Chapter Forty-One
DYLAN
Present Day
It’s early and I come home to a light summer rain that drizzles the leaves of my favorite maple tree in the front yard. It was the first thing we planted after buying the house, before we even started the renovations. Mom wanted the tree to grow with me and we measured my height every year next to it. It outgrew me pretty quickly, but we still take my first day of school picture under the branches. The memory makes me smile until I pull forward and notice a car in the driveway that I’ve never seen before. I frown, Mom never brings people home that I don’t know.
I walk inside, calling out to Mom, but there’s no answer. I take the stairs two at a time and peek into her room to tell her that I’m home and I shield my eyes, closing the door just as quick. Holy Shit! Someone was in bed with her. I did not want to see that. But it’s too late, Mom heard me, and I can hear her shuffling to get the covers up.
“I’ll be out in a minute.”
She hollers.
“I’m sorry!”
I say and I run back downstairs, finding safety in the kitchen.
Twelve minutes later, Mom comes down the stairs by herself. I know this because I’ve been watching the clock, trying to figure out how long it will take her to make up an excuse. She smiles uneasily and I ignore it, taking a gulp of my orange juice and letting the glass slam noisily down onto the counter. I stared at her for a few seconds, eyebrows raised, letting the silence drum into her. I was waiting for her to talk first, but when she didn’t, I lay in.
“Since when do you just bring guys home without telling me? What happened to no one in the house unless we both know them?”
I’m angry and she knows it. Mom never breaks our rules.
She tells me about her run in at the shop, that she met someone she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“We got carried away and …”
she trailed off when I covered my eyes with one hand and held up the other one.
“No. Stop. I don’t want to know, Mom!”
I tell her, laughing through my words.
“If I tell you I’m not mad, will you spare me the details?”
I can’t be mad at her; she literally doesn’t have a love life and she does not need to explain it to her son when she finally gets one.
Mom laughs and then tells me she’s sorry.
“Okay… but someone you used to know? Is it Cody?”
I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.
“No.”
Mom snorts.
“Definitely not.”
She puts her arm around me and leads me over to the sofa, where I notice the throw pillows are strewn out of place.
That’s not like her, she’s meticulous about everything being in its place. Whoever this is, has her all mixed up. I sit and then immediately perk up, “You found him, didn’t you?”
I smile, hopeful. She doesn’t even have to say a word, the look on her face says it all and I jump up, running toward the stairs.
“Dad? Dad!”
Mom’s following behind me and I stop, eyes on the stairs as I see him sitting there. He was listening to the whole thing, and he stands when he sees me. The air around me thickens and it becomes hard to breathe.
It’s him.
The guy from the restaurant.
My dad.
I can’t even speak; I don’t believe it.
“It’s true.”
His words tell me he’s as shocked as I am and I can’t take it, I run to him, knocking him down til we’re both sitting on the steps in the middle of the staircase. I’m crying and he’s crying, “My boy! I’m sorry. Dylan, I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world if I knew.”
I hug him and shake my head, “You’re here now.”
“I’ve got you, Dylan.”
His head rests on mine and in an instant, Mom is there, hunched over in a group hug on the stairs with us.
This is what I’ve missed all my life.