Page 92 of View With Your Heart

Jack steps closer to me. “You’re a part of our family. No matter what.” He stares at me. “Do you understand? No matter what.”

I nod to accept his words as my tears begin to fall. He pats my cheek and then follows his son.

“His priorities are so fucked,” Karyn says of her brother.

“Mom!” Holden shrieks, surprised at his mother’s swearing, but it’s Gee who concerns me. He’s stone still as he watches Gavin walk away from us and possibly out of our lives. This time, I feel like it really is my fault.

Take 28

Scene: The Driveway

[Gavin]

“Gavin.” I hear my dad holler after me, but I’m not in the mood for him. I’ve just been schooled by the love of my life in front of my family and my kid. That shit stings. I realize I’d been distracted, and it was my fault the boys were out of my sight. She has no idea how my heart dropped when I saw the boat missing or how I panicked, calling Tom for help before calling her. I wasn’t prepared to tell her I’d lost her child—our child—because I know how she feels. He’s her everything, and only him.

When I want to be part of that everything as well.

“Not now, Dad,” I sarcastically call over my shoulder. To my surprise, my old man is catching up to me.

“Gavin, you need to listen.”

“Listen?” I turn on him once I’ve reached the gravel drive. “What is there to hear? You just heard her. She’s done with me. I’m not going to win here.”

“Gavin, do not walk away from this.”

“I’m not walking away.” I stare at him.

“No, you’re running. Just like you did from baseball.”

“Oh my God, Dad. Not this again. I didn’t run away from baseball. I quit.”

“Is there a difference? You’re quitting right now.” He glares at me with all the intensity of my own eyes. Mum always said we matched in stature, eye color and personality. Only Jack Scott was never a quitter, and according to him, I am.

“I’m not quitting. I’ll be responsible for Gee, but Britton wants nothing to do with me.”

“You almost lost her son today. Your son. She’s entitled to a little breakdown in judgment at the moment.”

“I didn’t almost lose her son,” I say, but it’s not exactly true. I didn’t flip that boat, but I allowed Gee to go in that rickety old thing. “But believe me when I say I’d rather have my heart ripped out than lose that kid.”

“Then what in God’s name was more important than paying attention to him?”

“I was working out details with Joe so we could start the company, so I could stay here.”

My dad’s eyes widen.

“But it doesn’t matter now, does it? Britton doesn’t want me anyway.”

“What about Gee? What if he wants you here?”

“Well, didn’t I just prove I suck as a father? Dad of the year right here.” I pound at my chest, where my heart still hammers, recalling the flipped boat and the fear those boys were lost to us forever.

“Gavin, no father is perfect.”

“But you were,” I remind him. “The great Jack Scott was never wrong. Never quit. Never stopped. Never gave up. However you want to look at it.”

Dad steps closer to me. “The way I look at it is my greatest failure was losing you.”

I stare at him. “What?”