“Yeah, man, you make millions of dollars blocking for your quarterback every damn Sunday. The rest of us are doing what we have to do out here to survive. We don’t have the luxury of liking our jobs when you have to pay rent.”
“Right.” I suddenly regret my line of questioning. I need to lighten the mood.
“So how you are feeling about the wedding, old man? Are you ready to get married? God knows Dena waited long enough for you to pull the trigger. Does she even know what she’s getting into?”
“Oh, she knows what she’s getting. That’s why she waited.” Kyle playfully grabs his package like he used to when we were kids. “You know, I snatched her up before she was smart enough to figure out she could do better.”
I laugh hard at that because Kyle is nothing if he isn’t truthful. “You’re still crazy, dude.”
“Hey, I’m counting on you to make a good impression on Dena’s family next week when we get to the island.”
“It’s a bit late for that, ain’t it? You’re already marrying their daughter.”
“Dena’s my soul mate and we’re getting married come hell or come high water, but I think her parents hoped that she’d marry a suit and tie dude, not somebody like me.”
“Don’t you fucking dare talk about my quarterback like that,” I say to him, referring to the position he used to play in high school. “Dee Dee is getting a good man.”
“I know you think I’m amazing Brick, but you’re not as hard to impress as those stuck up fuckers.”
“You’ve been dating her for years and they still haven’t warmed up to you?”
I remember Dena’s parents growing up. They always seemed like the type of adults who smiled in your face and talked about you as soon as you walked away.
“They’re polite, but there’s a reason why they’ve never invited my mom or Kaya over for Christmas dinner. I’m pretty sure they were holding out for her to change her mind about me at the last minute.”
“Sounds like a real piece of shit family you’re marrying into,” I say, not needing to sugarcoat how I feel with Kyle.
“Her parents are who they are, but it doesn’t matter. Dena is all that matters.”
I feel Kyle’s sense of determination right in my gut and I respect it. The two of them are going to make it regardless of the obstacles and I’m going to do whatever I can to support that.
I wrap my arm playfully around Kyle’s shoulder.
“I’ve got this and I’ll do my duty as your best man to impress the hell out of your in-laws. Dog and pony show activated!”
“Thanks, man. I mean, for everything. For coming. For standing up for me.”
For kissing your sister, my guilty ass thinks to myself.
“You’ve always been there for me,” he finishes.
“No thank you’s are needed. You know that. We’re family.”
Fuck, I’m a horrible friend.
“Speaking of family, have you heard from your pop?”
I fake a smile like I always do whenever I’m asked about my family.
“No, you know that dude is a rolling stone.”
“Wherever he lays his hat is his home?” Kyle chuckles and we tap our fists together as if we find my father’s irresponsibility funny when actually it isn’t.
I’ve always pretended that the way my father moves from woman to woman or job to job didn’t matter to me, and for a time I guess I even convinced myself that was normal man shit.
But as I’ve grown older and accomplished more in my life, I realize that a real man would have been someone who had taken responsibility and raised his kid. Someone would have been home for dinner and at all of my football games. Someone who wouldn’t have left all the heavy lifting of raising his son to his mother.
I’ve secretly always craved someone who would be in my life, proudly standing by and cheering me on. I’ve never had that. My grandmother, god bless her, did everything she could to support me but not in the way my father should have.
