I really hoped he felt that way.
“I’m glad you said that. Because I won’t be letting her out of my sight. I do love her, Jackson.” It felt nice to admit it to him, to finally get those words off my chest.
“Good.” He nodded, uncrossing his arms and wrapping them around the couch.
A blanket of silence fell between us in understanding.
“I’ve been talking to someone, actually. If things work out between us, maybe I’ll introduce you one day.” He broke the silence with a bomb.
My eyes widened.
“Yeah? How long have you been talking to her?”
“It’s new. Nothing to get excited over. Just doing my best to surround myself with other people, and it kind of just happened.” The corner of his lips started to lift.
“Maybe one of these days we can get a family dinner on the agenda. You, me, Avery, her friends, and mine. Maybe even this girl you’re seeing, if things end up working out,” I suggested, in hopes that we could find a way to begin mending all that had been broken over the years.
“That’d be nice. If Avery is okay with it, of course.”
“I can definitely talk to her about it. Growing up, my family was big on having dinner all together once a week. I never realized just how much I missed it until I got older and moved away from my family.”
“Something tells me she would enjoy that. She didn’t have much of it growing up.” Jackson adjusted his position, getting more comfortable. “I think the only thing in question would be if I could attend or not.”
Jackson would always know Avery’s history better than I could. They lived through it together. He knew her as a kid, a teenager, and a young adult. While he was blessed to know that part of her, I was happy that I had the rest of my life to get to know who she’d become all because of the past that formed her.
“You are family. No matter how dysfunctional this is, I know she would understand.” I nodded.
“Talk about it with her and let me know then.”
“Of course.”
It felt as if we were moving in the right direction. Jackson dropped his hostility, trading it for a calm and considerate demeanor. Now that he was dropping his façade, and letting out all of his bottled-up emotions, I was seeing a side of him that felt truer to who he really was.
“I’m sure you and Avery have had plenty of time to catch up. She tell you about my conversation with Mom at all?”
“She did.” I nodded. “But feel free to tell me yourself. She gave me the shortened version. Knew we would end up talking at some point. How’s everything between you and your mother currently?”
“It’s alright. She’s still disappointed in me for stealing from you guys. Said that’s not how she raised me to be. Even after I paid that big lump sum back last week, she was still disappointed that I had to do that at all.” He winced and his shoulders slumped.
He still owed Avery the money she’d paid him from the start of their breakup—money that was now long gone. But his gesture last week was a good start to a long road.
“Thank you for that, by the way.” I dipped my chin, looking him in the eye.
“Yeah. I know it all sounds bad and looks even worse. And without Mom here, she doesn’t really understand it all. She’s listening to me tell her these bad things that I did and forming her own opinion—which I guess is warranted.” He took a deep breath. “But I’m just taking all this one day at a time. One relationship at a time.”
“You know, Avery told me your mom finally confirmed that she never told me about you. I’m really sorry that happened.” I rubbed my fingers along my facial hair.
“You don’t need to be the sorry one, Dad.” He shook his head.
“I know. But it feels right to apologize. I just hope you know that I wish I was there for it all.” My voice suddenly felt stuck in my throat, like the emotion of the situation was hitting me when I least expected it to.
“I’ve actually been going to therapy for the last few weeks. I still have a lot of work to do—a lot to talk about—but one thing I’ve been able to take away from it so far is that there isn’tanything good that can come from harboring old feelings from the past. There isn’t anything you or I can do about it all. But we can work on our relationship now, and you can still be my dad.”
My eyes filled with tears, and I tipped my head back, willing the tears to stop.
Once I gathered my emotions and felt like I could talk again, I leaned forward with my elbows resting on my knees.
“I’m really proud of you, Jackson.” My words trembled.
