“How old was he?” Skylar asks, her tone softening.
“He was eighteen, too.”
I’m unable to speak. What the fuck am I supposed to say? I feel so ashamed just to be sitting here with him.
“Your dad was so brave,” Skylar says, looking right at me. “Not everyone would have done something like that. Some people aren’t even capable at forty.”
Thirty-eight, almost thirty-nine.
“Your dad must be a great guy,” she says solemnly.
Carter smiles. “He is.”
Niall
“Do you mind if we stop somewhere, first? I’m worried it’ll be closed otherwise.”
“No problem.”
Carter buckles up his seatbelt as I pull out of my parents’ driveway and head towards the town centre to drop him home.
I called upO’Heirs Bakeryto find out what time they closed, and asked them to keep aside anything with chocolate for me. But the boy who answered the phone told me that they wouldn’t wait after ten, so I found myself wolfing down my dinner and trying to convince my daughter that I wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere other than to take Carter home before ten. I was trying to prove to her that I had nothing to hide.
“Sorry if I rushed you.”
I don’t want him to think that I’m crazy – I was the one who convinced him to stay, after all.
“No problem. Thank you for dropping me home, sir.”
“I told you, call me Coach K.”
“Okay, Coach.”
“About that… You know that I’m training the school GAA team for the tournament?”
“Yes, Coach.”
I already like his spirit.
“Why don’t you sign up?”
“Have you seen me, Coach? I’m not exactly sporty. I’m a nerd.”
“Who said you can’t be both?”
“Years of evolution.”
I laugh. This kid is intelligentandsarcastic. I don’t understand why my daughter gives him such a hard time.
“It could give you a chance.”
“A chance for what?”
“With Skylar.”
“I don’t exactly feel comfortable talking about this with you.”
“Come on. You must’ve realised by now that I’m not like regular dads.”
