The Next Best Thing

Chapter 13

"Gabe, sweetie, are you asleep yet?" Emma whispered.

He rolled over to face her.

"Mr. Garner wanted to say hi."

She opened Gabe's door wider to let Mitch in as she turned on the light.

"Happy Birthday, buddy."

"I knew you wouldn't forget," Gabe said, smiling and rubbing his eyes. He sat up and wiggled his legs out of the way as an invitation for Mitch to sit at the end of his bed. If he really had been counting on Mitch's visit, it was a surprise to Emma, and she felt both relief and concern for barely avoiding what might have been another disappointment to him.

"I knew it was this week. I'm just lucky I found out in time."

"My own dad didn't remember."

"I'm sure he didn't forget," Mitch said.

"That makes it worse."

"Well," Mitch sighed, "I guess fathers and sons sometimes have complicated relationships. Sometimes you're not alike in the ways you think you should be or wish you were."

"I don't care anymore. I hope he gets crabs in Mexico."

Emma's eyes nearly popped out of her head. Mitch slowly turned to look at her, both trying not to laugh, before turning back to Gabe. "What do you mean by that?"

"Shazza said she went to Mexico on vacation and there was a crab living in the toilet so she couldn't go to the bathroom."

"Poor crabs," Mitch said. "Listen, do you know who Bobby and Barry Bonds are?"

"No."

"Father and son. Two of the greatest baseball players of all time, but a difficult relationship."

"Nuh-uh," Gabe said, and plucked at his quilt disinterestedly.

"Okay, let's see. What do you know?"

"Dinosaurs, robots, Titans of Lore cards, Horrible Histories..."

"History. Good. Alright, uhh...well, you must know about King Arthur and Camelot."

"I do, but it isn't really history, though."

"Fine, but you still know Lancelot, don't ya?"

"Yep."

"Okay, well he was supposed to be the greatest knight of all, but that turned out to be his son Galahad."

"Galahad peaced out after the Crusades."

"What do you mean he peaced out?"

"He did everything he wanted and said, 'Ok. I guess I'll die now', and then he just did. Just like that. All they found were his clothes."

"Maybe we should get off Galahad," Emma said.

"Ok, forget it," said Mitch. "I don't know where I was going with that anyway. Look, Gabe, I'm not a dad, but I was married a long time ago."

"What happened?"

"We got divorced."

"How come?"

"I wasn't a very good husband. I travelled a lot, and I didn't pay her enough attention and that made her sad. Sometimes she'd get mad which would make me mad and then we'd fight, but I didn't change what I was doing, so we split up. Then I realized my mistakes and apologized. She forgave me, but that was the end, and I had to live with those mistakes. Now, I'm telling you this because, when I was doing all that travelling and not paying attention and making her sad and fighting with her, I always loved her. I always, always did. I just didn't know how to do it properly. People make mistakes. But it doesn't mean they don't love you."