“’Cause it’s about sex.”
I shot him a look. “Why the fuck would it be about sex?”
“Because it’s the one thing parents don’t discuss with their kids, unless it’s educational shit like putting a rubber on a banana, birds and bees, and STIs.”
The mouth on him! But what was I supposed to say? If I called it an identity matter, it would only confuse him. The problem sure as hell wasn’t sex. For chrissakes, Nate and I had rocked each other’s worlds for twenty years without getting bored. But I wasn’t gonna say that. I also wasn’t gonna say that Dad and I were into some kinky shit.
“That’s enough outta you on that,” I said firmly. “Believe me, the problem ain’t the way we go at it together.”
“Dad!”
“You brought it up! Watch out for the cart—yeah. Okay, good.” I blew out a breath. Maybe this wasn’t the best timing for a heart-to-heart. “Moving on. Dad and I only had that one issue, and we’ve figured things out. We have a solution. The rest—there’s nothing else. We’re each other’s best friends, confidants, husbands, and sounding boards. There will be no on-and-off crap.”
“Okay.” He merely smiled to himself, unbothered by the topic, unbothered by the shoppers, unbothered by pretending to look for a parking spot, unbothered by the multitasking.
Something for me to remember the next time he said he couldn’t finish his chores and talk to his friends at the same time.
“Do you have any other questions?” I wondered.
He shrugged and bit at the corner of his lip. “Not really. I just want us to be a family again—like before.”
I nodded.
“Well, I guess there’s one thing,” he added. “Are we all moving to the new house, and can we move like fucking yesterday?”
I let out a laugh, feeling the exact same way. “Yesterday will be difficult, but yes, we are. We’re actually hoping to talk to Mikey and Lily tonight at dinner. We wanna admit that it’s been a rough year—Dad and I have fought more, and we’ve been stuck in a stressful rut where we kinda forgot what’s important—because we’ve been working toward being able to buy a new house.”
“But now everything’s good again and you have the house?”
“Pretty much.” I inclined my head. “We think Mikey’s noticed the change between Dad and me?—”
“He has,” Dylan confirmed. “He came into my room the other day and wondered why youse don’t hug anymore. A bit slow on the uptake, but you know kids.”
My nearly sixteen-year-old son distancing himself from “kids” was a small comic relief in the heartbreak of Mikey picking up on the strain in the family. It was rough. Fucking hell, was it rough to hear. But it stopped today.
“What did you tell him?” I was almost afraid to ask.
“I don’t know, just…that parents go through shit sometimes.”
I released a breath and felt bad. “I’m sorry that fell on you, son. That wasn’t fair.”
“It’s fine. Really. Hallie’s been convincing me it was only a matter of time before you got back together. I fucking hate it when she’s right.”
I chuckled. “Do me a favor and get over it. It would suck if she was wrong on this one.”
“Yeah… Sorry, but I’m bored with this parking lot now.”
Fair. “You can start driving us home,” I replied.
“To the old house,” he corrected.
I grinned. “Can we talk about you now?”
“Why?” he demanded. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Jeesh. “I didn’t say you did either. Can’t a dad show interest in his son’s life? It sort of goes with parenting.” I paused. “For instance, are you still seeing that girl?”
“Katie? No, she was crazy.”
