The Art of Being a Gentleman

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MR. RAY POTOSKY was not an unreasonable man.

Despite David's typically poor attitude towards his own father, he knew that, for the most part, his dad was a good dad. He provided for them, he took them to the fair when it came to town, he went to school events, and he taught David all about the Red Sox. He loved his wife, and he ultimately wanted what was best for his kids.

He just made some really poor decisions while trying to do that.

David had never really been close with his parents. They definitely weren't the type of parents that he would share all his secrets with, in fact most of the time he didn't even tell them how his day was. He knew his mom would ask for too many details and get too involved, and his dad would probably mock half of what he said, and make some sort of smartass remark about the rest. But they knew who his friends were, and they knew what kinds of things he liked, and well, the Potosky's seemed to have an unspoken agreement that that was enough.

David had always been closest to Grace, which was why it had hurt so much when she left. The wake that the whole situation left behind had created a huge damper on his relationship with his parents. He had disagreed with their decisions, he was hurt, but David had learned to deal with it. He was over it.

Or he was, until now.

"Can I watch?" David asked, already sitting himself down on the opposite end of the couch from where his father was sitting, beer bottle in hand, eyes following the action of the football game currently playing.

"Uh huh," he grunted, focused on the television.

David watched a few plays, his fingers tapping against the side of his leg as he mentally prepared himself for how this conversation was going to go. Once a commercial break started, he decided to break the silence between them. "I talked to Grace the other day."

His dad's eyes lazily pulled away from the TV and towards him, "Oh yeah? How's she doin'?"

"Good, yeah. But um," David wet his lips, "she uh, told me something interesting."

"What's that?" he asked, but still didn't seem particularly interested.

"She said that I can come visit her."

It took a few seconds, but eventually his dad shifted his position on the couch so that he was facing David more. He had his attention now. "That is interesting."

"I thought so. Especially when she told me that she'd always been allowed to have visitors."

Ray lifted his eyebrows, "Really."

David swallowed. Was he really going to pretend that this was news to him? "I know that you lied to me."

His face stayed impassive as his eyes flickered back to the TV, still playing some sort of soft drink commercial. "I wouldn't lie to you, David."

"You're lying right now!" Why would he continue to lie after he had already been called out? "I specifically remember you saying a few weeks after she left that 'no, you aren't able to see her. Only phone calls.' Grandma and Gramps visit her all the time!"

David hadn't realized his voice had been rising in emotion until his mom stepped into the room, looking concerned. "Everything okay?"

"I told you that you weren't able to see her. I didn't say that she couldn't have visitors at all."

That stopped him short. David ran back all his memories of the conversations they'd had about Grace. He couldn't have missed that, could he?