Page 33 of A Very Oceanport Christmas
"Thanks again for letting me do this. Not just painting the room, I mean, but everything. Letting Sam move in and all…"
"It's fine," Dad brushed me off as if it was no big deal at all. "He's practically family already." Thumbs dug into his pockets, he let his gaze sweep the room once more. His eyes fixed on the pile of things I'd stacked in the middle of the floor to keep them from getting splattered with paint. "You really got a ton of things at that baby shower, didn't you?"
"Yeah, it was great," I agreed. "People really pitched in, even though it was short notice." I glanced at a star-shaped soft toy which sat on top of a pile of diaper packs.
"You can say that again... If you'd told me a couple of weeks ago that Sam Kerner had gotten himself pregnant, I wouldn't have believed you. Especially since..." He trailed off as if suddenly uncertain of his words.
"Especially since what?" I drank the last of the water in the glass and set it aside on the window sill.
"It's nothing." Dad shook his head, his expression sad. "You know your mom always told me that you had a crush on Sam."
I swallowed, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. I pushed it down. Dad hardly ever spoke of Mom since she had passed, so for him to do so now... maybe he was finally getting over the worst of the grief? That was what I should be focusing on, not my embarrassment that Mom had seen through me so easily. "Did you and Mom talk about my potential crushes a lot?" I asked.
"I used to tell her she was wrong." Something almost like a smile showed on Dad's face. "Turns out I was a damn fool after all."
"I guess I was just good at hiding it," I said with a shrug. "Sam could never tell either." It was almost ironic how now I felt myself wishing I hadn't been as good of an actor. Things might have turned out a lot different.
Not that it mattered now.
I'd always wanted to have a family with Sam, and that wish was finally coming true.
"I wish your mom was here to see you two now," Dad said wistfully. "I don't say this often enough, but I'm proud of you, son. For stepping up the way you have."
"I..." I really didn't know what to say. It wasn't like I was doing anything out of the ordinary, was I? Still, my dad's praise warmed me and I had to swallow before I could speak again. "I'm just doing what I can."
"Have you given any more thought to college?" Dad asked.
I licked my lips. "Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna go." Why would I, when everything I wanted was here, in Oceanport?
Dad studied me for a long moment. "Well," he said then, "if you change your mind, the letter is in the junk drawer."
"The junk drawer?" Seriously?
"It was better than putting it in the actual junk," Dad defended his choice.
"I didn't want you to tell me where it is," I pointed out. That had been the whole point of having Dad put it away, after all.
He shrugged. "Now you know and you can make your own decisions." He glanced at the freshly painted walls once more. "You know there's a box of your old baby stuff up in the attic, right? Your mom kept a couple of things that she said were too precious to throw away." A sad smile tugged at his lips again. "I think she went up there sometimes just to look at them and lament at the fact that you weren't a baby anymore."
My cheeks flushed again.
Dad grinned and stepped closer to pat my shoulder. "Not that she wasn't proud of the man you've become."
Once again, I wasn't sure how to respond. Dad and I didn't usually exchange heart-to-hearts like this. Fortunately, it seemed Dad didn't need me to reply. He simply turned and walked from the room. "Dinner in half an hour," he announced as he left.
"Okay," I said, feeling a little stupid.
And then I felt even more stupid half a minute later when Sam poked his head into the room. I hadn't even heard him come home. Wait, how long had he been in the hall?
How much had he heard?
Sam grinned at me, but there was something fake about the joy he displayed.
Or maybe I was getting paranoid and seeing things.
I decided to let go of my suspicions when Sam snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me into a kiss. It was good to have him here, even while I worried about what he might have heard.
"You're back early," I said when he pulled away.
