“How was the series? I saw Adriel’s back up again. He did well today. Hope he wasn’t too much to handle.”
I sniffle, not able to hold my emotions at bay.
“Colby, aww, what’s wrong?”
My chest constricts, and it’s hard to breathe.
“I messed up, Daddy. I think I really messed up,” I choke out.
“Oh, no. I’m sure you didn’t. Talk to me. One second—” A whistle blasts in the background, and my father shouts, “Brenden, run them through one more time!”
I manage to stop my lips from quivering long enough to exhale and calm my wavering voice.
“Talk to me, kid. Let’s fix this.”
Oh, shoot.
“I maybe, sort of . . .” Oh, God! “I sort of . . .”
“Colby, spit it out,” he says, chuckling.
“I slept with Jayden,” I blurt. My dad’s laughing stops—dead.
I slap my palm over my face, and I don’t know if I want to crawl under this bed or cry.
“Uhm, okay. Well . . .” My dad’s discomfort is obvious.Obvious—seems that word is following me around lately.
“It wasn’t like that. I mean . . . it was. But it’s not just, well, it’s not a physical thing.”
My father clears his throat. “I understand, Colby.” He doesn’t sound angry. But I wouldn’t exactly categorize his tone as positive, either. He’s definitely not thrilled.
“Dad, I love him,” I say, having my head on straight enough to know it’s best to start with why this is so serious. I don’t want my dad treating this as an indiscretion, or something I can sweep away. It’s not. I won’t.
“Ah, I see,” he says.
“Yeah,” I breathe out in a sigh.
A lengthy silence stretches between us, and I use the time to sort my thoughts.
“It’s always been Jay,” I say.
“I know.” His response surprises me, and it takes me a few seconds to let it sink in.
“If you knew, then why”—I bite my lip, not sure how to say the words—“Keep us apart.”
“I was wrong,” he says. “Back then. When I told Jayden not to ruin things for you. I was wrong. It was wrong of me to do.”
I sit with hisalmostapology for a moment.
“You figured he told me?” I ask.
“I figured it was a matter of time. And when I found out you’d be working together, well, I had to just give it up to your mom’s work. You know she always wanted you two together. I kind of think this was her chess move.” His voice is lighter.
“I could see that. She was an amazing planner. Seems fitting that she put all this in motion,” I say with a soft laugh.
The two of us sit with her memory for a few seconds. Though I need my father’s advice on the hard part of all of this. As difficult as it was to tell him I slept with Jayden, telling him it put my job in danger is going to be harder. And since my father doesn’t know how social media works, I’ll spare him the viral trash spreading around online about my past—about mom.
“Coach thinks it’s clouding my judgement,” I finally say.
