House of Puckerman

4

In the morning, Puck woke up and went downstairs. He found his dad in the kitchen.

"Hey." Puck said. "Thanks for staying away yesterday."

James nodded slowly.

"I invited them to stay for the summer." Puck told James. "While they figure out what they wanna do in the Fall."

"So you need me to go?" James noted.

"Do you have a plan, Dad?" Puck wondered. "Because this past month has been really good, but what are you doing long-term?"

"I'm not gonna live here forever, if that's what you're asking." James responded. "But it's only been a month. My sponsor said there's no timeline with recovery."

Puck nodded slowly. "I know that, and I don't wanna do anything to throw off your progress."

James nodded back. "I wanna see Sarah."

"No." Puck shook his head. "Absolutely not."

"Why not?" James asked.

"Why not?" Puck repeated. "Because you destroyed her. She was too young when you left so most her memories are from what me and my mom told her, but-"

"I wanna see your mother, too." James decided. "I wanna apologize to her and to Sarah, and then if you guys all want me gone, I'll disappear."

"I'll talk to my mom and Sarah and Jake, but I don't know." Puck replied. "I wouldn't get your hopes up. Just focus on your recovery and your future."

"My future?" James raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah, aren't you gonna try to get a job or something?" Puck questioned James.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll start looking." James answered.

"Okay." Puck said. "Listen, I'm sure the girls are gonna come back today and tell me if they're staying for the summer. If they do, I need you to not be around."

"I guess I could go stay at one of my AA buddies' places for a while." James shrugged.

Puck nodded slowly. "Just for, like, a few days until I talk to her."

"Yeah." James nodded back. "No problem."