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"I know you think you don't want kids, son."
"Oh, no. I know I don't want kids. It's not me thinking anything."
My father takes a deep breath. "Just think about it."
"Think about what, Dad? You want me to think about getting married and having kids? You want me to think about taking over Pruitt Holdings? You want me to think about what?"
"All of it.”
"What are you going to do with the rest of your life, Dad? You didn't die."
"I want to become a golf pro," he says.
"What?" I stare at him. "Please tell me you don't think you're going to be Tiger Woods."
"If I would've started when I was younger." He grins, and I roll my eyes. He laughs then, and I look at him in surprise. I've never heard my dad laugh like this before.
"You know I'm just joking, right?" he says. "I'm going to go and play golf, yes. But I don't expect to be playing in the Masters."
"That's good.”
"Thank you."
I nod my thanks to the waiter as he brings me another old-fashioned.
"Would either of you like to order something to eat?" he asks.
"Yeah," I say. "I'd like a Monte Cristo and some fries."
"I'll take a Waldorf salad," my father adds. I have never seen my father order a salad before.
“I’m trying to stay away from red meat,” he says by way of explanation, because he knows I know that he always gets a steak. I nod. Maybe he is a changed man. The waiter walks away, and we sit there looking at each other for a moment.
"I want you to be happy, son," he says.
"I know that."
"I can't reverse time and give you back all the years you missed, or be a better father, or even make you forgive me. But the one thing I can do is try to alert you to the fact that I made mistakes. I'm aware of them, and I regret them. And if I were to do it all again, I would definitely do things differently."
"So why do you want me to take over the company you regret running so hard for so long?"
"Because you're a better man than me." He nods. "And you're in this for more than the money."
"I'm totally in it for the money, Dad. I don't work at Rosser International for free."
"I know you don't work there for free," he says. "And I know you have plenty of money without the family money, but I also know that you have a conscience, and I know that you put people first, and I know?—"
"Okay, Dad, you don't have to tell me all the things you know. This is just a lot for me to take in. You know that, I assume."
"I know," he says. "I just wanted to have a conversation with you. I wanted to apologize in person."
"You don't have to apologize to me, Dad."
"I do," he says. "I know you're a grown man, and I know that everything I'm saying isn't going to change our relationship, but I hope to get to a point where it can. I hope to get to a point where I can be a grandpa, who is a better grandfather to his grandkids than he was a father to his son."
"Dad, I'm not having kids."
"You don't know that," he says.
