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“Um, Pepperoni.”
“How many slices?”
“Just one.”
The queue moves forward, and he orders and pays for four slices plus a couple sodas and waters. Smart move for the journey home. He adds the cans and bottles to the bag of T-shirts, and I take the half-empty pizza box.
We step back outside, and he puts his arm around me as we head to the car.
“So, that was your dad,” I start, not sure if it’s really a conversation he wants to have.
“That was him,” he admits. “I honestly didn’t think I’d ever see him again when I left the city.”
“Seems like he’s kind of pushy,” I tell him, making him laugh.
“He’s a manipulative bastard, if that’s what you mean.”
I shrug. “Kind of seems like he might not just let it go.”
“Yeah.” He sighs. “He can be pretty stubborn, too.”
“Do you have any good memories of him?” I ask.
“He wasn’t around much when I was a kid. My mom was always making excuses for him.”
“Is it possible he’s changed?”
He laughs. “I seriously doubt it.”
“Will you tell me about your mom?”
He smiles wistfully. “My mom was amazing. She was always so happy. It made me happy just to be around her. She was human and she always thought it was so crazy cute whenever I shifted into my wolf. I thought about biting her once, when she started to get sick, but she told me she didn’t want that. She was happy with her life. She didn’t need to have it extended beyond what her God intended. That fucking sucked. I struggled with that choice, and I hated my father for not trying to make her see sense.”
“I’m so sorry, Parker. That’s awful.”
“I never understood why she didn’t want to live as a wolf. She let a human disease end her life when I was fifteen. I got stuck with my dad for a few years before I could apply to the academy. He didn’t spend any more time with me than he had before. He just tried to get me to do stuff, sometimes, testing if I was as morally corrupt as him. Checking if I’d make a good little soldier for his army of criminals.” He shakes his head. “My mom was always so sweet. Even near the end, when everything got so hard. She didn’t have a drop of bitterness inside her. I don’t know how the hell she ended up with my father.”
“I guess sometimes opposites attract,” I tell him.
It’s not really something that applies to us. We might have differences, but we’re the same when it comes to everything that really matters.
“It’ll never make sense to me,” he admits.
I stop talking about it, knowing it’s hard for him.
Everything else about tonight was perfect.
I don’t want this to be the part that lingers, for either of us.
We get to the car and sit inside to eat before we head home.
He cracks open one of the soda cans and basically drinks until it’s empty, taking long gulps.
I’ve eaten half a slice of pizza by the time he’s setting the empty can carefully on the floor.
I pass him the pizza box and he lifts a slice.
“The rest is for you,” he tells me, right before he takes a bite.
