“Here.”He hands me a wad of paper towels.“Go out in your living room and sit down.”
I do.Because I don’t have the strength to do anything else.I collapse on the couch and Dad pulls up a dining chair to sit directly facing me.
“You tricked me,” I say.
He shrugs.“A father does whatever’s needed to get through to his kid.And some kids need to be reached in a certain kind of way.”
I blow my nose.“And I’m the kid who needs to be tricked?”
“Maybe,” he says, thinking for a moment.“You know that I love all my boys.But you, son, have always been the biggest challenge to me and your mother.”
“I thought that was Evander.”
He laughs.“Do you remember what your mother used to say to you?”
“She said a lot of things, many of them when she was mad about some stupid shit I’d just tried to pull.”
He chuckles.“That’s right.She used to get so exasperated with you.She’d throw up her hands and tell me, ‘that boy has to eat the whole cow before he can be sure it’s beef!’”
“Which means…”
“That no one can tell you a damn thing, Declan.You are headstrong and think you know everything about everything and won’t listen to anyone’s guidance.So, what would you have done if I marched in here and told you to get your ass up to Summer?”
“I would have done it.”
“Don’t bullshit your old dad.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And another thing about you—you’ve always just skated through life, you know?Not taking anything too seriously, counting on your brains and charm to get you wherever you wanted to go.Honestly, I was a little concerned when you told me you wanted to follow your brothers and become a SEAL.”
I never heard this before.“You were?”
“I didn’t know if you were capable of taking that kind of commitment seriously.”
“Well, clearly, I was.”
“Yep, you rose to the occasion, and I’m damn proud of you for it.And now it’s time to do it again.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, I heard you and Summer got married by a Mariah Carey impersonator.Is that true?”
“Well, technically, it was at the Mariah Carey Chapel of Love, but Beyoncé was on duty that night.”
He blinks.“I don’t care if it was Daffy Duck who officiated.You’re married.”
“She won’t let me love her,” I say, staring at the paper towel gripped in my hands.
“Son, I’m going to tell you something and I want you to listen carefully.Can you do that?”
I nod, shredding the paper towel.
“I was in love with aferociouslyproud woman who was sick a long time.But I stood by your mother and loved her through every moment of it, even when she demanded a divorce so that I’d be free to find someone else.”
I raise my eyes.What the fuck?
“It’s the absolute truth.But you know what I did?I found a way to separate the illness and pain from the love we shared—cancer over there, love right here.”He touches his chest.
