate your sinful ways, and the way you draw good people to sin. You make good people do bad things.”

It took a force of will not to crush the paper cup containing Hazel’s latte. Memories from my past rushed to the surface, rippling out old shame I still struggled to rebuke.

“I didn’t make anyone do anything,” I stated, reminding me just as much as telling him. Despite the way I had been depicted, I hadn’t been the devil tempting Eve to taste from the Tree of Life; I’d just been a boy with a crush on a girl.

He shook his head, disappointed as ever.

“But are you really mad at what I did? Or are you mad that when I got caught, it threatened your image?” I demanded.

For a moment, I thought I’d struck a nerve, because he looked over my shoulder. I got sick pleasure from it.

Then his lips twisted into a sad smile. Jerking his chin toward something over my shoulder, he said, “That’s the kind of man she deserves.”

I twisted my neck and saw Hazel walking with Dennis to his truck. His dog trotted next to him, the leash held loosely in his hand.

They looked good together. Easy. Natural.

I was grateful my dad couldn’t see my face as his words hit their mark.

“Give her time, and she’ll see the truth of it for herself,” he commented sagely, as if passing on some fatherly wisdom.

With my shoulders back and my head up, I walked away from him. But I’d hesitated too long, and I knew that he knew he’d hurt me.

Being weak in front of him was worse than the pain.

“Are you cold?” Hazel’s voice near my right shoulder pulled me out of the recesses of my mind. The wind whipped around us, sending the loose hair at her temples across her face. The evergreens and gray sky behind her gave the concern in her brown eyes a solemnity. Instead of her usual warm smile, her beautiful lips were pursed.

I glanced behind us at the long lines of shoe prints in the sand and wondered when was the last time I’d spoken as we walked Lake Michigan’s shoreline. “No, I’m not cold. Are you?”

The corner of her mouth twitched up. “You saw how many layers I put on before we left my office.”

My laugh came out in one puff of steam.

“I’m not cold,” she went on. “You’ve been quiet.”

“Yeah, sorry. How was your day?” I took her gloved hand in mine, and we continued down the beach. To my left, the stone-colored water crashed with wave after wave—white bubbles against the darkness, stretching as far as the eye could see. The surface was rougher than normal, but it didn’t have the large curling waves of the ocean.

Her shoulders fell. “Busy. It’s always busy. Not with patients, unfortunately, but with stuff to do. I’m falling behind.”

I stopped and tugged her arm so we could speak face-to-face. “Can I help with anything?”

“I don’t want to bother you with it.”

“Iwantyou to.”

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