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Todd nods. He knows all too well the drama that has been my life over the last few years. As much as I wasn’t sure about him when we first became roommates, Todd Bishop has been vital to my sanity. I never knew how much I had pushed people away and built-up walls until I was injured and all alone. My baseball career was over before it began with not a friend in a two-hundred-mile radius. Todd was there when no one else was, and I will forever be grateful for him. He also knows when to push me to talk and when I’ve reached my limit.
“You’re not hoping for some Hallmark moment, are you?” Todd smirks.
I roll my eyes. “No.”
Todd doesn’t even try to hold in his laugh. “You sure? Those hometown romances are your favorite.”
I shove him in the arm, but I can’t hold back my smile. He loves those stupid movies as much as I do, and we both know it. Even if no one else ever will.
My phone rings. When I see my father’s name on the screen, my face drops. Nothing like a call from Jack Winters to dampen the mood. I hit ignore. I’m not ready to deal with him right now.
“Jack?” Todd asks.
I nod.
“Have you told him you’re moving back to Ridgeview?”
“Nope.”
“He’s just going to keep calling.”
Probably, but that isn’t my issue. My father has meddled in my life for the last time. I will no longer be his puppet. This is me cutting each and every string. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over. All the strides I thought we had made in mending our relationship was just a lie. All Jack Winters cares about is himself. And I will not be a pawn in his games.
When Todd’s phone rings, he looks down and sees it’s my father. “What do you want me to do?”
I shrug. It isn’t my call what Todd does, but I know he will have my back. He won’t tell Jack anything I’m not ready to tell him myself.
Todd hits ignore. “I’ll probably regret that.” He looks up at me. “You sure you don’t want me to come with you? It’s a long drive to California.”
“Are you changing your mind about moving with me?”
He laughs. “Hardly. I already followed you from Texas, I’m not following you to California. Besides, I have this thing called a job.” His phone rings again. “At least I do for now.”
The annoyance in his voice is evident. I hate that he’s going to get dragged into my family drama even more than he already has. There’s nowhere to hide when he works for my stepmother’s family. If Dad wants information and Todd doesn’t answer his phone, then in-person visits will no doubt follow.
I’ll owe Todd forever for this.
A few months after my baseball injury, I got a call from my dad. It was the first interaction we had had in years. At first, I didn’t want to answer, but I had made my childhood best friend Ben’s dad, Dan, a promise that I was going to give Jack a chance. I hadn’t kept my word about that, and I didn’t like the idea of lying to the only father figure I ever really had. Dan had stepped up in a big way after my parents’ divorce. He and Norah not only took our family in, but for the five years we lived with them, Dan made it a point to show up for me and my siblings like he did for his own kids. Even after Mom got her bearings again and we moved into our own place, Dan and Norah were always there to support us in any and everything we did. Big or small, they were there. Something that Jack has never done, even when my parents were still married. He was always bailing on one thing or another, from attending one of my games to going to one of my brother’s plays. He was even absent for my baby sister’s first birthday. As terrible as it sounds, Dad was as much a part of our lives before the divorce as after.
But I answered the call because I’d promised Dan. Soon that phone call turned into a lunch. As much as I tried to fight it and knew that it was too good to be true, I guess a part of me was still that little boy who wanted his dad to notice him.
After we had lunch, we started texting and emailing on and off. Even with the extra contact it was a shock when I got the invitation to his wedding. He hadn’t even mentioned that he was seeing someone, let alone that he was getting married. It was a gut punch all over again. This time it wasn’t Mom he had been lying to, it was me.
Now knowing what I know about my father, I’m ashamed of how much I let him control my life. When I lost baseball, I was broken. I had no direction, which is exactly what my father preyed upon. I’d always been a top student and athlete. I had always known I would and could do great things. Now with the one thing I had been working so hard towards being gone I didn’t know what to do. I became a shell of my former self. For the first time in my life, I didn’t have a goal or a purpose. With a little coaxing and, what I’m sure he’d call guidance, I fell right into his hands. Dad got me a job working for the firm his in-laws did business with. I excelled. He mentioned going to law school. It wasn’t what I had ever wanted to do with my life, but my current job wasn’t too bad, and I was good at it. Why not? Sure, I’d go to law school. What I didn’t know was that as I worked and worked, he was pulling strings behind the scenes the whole time. Now I look back at that time and I don’t know what parts I earned due to hard work and what parts were given to me because Jack Winters had made it happen. Perhaps I’ll never know, which stings. I have worked hard, and I’ve been proud of that hard work. I’ve even grown to love the law more than I would have ever imagined. It’s become part of my identity. Just one more thing that has been taken away from me.
Rosie: Call Mom! She’s driving me nuts!
Mark: What’s going on?
Rosie: She’s all worried about you driving, but she doesn’t want you to know she’s freaking out so she’s just calling me nonstop to see if I’ve heard from you.
Mark: I’ll call her.
I drive for a couple more hours before stopping for the night. I pick up some dinner and bring it back to my room before I get settled for the night. I text Todd to give him an update on where I am, and then I call Mom. She answers on the second ring.
“Mark? Is that you?” Her voice is laced with worry, but there is also a familiarity that is comforting.
“Hi, Mom.” I settle onto my bed as I talk to her. I think it’s the first real conversation we’ve had in a very long time. She catches me up on her upcoming trip that she is taking with some friends. The irony of her not being home when I get there isn’t lost on either of us. I promise her that I will call her as soon as I get into Ridgeview and that we will have dinner when she gets back.
