Page 20 of Like Fathers, Like Son
“Hi.”
I nodded at him, letting my hair fall in front of my face again as I went back to my thoughts. How could dad just walk away from us? Didn’t he love me at all? People could fall out of love, but could they just stop loving their children?
“Are you okay?” Blaze was standing right in front of me when I lifted my head again, making me gasp because I hadn’t realised he’d even moved.
“Sorry,” he whispered, pointing at the step beside me. “Can I?”
I shrugged, and he sat down beside me, his shoulder brushing against mine as he did.
“You seem sad.”
I nodded, finally lifting my head, and squeezing my eyes closed against the stinging tears I was trying to fight back.
“I thought you guys were away for a few more days yet,” Blaze said, not making it sound like a question but I think it was.
“Yeah… things changed.” I scrubbed the back of my hand over my eyes, not wanting to cry in front of him. He wouldn’t get it, would he?
“Your dad’s car’s gone, so I thought it was safe to say hi, but if he comes back, I’ll leave so he doesn’t get mad at you.” If he comes back. He was never coming back. The tears returned then, and I couldn’t stop them, lifting my knees and pressing my face against them as I cried.
A light touch on my shoulder surprised me, then that touch firmed up, stroking my upper back. I hadn’t expected Blaze to be comforting, but he was. He didn’t speak at all, just kept rubbing my back in soothing circles, until I finally stopped crying, just making weird hiccup sounds now and then.
“Is he coming back?” Blaze asked softly, and I shook my head.
“I’m sorry,” he said just as quietly. It was surprising just how that helped to ease a tiny bit of my pain. He wasn’t trying to make excuses for my dad leaving, or saying we’d be fine, or any of that stuff that grown ups would say. He was just sorry.
His hand moved when I finally lifted my head, and I actually missed the comfort of his touch, even though it was Blaze, and I was surprised he hadn’t tried touching my hair while he had the chance.
“How’s your dad? You said he got burned or something?” I asked finally, trying to think of something to say beyond all of the horrible stuff in my house.
He sighed, leaning his arms on his knees, his eyes on something in the garden. The rockery, maybe? He didn’t realise it but hidden among those smooth rocks was our secret hiding place for the spare key. We rarely used it, but it was there.
“He’s still in pain, and they’re arranging more appointments to look at skin grafts. Apparently they take the skin from somewhere else on his body. He said he wants it to be his ass.”
A giggle rose up and I covered my mouth in shame. He just came out with something like that?
“Sorry. You… they use skin from there?”
Blaze suddenly smiled, shrugging his shoulders at the same time.
“Who knows. My dad comes out with some crazy stuff sometimes. I’m just glad he’s acting like he always does, because I was so scared.”
His smile was gone, and I suddenly wished I could put it back there, but curiosity was eating at me.
“How did it happen? It wasn’t when the fence caught fire, was it?”
Blaze shook his head, and I found myself watching his pale blonde hair rippling with the movement.
“It was uh… another fire.” He sighed, shrugging again. “We like to burn stuff.”
Blaze
SHE LOOKED SHOCKED, BUT wasn’t it a better look on her face than that sadness? I probably shouldn’t have told her, but I felt like I could trust her, and besides, she’d seen my fire skills first hand, hadn’t she?
“Burn stuff? Like when you burned the fence?”
I nodded, picturing our last amazing fire, which was perfect right up until the moment my dad’s arm caught fire.
“Not fences though, normally. Buildings… it’s intense, watching them burn. Knowing that we created the flames, that we were powerful enough that we destroyed it.”
