Newman shook his head.
“Wow.” Buster took up his mug and swallowed. “That’s some shit to carry around. It’s amazing you’re not a complete whack job. Ever wondered?”
“Sure. Had a look at finding my birth mom and stuff, but came up short. Plus, it upset Mom, when I told her.” Actually, his father had threatened to disown him if he continued, and while that hadn’t bothered him overly, it had upset his mom more.
Buster studied him. Newman drank more coffee and waited for the questions his friend was forming.
“Okay, so you’re probably carrying some shit about this, and I’m here if you need to talk about it. Still pretty pissed you haven’t before, but I can understand why. So we’ll shelve that for now. What else you got?”
“My father is a control freak asshole.”
“Now you’re just messing with me.”
“No, actually. What you saw was what he wanted people to see. He wasn’t like that to me.”
Buster looked mean. “He hit you or something?”
“No, nothing like that. Just controlling.”
“I thought you had it all going on.”
“Not so much. You were the child who had it all going on.”
“Actually, my dad used to make me have a bath every night. What’s with that?”
Newman laughed as he was meant to.
“I’m sorry that we didn’t know, Newman. But it does explain a bit.”
“About what?”
“I love your mom and stuff, and used to love your dad, but now not so much. But you are way smarter than them.”
Newman raised his mug.
“Your biological father could be like, Albert Einstein or something.”
“Pretty sure he’s dead.”
Buster waved a hand about.
“It’s cool though. You get two sets of parents.”
Newman had never thought of it that way. His birth had always been a dark secret. Looking across the table at his friend, he liked his take on it better. He didn’t answer, just grunted.
“Okay, so we got the birth thing, the father’s an asshole thing. And on that, he’s not getting a free cake with his coffee anymore, just saying.”
“You gave him free shit?”
“Nothing in this cafe is shit, but yes. He always managed to get something out of me.”
“Tight bastard.”
“Good thing you don’t carry his blood then.”
It is, Newman thought.
“So anyway, what else is bothering you?”
