Road Trip [#Wattys2015]

Chapter 13

"So how are you Tom?" Grandpa George offered me a soda.

"Good." I lied and opened it. "Actually, horrible." I added and he laughed.

"Do you feel like talking about it?" he took a sit on a chair faced towards the bed.

"Yes, I do." I said with absolute certainty. "But I can't."

"Any why is that?"

"It's complicated, I don't even know what's going on." I tried to break the depressing tension with a joke. I felt comfortable with Grandpa George, he seemed to get me. Maybe I could explain this mess to him and try to understand it myself.

"Start from the beginning, we'll figure it out together." It was really comforting that he wanted to listen to me. It still didn't make the burning I had in my throat go away but it made it feel a little better. As if this day was going to pick up.

"Okay." I took a deep breath and then I started explaining. I started from Mr. Everson and what he did to his family. Then went on with how Sidney and I had a connection which turned into a date. Then on how I didn't tell Maia about it and that she kissed me and I kissed her back. Then on Jackson going off at me and finally, the part that hurt the most but was easier to get out once I'd said all that, Maia saying we were probably not going to speak again. Calling me Jackson's best friend, not hers.

"So, you had Maia and Sidney like their father had their mother and another woman." Grandpa George said after he took it all in and my mouth dropped open. That was the reason they both went off at me, the reason Jackson was so mad, the reason Maia did not want to talk to me again. That was it.

"What you hadn't thought of that?" Grandpa George judged my expression.

"No. I hadn't." I took a ship. I really hadn't.

"Don't worry Tom. Sometimes we don't pick things up when we're supposed to. It's good that now you know exactly what they think of you so you can make up the perfect apology." I nodded and started thinking of where to start when I apologize to them.

"With Jackson it will be easy." He said studying my expression again. "But with Maia it looks like it's a make or break situation." He was right and I hated it.

"So I either date her or lose her." I said more to myself that him. Losing her was not an option.

"No I didn't say that. You can be friends but, you don't want that." What was he talking about of course I did. That's exactly what I wanted.

"Yeah, I do." I protested.

"If you did, you would have told her about Sidney. Trust me on that, I know."

"How?" I asked. I did trust him on that, I just wanted to know how he knew.

"Well," he started "me and my wife met in high school and we started off as friends. Of course, I never saw her as just that but I settled for it. I hoped one day she'd notice and she did." He was smiling now, not like he was before. Now his smile was full and it reached up all the way to his eyes. He was not looking at me he was looking out the window as if she was there smiling back at him.

He snapped out of it and continued sipping on his lemonade like he was doing while I was explaining my day to him. I guess it was my turn to speak.

"You're right I don't wanna be friends, but I don't wanna date her either." He looked surprised by my answer for the first time that day.

"Why is that?"

"Well, if we date we are either going to break up and hate each other or get married and end up like you and your wife, bored." He laughed at that even though my intentions were anything but humoristic.

"I woke up this morning and the first thing I did was mumble: 'Good morning Anna'. But Anna was not there and you know what that felt like?" He said and I made the connection in my brain that Anna was his wife.

"What?"

"Like a man who has woken up from a coma and is missing an arm. No! A leg! I like my legs more." He explained.

"So you miss her?"

"Yeah I do. And I've only been away from her for a day. Can you imagine if we got divorced? God I'd rather not." I was smiling to now. I liked how this had turned out.

"So you love her again?" I asked even though I knew the answer. I wanted to hear it.

"I never stopped loving her, I just took her for granted. You know I was seeing her everyday and I thought I could do without it"

"But you couldn't." I said more to myself than to him. Maia was not that delusional after all. This thing that have been programmed in her brain by books songs and movies, that thing she wanted to find and that thing I always denied existed did. And as opposed to my usual reaction when my theories are proven to be wrong, this time I was happy I was wrong.

"Oh, Tom." He looked at me. "You have something beautiful with Maia and with Jackson. Don't screw either of them up it would be a shame."

"I know." I said. And I was going to make this right because I could. Because I was wrong and happy about it. Because I was in love.

"Don't you kids have parents?" He laughed after a while and I joined him.

"They do. I don't." I said, still laughing but he stopped.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Well, it's a long story." I sighed.

"As you may have noticed, I'm not really busy."

"Okay." I said ready to open up to this man I had just met yesterday for the second time. "My mom was really young when she had me and so was my dad so he left us. My mom is a business woman so she never had much time for me, I don't complain though I can do anything I want." I said that every time and tried to act cool about my mom never really caring about me, but honestly I really did mind.

"Well a kid should have his parents." He said sounding disappointed at both my dad and my mom. "That's what I told my son when he got this eighteen-year-old girl pregnant."

"How old was he."

"Sixteen." He said. The smile from the earlier conversation had vanished. He now was having a look of disappointment for his son's mistake.

"What did he do? Did he raise the kid?" I asked, really interested to know about another family like mine, and by that I mean fucked up.

"No he run away. I told him he should take responsibility and raise the baby and he promised me he would. And then the next morning I woke up and he was gone." His eyes were narrowed. More angry than disappointed now

"You never saw him again?" I asked.

"No, I did. A few years after he came back and tried to fix everything he'd done. Me, Anna and his sister forgave him. But his other family didn't. His son didn't even want to talk to him." Son? Wow, talk about a family similar to mine. I felt for this boy, my dad had done the exact same thing. I was happy with his decision of not wanting to meet him after all because I knew how it must have hurt to lose a dad twice in a lifetime.

"How old would he be now?" I asked again.

"Seventeen." He now looked as if had met this kid a long time ago and now he missed it. He was looking away again, probably thinking of what it could have been if he had met his grandson. I thought of what his grandson was missing, this amazing person ready to make his two person family a little bigger. I'd kill for that opportunity.

And then it hit me. He had a grandson, my age. He was facing the same issues I was. Could it be that he was the same person I was?

"Was your son's name Adam Matters?" I didn't know much about my father, but I had memorized his full name.

"No!" he jumped up. "Uh- I mean yes. I mean, wow your mom's going to kill me!" That last one was quiet like he was saying it more to himself than me. My mom? My grandpa? What the hell was all this? I stood up looking at grandpa George who was not looking at me until then.

"Sit down." He said finally. "I'll explain."