Page 115 of Break Your Fall

What could they even want?

Whatever it is, I don’t need to hear any of Dad’s shit about Reyna. I don’t want to see the look on his face as he reminds me I’mpissing my future down the toiletto fall into bed with some girl. My dad knows Reyna, he likes Reyna, and he knows how I’ve felt about her, but when it comes to making me see sense, he’ll find some way to twist this.

When I get out there, though, clothed and mentally prepared, eyeing my parents sitting several spaces apart on the couch, I see my father looking … bored. His eyes on the goal; the reason he’s here. Mom’s the one who’s flustered and giving me a small knowing grin.

I want to smile back, but I stay steeled. “I’m done talking about it. I said what I had to say, I can’t take back my choice, I don’twantto take back my choice, and there’s nothing left to say.”

“Well, that,” Dad starts through a sigh, “defeats the purpose for why we’re here.”

I’m ready to be an asshat, atskright on my tongue when Mom rushes to clarify. “We’re here to listen.”

“And to help,” Dad adds.

“If you need it,” Mom says with a smile.

I’m blindsided. Touched and confused. My heart swells at the same time my brows furrow, suspicious of my own parents. Specifically Dad. And I’m wondering if they’ve come to this conclusion without arguing before I envision their conversation and I’m sure some hairs were torn out along the way. But they’ve made it here. They’re putting aside their problems for mine.

“I don’t want to lose you, Tommy,” Dad tells me now, finally responding to my plea for change, letting me hear the father I used to know. “You’re my son. Of course I don’t want to lose you.”

Don’t bend yet.My dad talks a good game, but I’ll wait to see if he can play it.

Mom stands, but my focus stays on Dad as he holds my stare, as we try to read each other in the silence. “We thought we’d start with some breakfast,” she suggests. “Reyna, join us.”

“I do love breakfast,” Reyna replies with both hesitation and optimism in her tone as she steps up beside me, her voice, her presence drawing my gaze to her smile, her hand supportive on my lower back.

“You guys know Reyna,” I start, and she blinks up at me as I take her hand from my back, lacing my fingers through hers before I force out the words I want to say to have more proof from Reyna that this isn’t just a dream, that we are happening. “My girlfriend.” A breath blows from my lips, my eyes falling closed for a slight second after I say the word, a tension in my brows.

I feel like a big cheese right now, but Reyna likes cheese. She even likes to throw it sometimes and pair it with chocolate.

She laughs as I’m now smiling at my thoughts and squeezes my hand. “And you guys might know Tommy,” she teases with a smile before giving me exactly what I need to hear. “My boyfriend.”

My grin is so wide I have to pull my hand from hers and wrap her against me so I can hide it in her hair.

“I love you,” she whispers in my ear, on the heels of another laugh.

I whisper the words back and sigh, their meaning exactly what it always should’ve been now.

“Well.” Mom’s chirp draws our stares. “We’ve heard of you two, yes,” she adds to the teasing, giving me a wink.

I look to Dad for his response, wanting to remind him that he’s seeing at least one of my dreams come true, and while I know the old him would see this moment that way, he’s not my old Dad yet. Hetalksa good game.

“We’ll, uh, let you get ready,” he says as he stands. “You can meet us back at the house.”

“Blueberry pancakes,” I let my parents know with a squeeze of Reyna’s waist, wanting to fulfill my promise.

Dad’s smile is tight as he nods on his way out, and I note how he doesn’t look back or wait for Mom to follow him.

I hope we make it through this breakfast in one piece.

“Of course,” Mom says with a genuine smile before she walks out at a much slower pace than Dad. I feel the dormant anger toward my father flaring up again, a sadness for my mother heating my chest, and Reyna’s comforting hand rubbing my back as she feels it, too.

“He’s trying,” she assures, giving me a shake, then nudges her nose against my chest. “I’d suggest a shower together, but it sounded like they’re in a hurry.”

My face lights up at her suggestive tone and I start pulling her backward toward the bathroom. “They can wait.”

“Good,” she says with a laugh and a bite of her lip. “BecauseIhave a fantasy for you to fulfill, too.”

Those words tug at my impatience and Reyna squeals with a laugh as I lift her up and carry her the rest of the way.

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