Page 20 of His Surrender
“Dad, I’ll be okay by myself,” Foster said, walking into the bedroom. The little eavesdropper. “Go out with Uncle Jay and have fun. Please?”
Ivan’s expression softened when seeing his son, and the fight left him. “Okay. But if you needanythingor if something happens, you call me right away.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll practice my bass clarinet and probably order a pizza.”
I had bought Foster the instrument and brought it over a few days ago. Ivan had been pissed at me for it, but after seeing how excited Foster was to have it, he’d backed off and thanked me. Of course, he said he’d pay me back even after I’d told him not to worry about it.
An hour and three outfit changes later, Ivan and I were in my car and heading toward Garrison Avenue.
“You’re worse than a woman,” I said, referring to his many wardrobe changes.
“I wanted to look nice.”
“Stop primping in the mirror.”
Ivan scoffed, closed the mirror on the visor, and sat back in his seat. I couldn’t blame him for his nerves, though.
Unlike me, he had never been one to hit up bars on the weekend and go clubbing. His whole life had been about serving his country, and yeah, I was sure he’d gone drinking with the other Marines in his company during training and whatnot, but he’d also married Megan not long after joining the Corps, and my brother was loyal to a fault. He would’ve never gone out, gotten shitfaced, and hooked up with another girl while in a committed relationship. And he wouldn’t have gone out with his buddies if their aim was to pick up girls either.
He’s such a better man than me.
“Are you ever goin’ to tell me about Megan?” I asked, seeing him tense from the corner of my eye. “I’ve shut my mouth about it for the past six months. Gotta give me points for being patient this long.”
Ivan was silent a moment, his gaze fixated on the buildings we passed. “She left me. That’s all there is to say.”
“But what about Foss? I can’t believe she gave you full custody and let you move out of state with no fight.”
“She loves Foster,” Ivan responded, finally looking at me. Maybe it was the trick of lighting, but his eyes looked a bit glassy. “She asked him what he wanted, and he said he wanted to live with me, so she let him. She moved too.”
I stopped at the red light, tapping a finger on the steering wheel. “Where did she move?”
“New York,” he answered. “She met some photographer during one of her weekend trips there with her friends. Last I heard, she moved in with him and they’re engaged now.”
“Seriously? So soon after the divorce?”
“She’s been seeing this guy for over a year, Jay,” Ivan answered. “Long before I knew. Fuck. I guess part of medidknow, or at least suspected, but I refused to think about it. Just kind of put it in the back of my mind like I do everything else.”
Everything else.Meaning, all the nightmares in his head from his years in the military.
“So she had an affair,” I said, my chest tightening. My brother deserved so much better.
“Yeah. Guess I couldn’t give her what she wanted.” Ivan turned his face toward the window. “After my injury, things changed between us. I was so angry. Depressed. I think I pushed her away.”
“Bullshit. She chose to go. You didn’t push her to do anything. Stop blaming yourself, Vanya. That damnshluha.”
“Don’t call her a whore, Jay. She’s still the mother of my son and deserves more respect than that.”
“Sorry.” When the light turned green, I drove forward a ways and managed to snag a spot on the street where someone had just pulled out of.
Ivan continued sitting in place even after I’d taken off my seat belt and opened the car door. “I should probably go home,” he said. “I’ll be miserable company tonight.”
“Like hell you are. Being alone is thelastthing you need. Come on.” I nudged his arm. “Pozhalsta?”
Please.
“Okay.” Ivan nodded and got out of the car. He limped a bit as he joined me on the sidewalk. His new artificial leg wouldn’t be ready for weeks. “Just a few drinks.”
“You got it.”
