I hated and resented him for it. Rebelled against everything he had wanted and planned for me. Something that had been happening even before he met and married Nora’s mom. It just got worse afterward.
“You act like you’re headed into battle.” Drew grinned.
“Not far off after the way Dad and I left things.”
“He’s changed a lot in the last three years, Dean. I think my mom has been good for him, and maybe the army has been good for you too.”
Nora’s softly spoken words broke through my reluctance. Time changes and heals people for sure. I knew I wasn’t the same man that I was when I left, even if he was.
“Let’s go.” I pushed open the truck door with more confidence than I felt.
“Drew. Nora. Is that you?” I heard Nora’s mom call from the kitchen.
“Yeah, Mom,” Nora called out as she put her purse on the table by the door. “We have company too,” she added as she headed back down the hall.
My eyes followed after her, my dick stirring until I saw movement at the top of the stairs. My dad was standing there. His fingers were gripping onto the banister with white knuckles. He looked like he’d seen a ghost and more than a little shaky.
“Dean.” His voice was raspy and thick with emotion.
“Hey, Dad.” I swallowed hard around my own emotions.
Instead of coming the rest of the way down the stairs, my dad took a seat on the top step, his eyes tracing over me again and again. He looked older, like he’d aged a lot in the last few years.
I dropped my bag on the floor and joined him on the top step.
“When did you? How did you?” He never finished asking the questions, and I saw the tears clouding his eyes.
“Drew and Nora just picked me up. I ended my vacation in Hawaii early and decided to come spend a few days at home.”
He swallowed hard as he hesitantly reached out to pull me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him tightly. It had been years since I’ve hugged my father so tight, but he clung to me, and I squeezed harder when I felt him shudder.
“Damn it’s good to see you, Son,” he muttered as he slapped me on the back.
“You too, Dad.” It wasn’t a lie. It had been a long fucking time. Our phone calls weren’t really the same as being in person and seeing someone in front of you. Dad wasn’t the type to spend time on the phone, and truth be told, neither was I.
“How long are you here for?”
“I’m scheduled to fly out on a red eye Sunday morning.”
“Then we have to make the most of the time you’re here,” he said through a watery smile as we both rose from the top step. “You look good, Dean. You’re so much bigger than when you left.” He chuckled.
“PT will do that to you.” I laughed and led the way back down the stairs. Voices were heard in the kitchen, Drew and Nora were talking to Nora’s mom.
“I’m glad you’re home, Son. Please don’t stay away so long next time. We’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, Dad.”
We made our way toward the kitchen, Dad’s arm wrapped around my shoulder as if should he let me go, I would disappear again.
I stopped before we were seen and turned to face my dad man to man. “I’m sorry about the way I was acting before I left. I had my reasons for it, but it doesn’t make what I did and the things I said right.”
“I loved your mother. On her birthday and our anniversary, I still take flowers to her grave. Me loving another woman doesn’t diminish the love I felt for her, Dean.
“I know I was harder on you and didn’t connect with you like I did your brother, and that it put your mom, when she was alive, and even Drew, in the middle of a tense relationship. That was my fault, Dean. Between work, being a husband, and being a father, I gave up on you too easily. It would have taken more time and effort to build a relationship, so I just didn’t.
“That’s something I will have to live with for the rest of my life. Knowing I failed at being the father you needed.”
We hugged again, and both laughed at the emotion we were both showing. “It only took three years and thousands of miles between us to say what needed to be said, I guess.” Dad wiped his eye. “I’m proud of you, Dean. I’m proud of the man you’ve become, despite my less than stellar example.”
