F*ck Fate! (Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Father-Son Bonding Moment

Shawn

After lunch with Andy, I headed back to the therapist's office to get my dad. What Andy had said did help a little bit - I knew he'd get better in time. The only problem with that was that this was the only session I could get him, since Dr. Carey was apparently a friend of my aunt's and was willing to give this one time for free. Any other sessions he might need would cost way too much, and it's not like Dad had his insurance anymore to cover it.

I was sitting in the waiting room, knowing they'd be ending in a few minutes. My ankle also still hurt a bit, so I had it up on one of the other chairs.

I don't know what was wrong with me. Why did I have to always make a fool of myself in front of Andy? Ever since the moment we met, I've been messing things up or hurting myself. It was so embarrassing.

A door opened and my dad walked out. His face was blank, but his eyes were red, like he had been crying. I gave him a smile as I stood up, trying not to put too much weight on my left foot.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"Fine."

"Shawn?" Dr. Carey asked, appearing behind my dad. "Can I talk to you for a minute in private? Tom - just have a seat, he'll only be a moment."

I nodded my head and moved passed him and into the room with the doctor. Her office was simple, with a lot of brown. She took a seat in an arm chair in the corner of the room and motioned for me to sit in the chair across from her.

"How is he?" I asked before she could say anything.

Dr. Carey sighed. "You've very brave, Shawn," she said instead of answering my question. "Looking after your father and sister the way you have... it's challenging. Now, I have to be honest with you, your father has a long road to recovery ahead of him. It's not going to be easy, but you need to be strong for him. And how old is your sister?"

"Fifteen."

She nodded. "Right. I let your father come here as a favor to your aunt, since she's a close friend of mine. But I'm going to extend this for a couple more months. If he comes back once a week for two months, it should help, even a little bit. We made some progress today and I do want to help him get back on his feet, for you and your sister, and because you're Lucy's family."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I thought I was going to be told to never bring him back here without a shit-ton of money. Aunt Lucy - Dr. Carey's friend - was Mom's sister. She hasn't talked to us since Mom left. I only called her because I had been calling all my relatives in the nearby area for help.

"Thank you so much," I said. "That's really generous of you."

She smiled at me. "You're welcome. Will I see you next week?"

I shrugged, standing up. "Maybe me. Him, definitely."

I thanked her again before heading back out into the waiting room. Dad was still there, looking at the pictures on the wall. He turned to look at me when I walked out and didn't say anything as we left and headed for home.

We had reached our block before he spoke. "I'm going to look for a job," he said softly.

I stopped walking, right in the middle of the sidewalk. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "I don't expect to find one immediately, but I'm going to try, okay?"

Instead of answering him, I hugged him. Tightly. I didn't care that we were in people's ways or that they were staring at us. What mattered is that this one therapy session has done more for him than he's been able to do for himself in the last year.

"Thank you," I told him.

He held me back just as tightly. "I should be thanking you, son. You've done everything I should have been doing for you."

I took a step back, out of the hug. "Just get better, okay?" I said. "That's all I want right now."

"And I want you to be a kid again," he said with a hint of a smile. "Find someone to love again. You deserve to be happy."

I chuckled, shaking my head. I doubted that was going to happen any time soon. I didn't have time to go out and meet someone right now, especially not with Andy always being around and always telling me that he likes me. Denying him was, admittedly, getting a lot harder to do.

Andy was... different than anyone I've ever met before. He was funny, and smart, and, if I'm being honest, incredibly attractive. And for some reason, we kept running into each other, on purpose or not. He's just always there, like someone was trying to drive us together.

"I know that look," Dad said, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Have you already met someone? When am I going to meet them?"

I shook my head with a small sigh. "Nobody."

Dad put his arm around my shoulders and we started walking back home. "Just so you know, since I realized I've never told you this before, boy or girl, as long as they treat you right, I'll accept them with open arms."

I felt like there was a sudden lump in my throat making it hard to breath. He knew. He fucking knew this whole time and he chooses now to tell me? Why now? Why'd he even have to say it at all?

"I, uh... I'm not going to date another guy," I said hesitantly, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand. The words almost tasted weird in my mouth, probably because I never expected to have this conversation with my dad, especially not like this. "I don't want to."

"Okay," he said with a nod. "That's your choice to make."

Neither of us said anything else the rest of the way back home. As soon as we got there, I hurried into my room and locked my door behind me. I didn't know what else to do except to hide, wanting to hide from my own thoughts, but I knew that couldn't happen.

I curled up on my bed, clutching a pillow to my chest. At that moment, a text came through on my phone. I didn't want to check it, but I found myself pulling my phone out of my pocket anyway.

It was from Andy. Of course. He was always fucking there. Couldn't I have a moment without him popping up or being the only thought on my mind? For once?

Hey, how'd things go with your dad? Call me if you want to talk about it.

With a groan, I tossed my phone onto my nightstand. I wasn't going to call him.