AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Give him some snuggles for me. I’ll see you both soon.
For a crazy moment, he imagined that instead of talking about her dog, they were talking about their child. Instead of calling from a courtyard in Studio City, he was calling from the highest ridge in the Sawtooth Range.
And then it went blank.
That was the problem, right there. Part of him didn’t believe in the future. Any future. How could he be a full partner to Brenda if he always ran into that blank hazy nothingness?
In his mind, he focused on that foggy gray haze. An outline of something appeared, the dark shape of a man, and he knew what would happen next. The father he idolized would get snatched away, back into the haze.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, the figure came closer, became clearer, more distinct.
He blinked and the haze disappeared But his father was still there.
As if hypnotized, he rose to his feet, somehow collapsing the lounge chair in the process. The noise made Marshall Cooper look his way, smirk, then go back to what he’d been doing, which was dictating something into his phone.
He didn’t recognize Galen.
Why would he, after all this time? Galen had been a scrawny eleven-year-old the last time his father had seen him. He certainly hadn’t sported a thick beard and a six-foot-three frame.
Good. That gave Galen a chance to scrutinize this man and make sure it was his father. Time had taken a toll on Marshall Cooper as well. His hair was cut short and silver at the temples. In the reality show, he always auditioned for “father” roles, and sometimes grandfathers or corporate CEOs, or tough hardened military types.
Where was the camera crew? Maybe they weren’t shooting right now? Galen hadn’t even thought to check. He’d prefer to confront his father without cameras around. But he’d forge ahead either way.
Marshall Cooper finished his dictation and strode down the walkway toward the stairs that led to the second level. And that stride was all it took for Galen to confirm his identity. He could have been Billy heading to first base after taking ball four. He could have been Thomas striding into a town meeting.
“Hey,” he called, his voice hitting a note like a rusty hinge. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Marshall Cooper?”
His father paused and looked back toward Galen. This time, something struck him, some bit of recognition. “Do I know you?”
“It’s, uh, Galen.”
That sounded almost pathetic, as if he was eleven all over again. He spoke again. “Galen. Don’t you remember?”
That sounded almost hostile. Oh well. It was what it was. He waited and watched. A quick moment of panic shivered across his father’s face, then it went blank. He gave a darting look around the courtyard, then gestured with his head. “Galen. Come on up.”
Galen didn’t want to go inside. That last nightmarish incident had happened inside, and generally speaking, he always felt safer outside than inside. “Can we talk here?”
His father glanced around the courtyard again, then shrugged. The few people around were paying no attention to them at all. A hip young couple was holding hands at the other end of the pool. A man in a straw hat was watering the bougainvillea. And that was about it, except for Galen and Marshall Cooper.
Reunited. And it felt so weird.
At first they shook hands, but then Marshall pulled him in for an awkward hug. This close, Galen thought he looked different from before, not just older, but more refined, somehow. Less rough around the edges. Less wild.
“What are you, thirty-something now?”
“Thirty-five.”
“Married? Kids?”
Galen shook his head. “Thomas does. And Billy. Except Billy’s divorced. You have four grandkids. All boys, how about that.”
“Coopers throw boys, always did.” His father sounded almost proud of that. Why would you be proud of fathering three boys and then abandoning them? “So you’re all doing good?”
“Yeah.” More or less. And no thanks to him.
“You aren’t here for money?”
“What? Why would I need money from you?”
