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Having a pet wasn’t so soto the needs of an animal Up until fairly recently when I forcedmore for et things like bringingthe dishwasher For as anization I had in the office, my personal life was often a mess I didn’t want to entrustthis little one bounce aroundmy mind

It surprised the hell out ofBut the ht maybe it would help the loneliness that had taken over otten to that place now that I really could admit it I was lonely And it wasway and lost out on any chance of actually trying to have an honest relationship with her Close bonds and love like my parents had between them didn’t come frothat made sense to do

I was drinking s

I sat in one of the lounge chairs and took dohat I wanted to say with my third beer but could possibly be much further down the line than that I’d stopped really counting It wasn’t thea thousand withto worry about it so much A few minutes later, Dad came up to me

“Is there anything else I have in the house we need to get?” he asked

“No,” I told hi”

“Do you want to go check?” he asked

I knew that was code It et up and come with me because we need to have a talk That was a departure from the normal Usually it was ood tongue-lashing when she felt I needed it But this tioff the rest of the beer, I followed him up the steps ontobin and dropped down onto the swinging glider in one corner Dad sat down besideback and forth in silence

Finally, he tilted his head slightly toward me

“You know, your mom kicked me to the curb for a solid year,” he said

“Wait, what? When?”

“Oh a long tio now”

“What did you do?” I asked

“I crawled et over h, and it’s been the two of us ever since I can’t iine anyone else in ain in a heartbeat, but if I had to I do it all again, I would go back to her the next day Pride and feeling too roveling for”

He got up after that and walked away It was a very short heart to heart, but it made a major impact on me I had no idea that had happened between my parents All that mattered was my dad messed up in some way and round while she waited for him to realize what he did

It took hi able to ad wrong, that he absolutely needed her That was probably the hardest part Ade Especially not when you had three brothers ereto step up and show you all the ways that you rong What was harder was ad my fear that there was a place in my heart that was so open to Merry I didn’t want there to be I didn’t want there to be a place open for anybody It was too ain

But, actually, I did want it to be there for her More than I could have ever i just how much my family really knew about what happened between Merry andThat’s e told the else I wondered how much they could see, and even more than that, if she could see it too If there was ever a chance she ive me