Page 17 of Together Is Where We Belong

How did I admit that I was partially to blame for everything I’d missed in my son’s life? Years ago, when I pictured having kids, I thought about babies and watching them grow. Now I had a child much older, and I knew nothing about him.

“Are you okay, Leo?” Brooks asked, and I paused my pacing to look over at him, still at a loss for words. I put my hands on my hips and hung my head, then shook it.

No, nothing was okay. My head spun at everything I didn’t know and wanted to know and the multitude of questions that raced through my mind. I was angry. Hurt. Mad. Betrayed. I felt like I would burst. I wanted to scream into the abyss until I could think clearly.

“Why don’t you sit down and tell us?” Brooks suggested, probably so I wouldn’t keep making him dizzy with my pacing the floor.

I took his suggestion and sat in the chair across from the couch he sat on, and my elbows rested on my knees as I looked over at him.

“I met our neighbor,” I started because I couldn’t just blurt out the fact that I was a father.

“Why does it seem like that’s a bad thing?” Holden questioned.

“It’s Carolina,” I admitted. Holden chuckled at first, then full belly laughed as he hit his knee, clearly finding the situation hilarious.

If he only knew the half of it.

“Why’s that so funny?” I barked back.

“Only you, bro,” Holden responded, not elaborating one bit.

“Still not getting why you’re hysterically laughing there, bro.”

Nothing about this situation was funny in the slightest.

“Because you can’t escape her now. You didn’t want her anywhere near you, rightfully so, and now she’s right next door, the closest that she could possibly get.”

I wanted to throw something at him.

Only Brooks beat me to it and threw a throw pillow right at his head.

“What was that for?” Holden asked as he caught the pillow and threw it back in Brooks’ direction.

“Leo’s clearly struggling and has somethin’ else to say. We need to be there for him, not raze him right now. Save that for later,” Brooks said with a smirk.

He turned his attention back at me and nodded, waiting for me to continue.

“I told you I saw the car seat in the back of her SUV. I caught a glimpse of her son tonight,” I continued, my fists clenched tightly as I rested my head atop both to restrain my emotions.

“Why does that have you frazzled? You clearly knew she had a child,” Holden questioned.

“Because he looks just like me,” I admitted, letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

“What?” Holden screamed and sat upright, all joking now gone from him.

“I have a son,” I repeated, still trying to wrap my head around the full idea of fatherhood and what that would entail.

“How do you know he’s yours?” Brooks questioned, rightfully so, but it didn’t stop me from whipping my head to look at him, a scowl on my face.

Small towns talked. A lot. And I knew people would think the same thing, but they wouldn’t callously question me right to my face. They’d whisper behind mine and Carolina’s backs and come to their own conclusions; all likely would be far from the truth.

I took my phone out of my back pocket and opened the photo of Luke. Looking down at it, I couldn’t help the soft smile that graced my lips as I tossed the phone to Brooks.

He looked down at it, his eyes bulging, as he saw exactly what I did. He let out a low whistle as he continued to stare down at the photo.

“Let me see,” Holden said and after taking one last look at the screen, Brooks tossed it over to him.

“Holy cow,” Holden said loudly as he looked from the phone back up to me then down at the phone again.