Page 36 of Unexpectedly Wanted
“I—” I opened my mouth to toss out… something, but he cut me off with a raised hand.
“I don’t need you to say anything. Whatever the reason, I just wanted to let you know I appreciate it.”
“Wha…”
“Milo is different,” he said, and then shook his head again. “Special. He’s very special. Though, I don’t think most people see that.”
I smiled at him, seeing that he wasn’t actually a horrible person, he just didn’t have much of a backbone when it came to his wife.
“I might not understand him most of the time,” he continued, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t love him.”
“I think Milo might need to actually hear those words from you every now and then,” I told him, trying not to be an asshole, but also making it known that his son did not feel love from him.
Harold sighed. It was deep and heavy, and I saw so many things play out on his face as it happened.
“You’re right. There’s a lot I wish I could go back and do differently.”
I could tell that he meant it.
“I wanted to come down here and see him so badly that I didn’t even see that Lorna had other ideas for this visit,” he told me. “I don’t want him to marry this girl. What’s her name? The Carver kid. She’s sweet and all, but she’s certainly not right for my boy. I get it, I do. Milo has never been interested in women. I saw it even before he told us. I sure as hell didn’t know what to do with it, though. Lorna and I, we’re from a small town, and that sort of thing was always frowned upon.”
I opened my mouth to point out that none of what he said made any of what he’d done to Milo right or acceptable. It was not okay. Not at fucking all.
But he lifted his hand slowly and halted my outburst before it even started.
“I’m not using that as an excuse,” he told me, gaze respectfully holding mine. “There is no excuse for not making my child feel comfortable in their own home, no matter what. And it’s not just him being gay that I messed up on. I realize that too. I didn’t shield him from his mother. I should have. I did my best to try to defuse the situation when I was around, but I’m starting to see that never helped.”
I took a sip of my coffee, figuring he just needed to get it all out. I wanted to like this man, but I hadn’t heard enough to feel that way yet. And I wasn’t sure this raw, open confession should have been shared with me. At least not me alone. These were things he needed to say to Milo. Things Milo really needed to hear after a lifetime of feeling invisible and unimportant.
He cleared his throat, then lifted the mug to his lips. He took a long sip, and it was easy to tell that he was stalling for some reason. What more did he have to say? I could only imagine.
“I can see that you care about him,” he said.
Yeah, I was really starting to.
“He’s become someone that’s important to me,” I said, but then shook my head. That wasn’t quite right. It didn’t have enough feeling in it. “I like Milo a lot. Before all this,” I circled my finger in the air as if that would help to explain what I meant by that, “I respected him. I would even say that I looked up to him. He wasn’t a fan of mine, but we’ve since worked that out. But because of that, I don’t think he ever realized how amazing I thought he was.”
“He’s pretty smart. Always knew he was. He’s good with that techie stuff too. I can barely figure out how to update things on my phone.” He huffed out a laugh.
“He is really smart, yeah. I admire him for all the things he’s done. All the things he can do.” I had to be careful here. I didn’t want to hint at too much because his parents couldn’t know what he really did. What we both really did. “And now, after spending a lot of time with him outside of work, getting to know him in a way he doesn’t just let anyone see, has been so unexpected. He’s…” A smile overtook my lips as I thought about all the conversations we’d had. The things I’d learned about him. The things he’d gotten me to open up with as well. “He’s kinda the coolest person that I know.”
“I was right when I told Lorna that you really do care about him,” he said. I blinked back into reality and stared at him. “Which is why I need to be honest with you. I’m going to tell Milo, too, but I had to make sure you’d be there after I told him.”
I got real serious at those words. Of course, I’d be there, and I told Harold so without any hesitation.
“I’m about to lose everything,” he said.
My spine went straight, eyes growing wide as saucers. I had to replay his words in my head just to make sure I’d heard him right.
Well, shit.
Though I didn’t exactly have a clue what he meant by everything, usually a statement like that implied he was or would soon be left with nothing and no help up.
“I got in over my head,” he kept going. “The business wasn’t doing good. I kept saying it was just a bad year. Then that turned into another bad year. People weren’t going all out for kitchen and bathroom upgrades like they once had been. Then we get this bigger company moving into the city. They’re selling stuff at nearly half the price as me, and suddenly, people aren’t even driving out of the city to come to the little town where we live just to get a huge discount on those things. I got a second mortgage on the house. Then a third, just to keep the business open. I was sure I’d be able to come up with a way to turn it around.”
“But that didn’t happen?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“No, it didn’t,” he said, sounding very dejected and embarrassed. “I didn’t tell Lorna for a long time. She went on living life like she’d always had.” He pointedly looked at me. “That woman likes to shop.”
