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“He was doing it for his…”
“If you tell me he had to do it for his sick mom, I swear to god I’m gonna lose it. You don’t get to defend him until you’re capable of standing long enough to take a shower. Do you hear me? I said, do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now, where’s your phone?”
“In the drawer.”
Lou looked at the nightstand and found a charger cord preventing it from closing. I didn’t feel like explaining how it got that way and he didn’t ask.
Instead, he took it out, grabbed my finger, unlocked it, and searched the contacts.
“Who are you calling?” I asked realizing that I had a few numbers I wouldn’t want him to call.
“Hello, Mr. Toro? Hi, you don’t know me, but this is Quin’s roommate… It’s nice to meet you, too.”
My head popped up. “You called my dad? Low blow!” He wasn’t even on my radar of people I didn’t want to face. I turned over and buried my head in my pillow.
“Listen. I’m calling because I’m having a bit of a situation with Quin…”
“You called my dad?” I groaned.
“Yes. I can’t get him out of bed,” Lou said to my father. “Why is it? It’s because some guy broke his heart.”
“What? Noooo!” I exclaimed reaching for the phone. Lou jumped out of the way.
“I know! They’re the worst, aren’t they? …Anyway, I was wondering if you had some way to get him up to at least take a shower or something? …Yeah, it does smell rather rank in here.”
“Noooo!” I said mortified.
“Okay. You got it,” Lou said lowering the phone. “Quin, I have your dad. He wants to talk to you.”
“I hate you!” I told him meaning it.
“But, I love you,” he said handing me the phone with a smile and leaving my room.
I looked at the phone and took a deep breath. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to Daddy Laine about this. It was just that it was humiliating. I wanted him to be proud of me. But now, more than any other time, it was clear that I wasn’t someone anyone should be proud of, especially a guy who was strong enough to hold two race cars together like he could.
“Dad?” I said doing my best to sound composed.
“Quin, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Quin.”
That was when I lost it. Retching pain waft out of me as snot drained down my face.
“It just hurts so much, Dad. Why does it have to hurt so much?”
“Because that’s love. Sometimes it hurts.”
“But why?”
My father went quiet on the other end.
“Okay, that’s it. Get out of bed, get dressed. I’ll be there in four hours.”
“What?”
“Your roommate caught me on the jet flying back to New York. I’m making a detour to see you. We’re gonna go get some dinner and we are going to talk this out.”
