Page 35 of Remember When We
Paul was the kind of father who would have done anything for his kids. I needed to see him anyway and now I felt it would help to explain my reasons for coming back here. He would help me whether he liked it or not.
First I would see Paul, then Lyssa.
Two birds with one stone.
* * *
It was just the way I remembered it.
The little suburban lane where Paul lived with Marshall and Lyssa.
I remembered when I first went to their house.
Ma had dropped me there.
We’d moved back here after she divorced Pa. It was her stand to get her life in order.
I went with her, because I didn’t want her to be alone. I also went, because I didn’t want her to think I supported Pa’s behavior.
I was bad when it came to women. In the times that I wasn’t with Lyssa I was a real dog, but I didn’t cheat on her. Those things I said to Lyssa was me, but it represented me when I wasn’t with her.
I’d never been with a woman I was serious about until her. In the years before her, I wanted only her and no one came close. The years after were the same. No one came close and because of that I never got close to anyone. There was no fucking point.
I pulled up outside the house wondering what this guy would say to me. The bar would have been better. But, my whole public place analysis and therapy kind of went out the window last night when I kissed the new boss of the bar.
The bar didn’t suit Lyssa. She was a teacher. She should have been able to live out her dream and do what she wanted to with her life.
I walked up the steps leading to the door, but stopped when a wooden side door opened and a dark haired kid came out bouncing a ball.
I almost thought I had the wrong place, but then I saw Paul coming out too carrying a gym bag and one of those sports water bottles.
“Hey slugger, you’re gonna need this if you’re going to play all them hours. Make sure you drink the whole thing this time, and …” his voice trailed off when he saw me standing on the porch looking from him to the kid.
His mouth fell open and he stared at me like he wasn’t sure what to say.
I looked at him and then to the boy, and then I really looked at the boy.
The boy who walked closer to Paul and narrowed his gaze at me.
I continued to stare and something gripped me like it was something I should know but didn’t. It was the same feeling as knowing you forgot something, but you couldn’t figure out what it was.
It was coming to me though.
I took my first step back down the stairs, then another and another until I got up to them and stopped a few paces away.
The boy looked like he was around eight years old. Dark hair, same nose as Lyssa, same oval shaped face, same lips. The eyes though, the dark brown eyes—
those were mine.
The features …
It was like I was looking at a picture of myself as a kid.
Paul pressed his lips together.
“Hi, Gio,” Paul said, but I was still looking at the boy.
“Who is this grandpa?” The boy asked.
