Chapter 24 #2
He barked out a laugh and shook his head.
“I guess I deserve that question. No, I’m not dying.
I just realized it was time to come home.
” His shoulders slumped, and he shifted in his seat again.
“I never meant to be gone so much. I thought if I worked harder, moved up the ranks, and made more money, then I could be the father the family needed.” His eyes went back to mine, and I saw the raw regret there.
“Instead I just missed everything. I want to see you play football and see Claire’s plays.
I want to . . .” His sentence drifted off, and he checked down the hallway, looking for Mom.
“I want to make things up to your mother the best I can.”
For a second, the weight of his words settled between us. He was finally saying what I wanted to hear. Maybe that was why I had a hard time believing him. I was afraid he would snatch the words away again.
“I’m going to stay with Ronnie while I look for work,” he went on. Ronnie was a friend of his who lived down the street. “That way, I can be around to help your mother more.” He sent another look down the hallway. “Your mom is an amazing woman. You shouldn’t forget that.”
“I wasn’t the one who forgot it in the first place,” I said.
He winced and gave me a smile that was half grimace. “I probably deserved that too, but don’t push your luck, son. I have joint custody, which means I can still send you to your room.” He said it in a joking way, but there was an edge to his tone. My words had hit the mark.
I gazed at the roses sitting on the counter, crisp red flowers standing at attention in a vase. “Are you trying to mend things with her all the way?”
“We’re going to start going to counseling and see where that puts us.”
See where that puts us. The phrase repeated in my mind. “She wants to go to counseling with you?”
He nodded and lowered his voice. “Not every woman would turn down dating a rich guy to give her ex another shot. Most women would choose the money, but she says she wants what’s best for the family.”
My parents might get back together. It was an actual possibility now.
All of this meant Mom had either already broken up with Mr. Seibold or it would happen soon. Judging from his downcast manner while I’d been with Madeline, one way or the other, he knew the score.
He would bounce back quickly enough. Dad was right. A man with Mr. Seibold’s wealth wouldn’t have a problem finding interested women.
I thought about Madeline and the sorts of guys she usually dated, the sort of life she was used to.
Nice house. Nice clothes. Trips all over the world.
I’d been worried about her liking TC, but he’d never really been my competition.
My competition were the guys at school who already lived in her world and always would.
“Did mom tell you that I’m dating Madeline?” I asked.
“Who?”
“The lawyer’s daughter.”
Dad’s head jerked in surprise, which meant that no, Mom still hadn’t mentioned that fact.
He grunted unhappily. “Seriously?” Without waiting for an answer, he sighed and rubbed his eyes.
My stomach sank. My father was about to tell me why things wouldn’t work out between us. “I might have a shot,” I said. “I might be able to go pro.” Even as I said the words, they felt like unwarranted optimism. None of the top-tier schools had reached out to me yet.
His brows creased in confusion. “What does going pro have to do with you dating Madeline?”
“You just said that most women choose money and then sighed in disappointment when I told you I was dating Madeline. I know we’re from different worlds, but if I’m in the NFL, I’ll make good money.”
He cocked his head at me. “I sighed because if you’re dating Madeline that means your mom will still run into Tate. She’ll go over to his house to pick you up. Things like that. Maybe she’ll decide he’s the one that’s best for the family.”
“Oh.” I’d read that all wrong.
My father’s head remained tilted to one side.
“The fact that you’re worried about being from different worlds says something, though.
” He gestured around the kitchen at the worn cabinets, the out-of-date tile floor, and the secondhand table and chairs.
It was small and cluttered. Nothing like the Seibold’s spacious one.
“Would Madeline be happy if this was the sort of life the two of you had?” He was watching me, waiting for a response. “Does she like you for you?”
I didn’t have an answer. Earlier, when Madeline and I sat at the vet’s office and held hands, I’d thought I’d known how she felt about me. Now, I was second-guessing myself. Maybe she’d just been vulnerable, and I’d been the one who was there.
“Yes,” I said. I knew that was the right answer and didn’t really want to talk about my relationship with Madeline anymore.
Dad read his own meaning into my hesitancy and spent the next few minutes telling me how important it was not to live beyond my means or be with a girlfriend who couldn’t control her spending.
“I know you’re only in high school, but you marry who you date.
Only go out with the sort of women you’d be happy with long-term. ”
I wanted to point out that I knew I had to live within my means. I’d been doing it even before he quit his job as a trucker. The thought never made it to my tongue. Only a little while ago, I’d offered to help Madeline pay her vet bill, and that hadn’t been cheap.
Mom came back into the room wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Her hair was no longer in a bun but loose around her shoulders. She looked casual, like her normal self.
She heard my father giving me dating advice and smiled. It had been a long time since I’d seen her with that sort of smile—one that was full of history.
When she sat down, my father turned his attention to her.
“Don’t stop on my account,” she said, still smiling. “It’s nice to have someone else telling him all the parenting stuff. We can tag team on the lectures again.”
“Have you been lecturing Cooper about Madeline?” Dad asked. “What do you think of her?”
Mom picked up one of the chocolates and unwrapped it, considering her words. “Madeline is a lovely young woman. However, I’m worried they’re getting too serious too quickly.”
That pronouncement rang alarm bells in my father’s mind. Before he could launch into another lecture, I said, “I need to change my clothes,” and headed down the hallway.
They lowered their voices, but I still knew they were talking about Madeline and me. I hadn’t heard the end of it. Ironic. Mom’s relationship with Mr. Seibold might be over, but her worries about Madeline and me would live on to haunt me.