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“Howcouldyou?” he sniffs bitterly, looking every bit as hurt and betrayed as I thought he might, but he’s not angry.
Not angry at all.
Just hurt that we’ve been fooling around behind his back and keeping secrets.
May looks upset too and only lowers her head in shame, but I, for one, feel better now he knows.
“I’ve been in love with May since the day she graduated,” I tell him, and her too, keeping my hand firmly over hers.
“Things moved quicker than I thought, and it wasn’t until we both knew how much we were in love that it meant hurting you if you knew,” I tell him.
Not excusing myself or apologizing but trying to help him to understand.
He thinks for a moment. “So. You coming all the way out here, for good. All that was just a way to get to May?” he asks me.
“Don’t twist it to make it look like that, Steve,” I retort, but he is kinda right.
“I meant what I said about helping you, and I still do,” I remind him.
“I can give May more than any man half my age, too. Give her a life…,” I say but stop myself.
“What?” Steve snaps. “Give her a life her father couldn’t? She’s my fucking daughter, Brandon. Who the fuck asked you to help yourself, huh?” he asks angrily, but May pipes in just as hotly in reply.
“I’m not a kid anymore, Dad. I’m an adult. And I know you’ve provided for me, always made sure I had everything I need,” she agrees.
“But do you think a girl like me is ever gonna have a guy like Brandon just breeze into town and sweep me off my feet and let him go? Getting eight bucks an hour tutoring part-time and living with my Dad into my old age is the kind of life I had planned for myself,” she says defiantly.
I like her fire, and I’m proud of her for speaking her mind.
We might be burning a bridge here, but at least everyone’s having their fair say.
And for Steve to take the news without his fists flying, I think he’s matured a lot more gracefully than I would’ve normally given him credit for.
I feel my pulse slow down now that he knows. It means no more hiding the truth. But it also means May and I have to make some decisions that he might not like.
Like her moving in with me permanently.
Maybe even moving back to the east coast, if that’s what she wants.
Or we might decide to live between both places.
But before any of that, Steve has plenty more to get off his chest.
And it’s not all bad news either.
“I knew,” he says, reflecting with a nostalgic air.
“I knew that day of your graduation, May. And I know you better than you think, Brandon,” he says to me.
“I just didn’t want to believe it. I eventoldyou I thought May had a little crush on you, thinking you’d set me straight there and then. Tell me I was crazy, but you didn’t,” he recalls. “That’s when I think I had to own up to the facts, and it wasn’t soon after that I noticed May’s bed not even slept in. So joining the dots wasn’t rocket science.”
“I love her, Steve,” I tell him automatically. And May agrees.
“I wanna have a baby with Brandon, Dad. I want us to be together forever. House, kids…the whole nine yards,” she chimes in, sounding more relieved than I do now that he finally knows.
Steve doesn’t flinch and looks as though his own prediction is coming true.
“I know you do, sweetie,” he comforts her, creasing a smile.
