Page 100 of The Write Stuff

AS SOON AS I GOT MY ICE cream, I made my escape and plopped down on one of the benches next to the river so I could look for dolphins. When somebody moved in beside me to sit, I was expecting Mom. It was Mick, though.

He had two scoops of chocolate ice cream on a cone and a mischievous smile on his face.

“Are you going to start in on me now?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, I am not. As adorable as I find you and Huxley — and I do find you cute as cuddly kittens — you guys deserve space to figure out things for yourself.”

“Really?” I didn’t allow myself to feel too much hope. “That’s nice of you. Mom isn’t as nice as you.”

“Your mother is excited … and nervous. You need to give her some grace.”

I shoved a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth and thought about it, waiting until I’d swallowed to speak again. “How come you guys never told us the whole story? I mean … I remember you being around when I was a kid. I just always assumed you were friends.”

“That’s what we wanted you to think. We were trying to figure stuff out. Then Michael came back.” He paused a beat. “Do you remember when he came back?”

“Yeah.” I frowned at the memory. “I remember. Mom was upset. I had trouble figuring out why. I thought she would be happy Michael was back, but she wasn’t.”

“You were too young to understand the intricacies of that entire thing,” he said. “And, listen, I’m not proud of how I handled things.” He was earnest as he regarded me. “I shouldn’t have dated Eleanor in the first place. I was just so lost, and I wanted your mother to be happy, so I didn’t put up a fight when Michael returned. I should have.”

“It’s okay,” I assured him. “I get why you did what you did … and even why Mom did what she did. She was trying to keep Lucy’s family intact.”

“She wanted to give you something too.”

“Michael was never anything to me, though.” I shot him a rueful smile. “He acted as if I was an inconvenience, and I’m sure from where he was standing, I was.”

“You were never an inconvenience to me, kid.” Mick slung his arm around my shoulders. “I always loved your mother. That wasn’t fair to Eleanor. I should have ended the marriage right away. Yes, it would have crushed Eleanor at the time, but things played out so much worse.”

“I don’t understand why she tried to keep you in a marriage you didn’t want to be in,” I admitted. “She’s been married a boatload of times. She never wants to hold onto anybody for the long haul.”

I turned to face him. “Don’t take this personally, but … why you? Why were you the one that she wanted to stay with? You’re a great guy — don’t get me wrong — but it’s so weird that you’re the one she went mental for.”

“I’ve given this a lot of thought over the years,” he admitted, giving his ice cream cone another lick before continuing. “I don’t think she loved me. I think she wanted to love me. Then, given the way things played out with your mother, she felt she had to pretend to keep loving me, or it would have all been for nothing.”

“But that’s how it turned out,” I persisted. “It was all for nothing because you and Mom still ended up together.”

“But we lost years together, and that still makes me sad when I think about it. I missed the bulk of your childhood. You were an adult before I came back into your life.”

“I turned out okay. At least I think I did.”

“You turned out to be an amazing person.” He squeezed my shoulder. “You turned out to be the best person in the world, actually.”

“Even better than my mom?”

He laughed. “There’s no way I’ll ever answer that question. And, you’re right, nobody is better than your mom. She’s my favorite person in the world.”

That was the response I wanted to hear, so I leaned my head against his shoulder and looked out at the beautiful expanse of water. The sun was halfway through its descent, and the sky was lighting up with a rich array of oranges and reds.

“Do you think Huxley is going to be okay?” I asked quietly, giving voice to my current fear.

“I think Huxley is going to be okay,” he confirmed. “My greatest regret in the world is leaving him. Yeah, he was an adult at the time. I loved him, though. He was struggling because of Eleanor — she put too much pressure on that kid — and I’m sure she was not pleasant to be around once I was gone.”

“He doesn’t talk about that time much,” I admitted. “I know he missed you when you were gone, though.”

“You two are a nice balance. You’re fun when he needs to have fun, and he’s more than happy to do the worrying for everybody, which you need sometimes because you often have your head in the clouds.”

It almost sounded like an insult, but I knew he hadn’t meant it that way. “I just don’t want to lose him.”

He pulled back far enough to see into my eyes. “What makes you think you’re going to lose him?”