Page 194 (2/2)

The stranger—my father—looks between Hardin and me, alert and in disbelief But shortly he eases back into a nonchalant posture and keeps his distance, for which I’lad

“I’ve been trying to find you fora se of dirt on his skin

Hardin stands in front ofaround his shoulder I’m thankful for his protection, and it dawns on me that he must be completely confused

My father turns to him, looks hied a lot”

“No, that’s Hardin,” I tell him

My father shuffles around him a little and inches closer to me, and I can see that Hardin tenses when he moves This close, I can smell him

It’s either the liquor on his breath, or the by-product of abusing liquor, that has hi the two; Hardin and Noah are polar opposites, and could never be cos an arives htly to keep him at bay

“Who’s he?” My father keeps his ar ti to explode—not necessarily out of anger, I realize; he just seems to have no clue what to say or do

That makes two of us “He’s myHardin’s my”

“Boyfriend I’m her boyfriend,” he finishes for me

The o wide as he finally takes in Hardin’s appearance

“Nice to meet you, Hardin I’m Richard” He reaches his dirty hand out to shake Hardin’s

“Ehmyeah, nice to meet you” Hardin is clearly veryunsettled

“What are the two of you doing out around here?”

I take this opportunity to move away from my father and stand next to Hardin, who snaps back to himself and pulls me to his side

“Hardin was getting a tattoo,” I answer robotically My ht now

“AhNice I’ve used this place before myself”

I the house everylike this, he spoke nothing like this, and he sure as hell didn’t tattoo hiirl

“Yeah, my friend Tom does them” He pushes up the sleeve of his sweatshirt to reveal what resembles a skull on his forearm

It doesn’t look like it belongs on hiin to see that e

This is so aard This man is my father, the man who left my mother and me alone And he’s here in front of medrunk And I don’t knohat to think