“No need.Just keep up the good work and professional attitude.”
The door to the garden flew open again, filling the air with smoke.Patrick poked his head back out.“This was supposed to be toasted marshmallow and sweet potato pie, but it becameen flambé.”
“Let me see that.”He set the blackened dish down on the stone table, and Barry sliced into it.“Okay, so it’s not pretty enough for Instagram, but it looks like the marshmallow topping was the only part that got seared.I see that some of it was spared, and there’s no reason we can’t see how this turned out if people want.”
A lot of people did want, so they rushed inside to get plates.Spencer only took a small sliver, the better to save space for the apple cake and the fall-themed peanut butter dip with homemade chocolate cookie dippers.He was going to have to double up on his workout after this, but the whole point of the holiday was that no one did this every day.
The party broke up around 9:00 PM.At a red light, he got his phone out and saw a missed call from his sister.It rang four times before she answered in a hushed voice.“Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Well, we finally got the cranberry sauce washed out of Miles’ hair.”Laura sounded exhausted but happy.“He’s asleep upstairs and we’re all watchingHome Alonenow.”
The title gave Spencer a flashback to Thanksgivings as a kid, when it had become the Whitfords’ way of kicking off the holiday season.“How’d it go today?”
“It was nice, but it wasn’t quite the same.”
He knew what she was getting at, and mentally swatted away a pang of guilt for not coming to his family’s celebration.“Yeah.It was different but nice.”
“What?”Laura cut him off to talk to someone in the background, and he heard her say, “It’s Spencer.”
She got back on a short time later.“Here, Dad wants to say something.”
“Wait—” But it was too late, and Laura was handing off the phone.Spencer felt any remaining buzz starting to die down.He and his dad hadn’t talked since that evening all those weeks ago, and it didn’t seem like he had much of a choice in the matter now.He’d keep it as short as possible.
“Dad.”
“Spencer.”Mitch Whitford said the name like he was trying out a foreign phrase.“I saw your promotion online.Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”Spencer couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice.He couldn’t remember the last time his dad had expressed any interest in his professional life away from the insurance office.
“I also think I need to clarify something.”His dad hesitated before speaking again.“I know I mention how things were when I was your age a lot, but it’s not because I’m trying to shame you.Yes, I worked hard, but I didn’t have to work myself into the ground to provide for my family, I was able to take real time off without interruptions...When I say what it was like when I was your age, it’s my way of saying I wish it could be the same for you and your sister.”
Speaking of his sister, Spencer heard Laura in the background.“Tell him the rest, Dad.”
Mitch’s aggrieved sigh filled the phone.“I didn’t realize I did it so often until tonight.We all sat down with full glasses of wine before dinner, and your mom noticed that your sister and Isaac brought nearly empty glasses to the table.It turned out they were taking sips every time I mentioned what things were like for me.”
For the first time all day, Spencer wished he had been at his family’s Thanksgiving celebration.It also made him wonder about Laura’s voice earlier.Was she tired or tipsy?
His dad was still talking.“My point is, every parent hopes things will be better for the next generation.But between what I see on the news and how I see the two of you working at all hours of the day, tethered to your phones and email even when you’re not physically at work, it seems to be worse for yours.”
Spencer couldn’t decide whether to be flattered or exasperated.If that was how his dad felt, maybe he shouldn’t have spent most of Spencer’s life voting for candidates that seemed dedicated to holding onto their own way of life at the expense of future generations, switching only when the party had come to be defined by maniacs.But on the other hand, it was incredibly validating to hear his dad assure him he wasn’t a screw-up.
“Thingsaregood for me, and I’m not constantly working,” he said.“I have a flexible schedule that lets me take time off when I want it.All that means is I don’t necessarily work nine to five, Monday through Friday.”
He felt sure he’d been over this, but his dad seemed to be taking it in for the first time.He stayed silent, giving Spencer more room to speak.“It’s decent money, and the promotion brought even more perks on top of benefits that were good to begin with.But even if it wasn’t, I’d still rather be active and work with people like that than be locked in that insurance office.”
His dad sighed at the reminder.“I suggested that for you because it helped me get off to such a good professional start.”
“But I’m not you.”
“I always knew that, but I’ve come to respect it more now.What you’re doing is a better fit for you—that’s obvious to me and everyone else.I’m just sorry I didn’t see it sooner or do a better job of making sure you knew that.”
“It took a while to find my feet after the accident, but now I have.”
“Yes.I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to lose everything you’d worked so hard for and start over.”
“It wasn’t easy, and I’m still grappling with parts of it.I’m back in therapy, though.”
“That’s good.”Spencer heard another whoosh of breath.“My point is, I was so focused on trying to help you move forward at the time that I didn’t give much thought to how hard it all was physically and emotionally.But you didn’t give up, and I’m proud of you for it.When I was your age, I don’t know how or even if I could have recovered from such a setback.”
