Page 108 of Sharkbait
“Wasn’t what?” I ask.
“You used the past tense when you talked about him just now. You said he wasn’t a guy who could deal with his feelings.”
“Oh yeah. He passed about seven years ago.”
Right before I went on my last bender with alcohol and ended up getting my best friend pregnant.
Tell her, James.
As soon as possible, tell her.
“Am I allowed to say sorry this time?” she asks with a soft smile and a brush of her hand on my arm.
“Sure.”
She links her fingers with mine.
“I’m sorry.”
“Appreciate it. But I’m fine. Really.” I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss it.
“I know you are. And lord knows I have my parent issues, but it must be hard when they’re gone, knowing the chance to get it right with them is gone too.”
“Well, now you’re gonna make me cry, woman!” I tease her. “Any update since your parents were at the birthday party?”
Ralph ended up chatting with my dad that night. He wouldn’t say how he found out about the party, just that “he’s our father and he deserves to be there. Then he disappeared afterward like he was never there. Same old, same old.”
“How about your mom? How was the rest of her visit?”
“She is still in town apparently. Ralph is trying to convince me to join them for dinner tomorrow night.”
“Wow. How are Ralph and Calliope holding up with the extended house guest?”
“Just fine. Because Mom met someone—surprise, surprise—and she is currently staying with him until further notice.”
The music swells on the screen and both of our attentions are drawn back toSplash, where Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah are kissing and finally getting their happily ever after.
Like clockwork, my eyes mist up again.
She laughs. “You’re killing me with this, dude!”
“Well, case in point! Crying isn’t always about sadness. People also cry when they’re happy, exhausted, surprised, relieved. It’s a release. They cry when they’re overwhelmed. When they take in the beauty of a new baby, the majesty of a sunset...”
“Ugh. I hate sunsets.”
She what now?
“Care to repeat yourself, madam? I thought I just heard you say you hate sunsets.”
“Then you heard me right.”
I sit up taller and face off with her.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“Nope,” she says. “I’m serious.”
“You hate sunsets,” I repeat, still in disbelief.
