That would explain it.
It has to.
I press a hand to my forehead, breathing through the dizziness. Genesis’ voice bounces around in my skull:
To men, sex is just fucking.
Get mad enough and they make a bad decision.
My stomach tightens again.
Patrick wouldn’t.
Would he?
Patrick
“What did you do, son?”
I look away, jaw tight. The last thing I want is to look my father in the eye and admit I almost cheated on my wife with a nameless blonde in a bar bathroom.
He must see something in my face, because he lets out a long breath. “You don’t have to tell me,” he says quietly, “but tell me this… is it professional or personal?”
My throat works. I force the word out. “Personal.”
He nods once. “Lorelie?”
I swallow and stare at my boots. “Yeah.”
Dad hesitates. I can feel him thinking through every possible scenario before he finally says, “I think I can guess.”
I keep my eyes glued to the ground. I don’t want to see disappointment on his face. Not today.
Another pause. Then: “Has this happened more than-” He cuts himself off with a frustrated huff. “Alright, I can’t do this. Son… did you screw around on your wife?”
Leave it to him to abandon the gentle route in favor of a direct gut punch.
“No,” I say quickly. “Not really. I stopped it before…”
The words fall apart in my throat, pathetic even to my own ears. “Before anything happened.”
Dad watches me, jaw set. Then, quietly, he asks, “If the roles were reversed… if Lorelie had been in your place… would you say she cheated?”
The answer hits me before I even think. I nod. “Yeah.”
He doesn’t flinch. “Have you told her?”
I shake my head. “I can’t. Dad, she’s pregnant and emotional and-”
“Stop.” His tone slices clean through my excuse.
“Don’t use her pregnancy to avoid telling her the truth,” he says. “She’s your wife. And if what you’re saying is true, if you stopped it, then don’t fuck up now by keeping it inside.” He leans closer, voice low and firm. “Trust me, it’ll come out. Maybe not directly, but this kind of thing? It bleeds into a relationship.”
My chest tightens.
“It takes a certain kind of man to hide something like this forever,” he adds. Then he reaches out and rests a hand on my shoulder. “And son… I didn’t raise that kind of a man.”
I look up at the clear sky, sunlight filtering through the branches overhead.
