Page 200 of Lucky Mother Pucker

He nods. “Yes. I talked to her today, but I know it’ll take more than just one conversation.”

He looks at me, his eyes shiny with tears. “I’m honored to be your dad, Leo. I love you.”

My throat aches as I try to swallow, as I try to soak in this moment where my dad is telling me something I’ve been dying to hear from him after so many years.

It’s all too much, and I don’t know if I can handle it.

He looks at me for a long moment.

“I don’t expect this to change things between us. As much as I want to work on our relationship, I understand if you don’t want to. I’ve put you through a lot. And I know I don’t deserve a second chance. I just appreciate you listening to what I have to say.”

He walks to the front door and reaches for the doorknob.

Before he opens it, I speak.

“Dad, wait.”

I stand up and face him. My head is spinning, trying to make sense of everything that happened in these last few minutes.

The image of my father has changed. He’s not the cruel jerk I always thought he was. There was a reason why he treated me the way he did. It doesn’t make it okay…but at least now I understand it.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever have a good relationship,” I say.

He looks down at the floor. “I understand.”

“I’d like to work on it though,” I say.

Hope flickers in his eyes as he looks at me. I can feel it flickering inside of me too. Because as much as I doubt that we’ll ever have a perfect father-son bond, I think we can be better than we are now. I want to at least try.

The corners of his mouth curve up in a small smile. “Really?”

“Yeah. Maybe we can grab breakfast or lunch together at Lucy’s diner sometime.”

There’s a brightness in his eyes that I don’t recognize. “I’d like that.”

I watch him walk out and close the door behind him. I stand there, feeling more hopeful than I’ve ever felt about my dad.

Chapter 71

Leo

“Leo, wake up. You have to see this.”

I jolt from a dead sleep, struggling to peel my eyes open.

When I finally do, Lucy is sitting up in bed next to me, holding up her phone.

She turns the screen to me. “Your sister just posted about you on her Instagram.”

I sit up and grab her phone. It takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust.

“What are you…”

I trail off when I see the image. It’s not a photo though, like all of her other posts. Just a white box with a bunch of black text.

I read it.

I’m sure most of you have seen the video of that fight involving my brother, Leo. I’ve seen too many people spreading lies about him, so I’m going to set the record straight.