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“Clearly, you weren’t trying that hard,” Bryan says with his usual sarcasm and I give him a look that I hope tells him I’m too tired for the back and forth.
“Now is really not the fuckin’ time,” I snap and he sighs.
“Alright, sorry,” he says and I think he realizes I’m not in the mood. “So, what happened?”
“He’s pissed. So, I told him I’d back off.”
“You did the right thing,” Bryan says as he holds out an unlit cigar for me and I shake my head. “Look, maybe he’ll come around.”
“Maybe, but I ended it with Avery anyway.”
“That’s okay. She knows why. I’m sure she understands,” Wes interjects. “This whole situation is complicated, but you guys knew that going in. You knew that there was a chance that he wasn’t going to be okay with this.”
“I guess a part of me thought once I told her I loved her, he wouldn’t be so angry.” Maybe I didn’t deserve that. Maybe he was right and there are just some things a dad can’t ever do. Maybe I was kidding myself to think he’d ever be okay with it.
“Give him time. This is a lot,” Wes says.
“He said I was just like his mom. I think that hurt more than anything.”
“Okay, well he didn’t mean that. Rebecca hasn’t lived in the same state since he was fourteen and not in the same country since he was what, sixteen?” Bryan snorts and I know I must look like shit if even he’s trying to be supportive.
“I almost wish he did love her.” It would make me feel better for giving her up. But maybe I didn’t deserve to feel better and maybe he was allowed to subscribe to the belief that I can’t have the girl that he wanted once upon a time.
“He doesn’t?” Bryan asks.
“No. He just said it’s too weird.”
“Well, it is weird, Dad.” I hear Raegan’s voice from behind me and when I turn around, I see her standing alone with a disappointed look on her face. Her lips form a straight line and she shakes her head. “Avery? Really?”
“Where is he?” I ask her.
“He left. He’s meeting some friends.” She takes a few steps closer to us and Wes immediately takes off his jacket and slips it around her shoulders. She gives him a smile before turning back to me. “He said that you said you love her. Is that true?”
“Yeah, Rae.” I nod.
“Does she love you?”
“I think so,” I tell her because although she didn’t explicitly say it, I do think that’s what she was trying to tell me before I left her room.
“Look, he probably didn’t like what I had to say, which is that he thinks he has some hold over Avery and that he’s under the impression that one day she’ll wake up and love him back.” She puts her hands on her hips. “This doesn’t mean I’m on your side either. I’m Switzerland. Probably because of him.” She points at her fiancé. “I know it was hard for you to accept me with someone so close to your age so in my eyes, her age is not the problem and I told Lucas that. It’s not even the fact that it’s a girl you’ve known for years.” She scrunches her nose. “A little weird.” She puts her thumb and index finger close together. “But it’s more that it’sher. I’ve watched him love her and then get over her but still stare at her with that look, you know?”
“I get that so I broke it off, Rae. I told her we couldn’t be together.”
She sighs and wraps me in a hug and I’m happy that at least one of my kids doesn’t hate me at the moment. “I don’t know that I think that’s right either. It’s not anyone’s fault that she didn’t love him back.”
“Sounds like it’s mine,” I say as I drop to one of the patio chairs.
“It’s not, Dad.” She sits next to me and sighs as she runs a hand through her hair. “I’ll talk to him again.”
“I don’t want you getting in the middle of it.” I wrap an arm around her. “You’ve got a lot going on and I don’t want you stressing yourself out over things that are definitely not your problem.”
“You guys are my closest family. Your problems are my problems.” She presses a kiss to my cheek. “And, Dad, you’re not like Mom. I yelled at him for saying that.”
“Thanks,” I say hoping he didn’t really mean it.
“Maybe just give him some time?”
“If Lucas is ever okay with it, will you be?”
