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“Not really,” Daniel replied. “But I can manage.”
“Then what do you like?”
He considered it. “I don’t have time to watch a lot of TV, but maybe . . . comedy? Something light?”
“I can work with that.” Randy changed the channel to an old sitcom. “You can sit with me if you like,” he offered. “It’d be nice to have some company since everyone else is asleep.”
“Sure.” Daniel sat next to him awkwardly.
They watched in silence, but Daniel found a sense of peace that he hadn’t felt around his girlfriend’s dad in . . . well, ever.
Fake girlfriend’s dad, that is.
They caught the last few minutes of an episode, and it ended with the family all hugging each other after some major fight.
It must have inspired Randy to ask, “Tell me about your family, Daniel. Hopefully, they’re like this.”
He bristled. “Uh . . . My mom is great. She lives an hour and a half away from Atlanta. My sister is in Nashville.”
“And your dad?”
Daniel only looked away.
“Sorry, kid,” Randy said. “I don’t wanna bring up bad memories. I’m just curious.”
“It’s fine. We’re just . . . not close.”
That was an understatement.
“Not everyone is,” Randy said, sighing. “Actually, Amelia and John have never known Mandy’s parents. They weren’t what you would call supportive. So, it’s okay not to be okay with who you came from.”
“My dad recently did something pretty awful, and I don’t think I want to forgive him for it,” he admitted. He didn’t know why he trusted Randy, but he desperately needed parental advice, and he sure as hell wasn’t bringing his mom into this.
Randy hummed. “That’s hard. Is anyone hurt?”
“Me,” he replied.
“Then it’s on you to forgive him, or not to.”
“Not according to him.” He muttered the words, mostly meaning them for himself, but Randy heard it. He raised an eyebrow, and Daniel sighed. “My dad thinks he can atone with God for anything he does, but not me.”
“Well, that’s a shame because we live on Earth with each other, not God,” Randy said. “And if he’s not apologized . . . hell, even if he did, you don’t have to forgive everything to move on. It might help, but if you’re not ready, it isn’t gonna do anything.”
“All my life, he’s told me that because we’re related, I should forgive him. This time included. He was the reason I got divorced and he’s never apologized about it. He’s never even shown any remorse. How can I look at him when I know he cares more about himself than me?”
“You can’t, son. Some things are just unforgivable. You can try and let it go, but only for yourself. I know I don’t have a right to say any of this, but from what I’m hearing, he’s a shit father that got lucky with a good son, and you’ve outgrown him emotionally. The same thing happened to Mandy. Ultimately, it’s easy to believe family always deserves forgiveness, but that’s not right. We all deserve to be held accountable, family or not.”
Daniel looked over at Randy and nodded. He had been working toward accepting that he wasn’t going to be able to forgive his father and hearing someone else confirm it helped. Especially someone older and someone who was also a dad.
“Thank you,” Daniel said. “I needed to hear that.”
“I can tell. Now, enough about bad people who don’t deserve our time. We’ve got another episode to watch.”
Chapter Fifteen
Amelia
When Amelia woke up, Daniel’s arm was slung around her waist, and he was in a deep sleep. She felt an eerie sense of calm being in his arms. It would be so easy to stay here forever.
