“Car, can we have this conversation inside?”
“Why?” Carter’s voice increased in volume. “You don’t want anyone to know you’ve been fucking my boyfriend while I’ve been gone? Tell me, why should I spare your feelings when you clearly weren’t thinking about mine?”
“That’s not true. You’re my son—”
“So, how exactly did it work? Did you conveniently get selective amnesia whenever you got into bed with him?”
“Carter.” Matty placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Dad’s right. You should do this inside. No need to air our family’s dirty laundry in public. It’ll be all over town later.”
“Did they give any consideration to me when he was sleeping with Ozzie behind my back?”
“I know, and I don’t agree with it either, but at least go inside and talk it out.”
“Fuck you, Matty. Of course you’re going to take his side like you did after high school.”
Carter stormed past me into the house and slammed the door shut. I winced.
Matty sighed. “I did what I could. You’re on your own now, Dad.”
“Thank you, son. It means a lot that not everyone is against us.”
“I may not be against you, Dad, but it doesn’t mean I’m for what you and Ozzie have done either. Right now you should worry whether Carter ever forgives you for this, and quite frankly, I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.”
Matty strolled back to his truck and drove away.
With slow and heavy steps, I went into the house to face Carter and hash things out until he unleashed his anger. He needed to before he could listen to what I had to say.
I walked down the hall, my footsteps echoing on the hardwood floor. Carter wasn’t in the living room, but Emma was.
“He went to your office,” she said.
With a nod, I turned and headed toward the office, the dread in my stomach growing with each step. I paused outside the door, took a deep breath, and opened it.
Carter was looking at a picture of us—him, me, and Matty from when they were younger.
“I used to think I had a father who loved me.”
“And he does. I do.”
“Love doesn’t stab you in the back.”
“I know it feels that way, but we didn’t set out to cheat.”
“It just happened?”
“Honestly?”
“That’d be refreshing for a change.”
“The first time we met, that Christmas, you allowed him to drive the unfamiliar road alone—”
“No, this isn’t about that.” He spun around. “Don’t make me out to be the bad person here. I already got that lecture from you that Christmas. We’re talking about why you felt the need to sleep with my boyfriend when I wasn’t around.”
“Because you weren’t around!” I cried, adrenaline giving way to an outburst. “I accept it, okay? I’m a terrible father. I slept with your boyfriend and damaged our relationship. Did you think I wanted to get close to him? I had no say in the matter because you abandoned him and kept pushing him at me. And because you weren’t around foryourwedding, he sought comfort in me.”
“So you take advantage of him?”
“So I tried to make him feel welcome in the family. I tried to make him smile because he was so fucking sad. I tried to fill a voidyouhad left, and one thing led to another.” As I deflated, my knees went weak, so I dropped into the nearest chair. “He was so insecure and so unhappy. I loved to make him laugh and to see him come out of his shell. Son, I understand I hurt you, but at the time, Ozzie needed me more as a man than you needed me as a father, and I love being that man for him—someone who treats him with all the love he deserves.”
