I Was Last [Rhett and Link]

Chapter 6

The rest of the morning is spent in blessed busyness, giving both Dad and me an excuse to distance ourselves from the realness that happened at breakfast. When we return to the house, Dad disappears into his office for a few hours while I start up my computer in my bedroom to get some work done. Around 11:00 I'm interrupted by a gentle knock at my door.

"Lando?" he calls through the door.

"Hmm?"

"Lily wants to know if we want to come over for lunch and talk about funeral arrangements."

"Uh, yeah, sure. Just give me ten more minutes to finish this up."

"Sure, Son." I hear his footsteps retreat softly down the hall.

When I wrap things up to a good stopping point, I grab my wallet and phone, slip on my shoes and head downstairs. Dad is sitting on the couch in the living room with his heels pulled up onto the cushion, knees in the air. Even in his sixties he is remarkably flexible. As I approach I realize he's paging through his wedding album. I stand behind the couch looking over his shoulder.

"She was so beautiful," he says without looking up. "To her last day she was beautiful."

"Yeah, she was," I agree. He keeps flipping for a few pages. "You looked like a dork."

Dad laughs out loud.

"A happy dork though," I clarify.

"Accurate assessment. Let's go, smartass."

---

Locke answers the door. It's a Saturday so he's home from work. It's the first I've seen him since I rushed out of Rhett's house last night. He gives Dad a macho half-handshake, half-hug, then turns to me and offers his hand, and I take it. Dad continues on to the kitchen to give us some space.

"Hey, man," I start, "about last night..."

"The past is the past, Lando," he interrupts. "All of it. It took a lot to apologize like that. And I shouldn't have called you out in front of the whole family."

"No, Locke, listen. You were right to do that. Because it wasn't just you I needed to apologize to. Every person in that room was affected by what I did, and everyone needed to hear me own it."

He pauses, considering. "You know, I only ever knew Lando the boy. Lando the little brother. It turns out you're a pretty good man."

I chuckle gratefully. "Well, I'm learning." We mutually go in for a quick hug.

"It's good to have you back, brother," he says, patting me on the back.

"It's good to be back."

We walk together to the kitchen where Lily and her three daughters are whirring around each other like a well-oiled machine. Mona's sautéing what smells like chicken, Lily and Sandra are chopping vegetables, and Danica's filling the dishwasher. Lincoln's there too, leaning against the wall with a beer in his hand, talking with Dad. I see him glance speculatively between Locke and me, smiling almost imperceptibly at the notable lack of tension between us. When Lily sees me, she wipes her hands on a towel and steps around her daughters to wrap me in a hug.

"Thank you," she whispers. I'm not sure exactly how she means this, but I'll take it anyway. I pull back and smile at her. She looks so much like Mom now that I'm momentarily choked up.

"You know, Lil," I say loudly enough for everyone to hear, "I think I smell a conspiracy. Not only did you try to stem the male population in our combined family by marrying one of the men already in it, but then you went ahead and added three more women to the equation." I hear the girls giggle.