Page 32 of Till Cupid Do Us Part

“I doubt that, Dad. The things I said about her and the way I treated her were terrible.”

“Havin’ Junie has changed a lot of things for everyone, Travis.”

He swallows so loud I can hear it. “There’s more to what you wanted to say. Just spit it out.”

“Alright. I’m goin’ to ask her to marry me, Travis. I want her to be my wife, and yeah, I’ve done too many things ass-backwards with you, but I want to ask for your approval first. Not as her ex-boyfriend, but as my son.”

A slight pause follows my words, filled only with the light clicking of a signal light. I unclench my fingers from where they grip tight onto the phone and look down the hallway, ensuring I’m still alone. Approval feels right in this moment. Maybe it’s not entirely approval I’m seeking but more acceptance. Something to confirm that I haven’t destroyed my last chance with him.

“That isn’t something I ever expected to hear,” he mutters.

“Fits the theme.”

He chokes on a laugh. “Yeah, I guess it does. It’s got nothing on what I walked in on initially.”

“I wish I could forget that ever happened.”

“Not as much as I do.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For which part? ’Cause I was the one who showed up unannounced at the bar that day. Everything else is on you.”

“Everything is what I’m sorry for. My past mistakes, current ones, and those that are sure to be made in the future. It won’t be an easy road to forgiveness, but if you’re open to it, I’m serious when I say I’m willin’ to put in the work.”

“Why do you want to marry her, Dad? Other than Junie.”

It could be a trick question. But even if it is, I’m up for answering. The alternative is him hanging up on me after saying he’s done with me and us forever.

“I love her. Ivy makes me happy. From the moment I met her, I felt somethin’ for her, but I pretended it wasn’t there because she was yours then. I’ll never be able to understand why I didn’t just tell you how I felt. It’d have saved us from a lot of shit.”

“Ivy was too good for me. She’s too good for you, too,” he says tightly.

“That’s not news to me. I want her regardless.”

“It’s fucking weird that you wanted my girlfriend when I was dating her. That’s just not right.”

“It’s not right. Doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

“If she had given you the time of day then, would you have taken her?”

“From you?”

“Yeah.”

Would I have? “No. I wouldn’t have. If I were goin’ to, I’d have swept in the day we both met her. Everythin’ turned out the way it was supposed to.”

“Maybe you should have. She wouldn’t have gotten hurt, and I wouldn’t have been the reason you two lost so much time.”

“You don’t think it was worth it? Bein’ with her before everythin’ turned to shit?”

“She was better to me than I deserved. I was lucky but didn’t know how to accept that.”

“You learned somethin’ from it, then. That makes it worth it.”

“Apparently, you’ve learned a lot more being with her than I ever did.”

I lean my head back against the wall and exhale, hating how constricted my lungs feel. “It was meant to be that way.”

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