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It’s not your fault.It was.
It’s okay, Dad. It’s not.
We’ll be fine.We won’t.
He’s still dying. Now he’s just dying and homeless.
I’ve caught him smoking in his room a few times before, and it wasn’t just the fact that he’s still fucking smoking and drinking that pissed me off. It was the fact that when I caught him smoking, he was passed out with the cigarette still between his fingers and ashes all over his chest.
I warned him that he’d burn the house down. He’s lucky he didn’t get the flame close enough to his oxygen tank.
But he doesn’t listen to me. Heneverlistens to me.
And he’salwaysso sorry, which only makes me feel like an asshole for being so angry at him.
“We got you two a room at the hotel for a couple of nights,” Sage says with her phone in her hand as she approaches us. I didn’t ask her and Adam to come, but they insisted. And I hate to say it, but their kindness grates on my nerves.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I mutter indignantly. I fucking hate charity.
“We know, but we want to help,” she replies.
My shoulders tense as I bite my tongue. Because what the fuck are we supposed to do after those two nights? Where will we go?
As if the cards weren’t stacked against us enough, now I have to tend to my terminally ill father in a hotel room.
Adam takes a step closer. “Do you happen to know anyone else in the area who could give you a place to stay while they do repairs?”
“No,” I mumble.
I despise the expression on Adam’s face. I can tell just by the way he’s concentrating that he’s trying to come up with a solution for me, and I want to tell him to stop. Not being able to stand being helped is a stubborn, useless trait of mine, but I’d rather sit here and struggle alone than let anyone else help me, especially out of the goodness of their heart.
But that’s just how the Goode family is. They’re a church family through and through. I was around them for a couple of years as a kid. From the age of twelve to fourteen, I practically lived at the Goode residence because I was best friends with Adam’s youngest brother, Isaac.
That is until I was shoved out of his life for being a bad influence and told to never return. A few years later, he vanished into thin air during our senior year of high school. Turns out the God-fearing patriarch of the family wasn’t so altruistic when it came to his gay son.
I hated his father even before that day, and I’ve hated him ten times more since then.
I have nothing against Adam. He was so much older than us growing up that he was moved out before I even started coming around. But if I ever see that other Goode brother again, I swear…
“Caleb’s got a room for rent, doesn’t he?” Sage says enthusiastically to Adam, who immediately nods.
Meanwhile, I’m frozen in place at the sound of that name.
“That’s right. He does,” Adam replies. “I’m sure he’d be willing to offer it to a family friend in need.”
A family friend.
“It’s upstairs, though,” Sage adds. “Won’t that be a problem for Dean’s dad?”
“Oh yeah…” Adam puts that contemplative expression back on his face.
My teeth are clenched so tight my jaw hurts. I scratch the back of my neck without responding to their offer. I need this conversation to end right now before I explode.
“You guys mind if we talk about this tomorrow? I need to get my dad to the hotel so he can rest.”
“Of course,” they respond in unison.
“Can we offer you a ride?” Adam asks.
