“I shouldn’t have spoken to your girlfriend the way that I did.”
Is he serious?
Don’t give in, Knox. He’s just trying to test how easily you’ll forgive him. He’s not doing this because he feels bad—he’s doing it because he wants to keep you compliant. Don’t let him have all the power over you.
But what if he really means it this time?
That’s what you said the last ten times.
“Five minutes. Please,” he begs, so pitiful that I’d laugh in his face if I didn’t have any humanity.
Am I really going to deny the opportunity to witness his pathetic laments? I don’t have to forgive him. I’m not doing anything wrong by listening to him. I have the power now, and I’ll never accept a reality where I don’t.
“Fifty-nine seconds. Go.”
My dad is one of those guys who’d rather eat his own tongue than admit he’s wrong. At least, that’s the version I know.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me for everything that I’ve done, but even I know when I’ve stepped out of line, and coming to your game to provoke you was never my intention.Insulting your girlfriendwas never my intention.”
“But you did,” I snap, stepping into his space, realizing now how many inches I have on him—how I’ve built enough muscle mass to give his ego a run for its money. He’s smaller than I remember.
“I shouldn’t have. I made a rash judgment that wasn’t true in the slightest. I didn’t realize she meant that much to you.”
I didn’t think my father was capable of remorse. Maybe he isn’t. Maybe this is all just an illusion.
The weight of his accountability is a backhand to the face. I know I should accept his apology and be the bigger person, but fury bolts through me—fury that it’s taken him this long to own up to his mistakes.
As much as I want to put my hands on him, I don’t.
“She does. And if you want to stay in my life, you have to accept the fact that she’s in it too.”
Without Staten, I never would’ve found the courage to stand up to my dad. Shemadethis possible. If I had to choose between my family and her, it would be a no-brainer. Fuck, if I didn’t know any better, that kind of sounds like I lo?—
No. I—do I? We haven’t been official for that long. Love is a foreign concept to me. All I know is that my heart kicks up when I’m waiting for her to text me back, and I get way too sweaty when she touches me, and I feel like I’m going to simultaneously barf and pass out whenever I talk to her. That’s normal, right?
Jesus, who am I kidding. Staten Renault has me by the throat, and my masculinity doesn’t mind it one bit.
I need to tell her how I really feel. I just…what if she doesn’t feel the same way? What if I scare her away?
There’s lightning in the depths of my father’s stormy eyes. “I understand, Knox.”
With nothing else to say to him, I start my journey toward the exit. If he genuinely wants to do better by me and be in my life, then his actions going forward will speak for him.
Before I vanish from his line of sight, he calls out to me, “Oh, and son, I’ve unfrozen your assets. Good job getting your grades up.”
The parking lot is filled with students, truck beds full of kegs, and a poorly decorated stand where some devilishly clever underclassmen is running a fast-food empire to capitalize on hungry hockey goers.
Under the percussion of rain—where the sky arcs into a sapphire hue that bleeds like watercolor onto a sodden canvas—people roam amongst concrete and clumps of sorrel. A maroon banner, strung to a car’s antenna, flaps in the wind as a wedge of moonlight makes the paintedCONGRATS!glisten.
I’m grateful for the celebration, but everything is overstimulating. It feels like the world has turned the volume knob all the way up. I can’t hear myself think.
I didn’t expect my dad to unfreeze my assets. I’m grateful, sure, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to be tied to him financially anymore. I want to pave my own way. At least he finally acknowledged all the hard work I’ve put into my academics.
I stare down at the sad basket of cold French fries in my hand, and I don’t need to taste one to know the flavor profile is on par with overseasoned mashed potatoes that have been sitting out so long they’ve grown their own ecosystem. Plus, consuming any food right now is undoubtedly going to disagree with my stomach.
A frown casts over Staten’s lips. “You’re not celebrating.”
I manufacture a fake smile, but I don’t doubt that she can see right through it. “I just talked to my dad.”
