Chapter 34-3

"I am," Carter said awkwardly, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here at the moment. That was something we had in common. Had Rebecca demanded that he come and talk to me to try and patch things up? I had trouble thinking he would've ever approached me of his own accord. "I'm Hadley," she said, introducing herself as she got to her feet. "And I'd better be getting Milo now. He probably needs his diaper changed." She left the table after a polite smile in Carter's direction, in search of Rebecca. Real tactful, I mouthed at her as she waltzed off. Her response was to blow me a kiss. Carter continued to stand there in silence for a few tense moments before he finally dropped into the seat Hadley had just vacated, making sure to scoot back a few inches. I occupied myself with my beer while I waited for him to say something. I wasn't going to be the first one to speak here. I'd done all the speaking last time. "That's your wife?" Carter finally said, nodding in the direction Hadley had left. "Yeah," I said. "And Milo is our son." "Right," Carter said. "I saw him with Rebecca. He sure is a character." "Thanks." It took a few moments for him to say something else, and by that time, I was wishing he would just spit out whatever was on his mind and then go away. "Look. I wanted to thank you for doing this for Rebecca," he said, actually meeting my gaze. "I know it means a lot to her." "Right," I said. "I'm glad." "And I also wanted to say that I'm - " "This isn't the part where we have some touching, heart-felt moment and you promise things will be different from now on, is it?" A smile actually broke out across Carter's face and he shook his head, leaning back in his chair. "You know, you remind me a lot of Chris." I paused with my beer halfway to my mouth. That was one thing I hadn't ever expected to hear from Carter Morales. "Do I?" I said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. "You may not have been his biological son, but you're very much like him." "Yeah, well, he was my father, whether or not you liked it." "I know." I set down my beer, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees, my hands clasped together. "What exactly are you trying to say here, Carter? Are you trying to apologize, or what? Because I'm honestly a little confused." "I know," Carter said again, clearing his throat. "I know my behavior was...inexcusable. I have years of lost time to make up for, and it's entirely my fault. After you showed up with Rebecca that day, I realized how foolish it was of me to have ignored you and your mother and sisters all these years. It's a disservice to Chris's memory, to have treated his wife and children like that." It did not go unnoticed that this was the first time Carter had ever acknowledged me as Chris's son. "I'm not the one you should be making amends with," I told him. "You owe my mother and my sisters a hell of a lot more than just an apology." Carter nodded in agreement, and it was entirely appropriate to say that the expression on his face was an ashamed one. "You're right. But it's a place to start." "I...suppose you have a point there," I said. He gave a grim sort of smile, and we lapsed into silence again. I reached for me beer and downed about half of it in one go before either of us said anything. "I think that's about it for the touchy-feely kind of talk, don't you?" Carter said as he rose to his feet. "I wholeheartedly agree," I said as I stood. He hesitated for a second, then extended a hand towards me. I shook his hand despite how awkward this was, and it only lasted a few seconds. "I suspect I'll be...seeing you around," Carter said. I wasn't going to say that I was looking forward to that, so instead I said, "Yeah. I suspect so." He walked away then, heading for his wife, who was having an animated discussion with April, May, and June. He was right, however much both of our attitudes still needed adjusting. I figured it would take some time before we were ever truly comfortable around one another, but it was a place to start. Hadley returned almost immediately after Carter was out of ear-shot, Milo in arm. "What was that about? Did he apologize for being an asshole?" "...Sort of," I said, then reached out to pull her into me so I could kiss her. "That's good," Hadley said, nudging me with an elbow when we broke apart. "Things really are looking up, then, aren't they?" "Yeah," I said. "You wanna hold hands and skip off into the sunset now? Talk about our feelings? Make promises to each other that our love is forever?" We both started laughing at this, and Milo made this sort of cooing noise, blinking up at us with eyes I suspected one day might be hazel. "I'll hold your hand, yeah, but I'm not going to do any skipping," Hadley said, smiling at me. "And I'm done talking about our feelings. My whole job is talking about feelings." "You're right," I said. "Let's settle for cake and beer." "Cheers to that." And, really, what was better in life than that?