“Just the one, but I dislike that one so much you could spread the hate around to at least a dozen other assholes and still have plenty of hate leftover for him. And that’s how I feltbeforethe shitmonkey abandoned his wife and son.” He glances at Jamie. “You don’t have any kids back where you came from, do you?”
Jamie winces. “No, sir. That’s part of why we divorced. The strain on our marriage from not being able to conceive just…was too much, on top of other issues. Short answer—no, no children, no secrets. I’m an open book, sir. Ask me anything.”
Dad shakes his head. “That answer tells me what I need to know.”
“Does Aiden know?” Mom asks.
I sigh. “No, not yet. We’re going to tell him soon. I just wanted to tell you guys first.” I glance at Jamie, smiling. “We’ll tell him together.”
Jamie’s answering smile tells me he appreciates the reassurance that I won’t try to cut him out again. We’re in this together: he proved to me today, as if he hadn’t already, that I can trust him, that I can lean on him and rely on him to be there with me for everything.
Dad claps his hands on his knees and then stands up. “Who wants ice cream? I’m buying.”
We all pile into Mom’s aging minivan, and Dad drives us downtown for ice-cream floats at the general store—pulled the old-fashioned way on machines that have been in service since the ’40s. We sit at the counter and Mom and Cora and I chitchat about local gossip, while Dad and Jamie talk college football stats, rankings, and strategies.
I’ve never felt so happy, so at home, as I do in this moment...
And the swelling feeling in my heart tells me this is just the first of many such moments to come.
