She nods. “I understand. Can I tell them where you’ll be?”
“I think I’m going to my dad’s. After all, he won’t bother talking to me.”
Jake whimpers in his sling, and Tenley opens the door this time. “I’m sorry, Landry. But don’t give up on them, okay?”
“Yeah,” I reply, waiting for Tenley to walk inside the house before driving across town to my childhood home.
“What are you doing here?” my dad asks when he answers the door.
I sigh. “I screwed up, just like you said I would.”
He grunts and moves to let me inside. “Guess I can’t blame you. I didn’t exactly set the best example for you, did I?”
I blink a few times, his confession taking me off guard. “No, you didn’t,” I reply after a while.
“Yeah, well, you’d better make the effort to fix it now.” He goes back and sinks into his recliner. “Don’t wait until it’s too late, or one day you’ll retire from work just to realize you drove away everyone you love most.”
He keeps his gaze locked onto the TV, but I read the sadness in my dad’s face for the very first time. And it dawns on me that he’s been sitting here alone all day, while half his family celebrated Christmas without him a mere mile down the road.
“You say that like the fixing is easy,” I mumble after a while.
He huffs. “Sure it is. You just have to do whatever it takes to make sure they know you care.” He looks up at me for a second before he clears his throat. “You staying here all night?”
I nod. “If that’s all right with you.”
“Last night’s leftovers are in the fridge. Help yourself,” he says, leaning back in his recliner. But I think I see a faint smile forming on his face.
“Thanks.”
“No more of that bread pudding left, though. Think your girlfriend would mind making it again for New Year’s?”
I let out a short laugh. “I’m sure she’d be happy to do that, Coach. Especially if you requested it yourself.”
His smile grows more pronounced. “Better kiss and make up soon, then.”
CHAPTER 44
landry
“I knowyou’re in there, Landry. Dad told me.”
I groan and roll my eyes at the ceiling instead of answering the knock at my bedroom door.
“I’m coming in,” Loren warns me.
“You don’t want to do that. I’m naked,” I lie. Even though I’m already feeling slightly better, between Tenley’s pep talk and the borderline heart-to-heart exchange with my dad, I still don’t feel like hashing this out with Loren right now.
“Gird your loins, then, because I’m not leaving until you let me in to apologize.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Suit yourself.”
Loren cracks open the door and gropes for the light switch with one hand while covering her eyes with the other. “Is it safe to look?”
I grunt when the bright light makes my head throb, and I’m tempted to hop out of bed and drop my drawers. But I honestly don’t have the energy to moon her right now, even if she does deserve it.
“What do you want, Lo?”
She peeks through her fingers hesitantly, then she comes over to sit at the foot of my bed once she sees the coast is clear. “Hmm … a night nanny, a few Reese’s Christmas trees, and the ability to take back most of the horrible crap I said earlier would all be nice.”
