Chapter 2
Danny goes with Cal to his next appointment to get the truth of things.
Danny does most of his coding on the couch next to Cal. At first, Cal does crosswords, but he starts to struggle with the pencil. Danny will hear a horrible slashing of the graphite sliding across the thin paper, then Cal’s soft “Gosh darn.” Cal mostly watches TV after that.
Because Danny didn’t bring enough clothes, he ends up scouring his wardrobe for what he wore in high school, which is mostly band T-shirts and Costco flannels.
Once, he goes into the kitchen and sees his dad sitting at the table, facing away, wearing the exact same shirt.
Danny goes back into his room and changes before Cal can see him.
Even as he does it, he feels like the worst sort of person.
But he cannot bear the thought that he is, at some fundamental level, the same as his father, consigned to the same impenetrable, stubborn, self-inflicted loneliness.
In the mornings, Danny wakes to make Cal breakfast, which Cal sometimes eats, and to work East Coast hours.
In the evenings, he goes for a run and calls Eve.
She keeps offering to come help, and he keeps saying no.
He is too ashamed of the person he is in this miasma: someone who changes his shirt to be less like his father.