All Chapters of My Boyfriend's Dad?: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

DamonRain woke me at 3 AM. Hard rain. The kind that slapped against windows and turned streets into rivers. I lay still, listening to water move through gutters, through drains, through the dark. Laura slept beside me. Her breathing was soft. Her hand rested on my chest. The star necklace caught a sliver of light from somewhere.I did not move.For twenty years, rain meant nothing to me. Just weather. Just another sound in a city full of sounds. But tonight it felt different. Tonight it felt like something was washing away. Or something was being revealed.I thought about Rick. About the last time I saw him. His face in my doorway. His voice when he said "you are not my father anymore." Those words had carved something out of me. A hole I did not know how to fill.I thought about his mother. About the day she left. She was standing in the same doorway. A suitcase in her hand. Tears on her face. "I cannot do this anymore, Damon." I asked her what she meant. She said "any of it. You. H

DamonThe plane left at 8 AM.I sat by the window. Laura sat next to me. Her hand was on my knee. She was looking out the window at the clouds. I was looking at nothing.Seattle.I had not been to Seattle in twenty years. Not since the last court date. Not since the judge signed the papers that gave Claire full custody. Not since I walked out of that courtroom and left my son behind.Matthew.He would be twenty three now. A man. A stranger. I did not know what he looked like. I did not know what he did for work. I did not know if he was happy. I did not know if he thought about me.Laura squeezed my knee."You are thinking too loud," she said."I am not thinking at all.""Liar."I looked at her. She was wearing a grey sweater. Her hair was in a ponytail. The star was around her neck."What if he does not want to see me," I said."Then we fly home.""What if he hates me.""Then you apologize.""For what.""For leaving. For not fighting harder. For giving up."I looked out the window."

LauraRegistration day fell on a Tuesday. The sun was too bright. The campus was too crowded. I stood in a line that wrapped around the gymnasium and tried not to think about how badly I wanted to turn around and go home.Chloe was next to me. She had decided to commute too. Not because of a boyfriend. Because of money. She said dorms were expensive and she would rather spend that cash on clothes and coffee. I did not argue."This line is never going to move," she said."It is moving.""We have been standing here for ten years.""It has been seven minutes.""Same thing."I looked at the building. Brick. Old. Ivy growing up the sides. It looked like a college should look. Like a place where people figured out their lives. I hoped I would figure out mine.Chloe poked my arm."Hey.""What.""You are doing that thing.""What thing.""The thing where you go somewhere else in your head.""I am thinking about classes.""You are thinking about him."I did not answer."Laura.""I am thinking a

MeganThe first time I saw Laura, I thought she was ordinary.Not ugly. Not pretty. Just there. Brown hair. Jeans. A sweater that looked like it came from a mall. She sat across from me in the cafeteria and introduced herself like she was apologizing for existing.I did not think much of her.Then she mentioned her boyfriend.Forty two. Retired. Rich.That got my attention.Not because I wanted him. I had a boyfriend. A law student. Very busy. Very serious. He was going to be a lawyer and I was going to be a lawyer's wife and we were going to live in a house with a fence and a dog and two children named something classy.I did not want Laura's boyfriend.I wanted to understand her.How did a girl like that land a man like that. What did she have that I did not.So when she invited me to dinner, I said yes.---The house was ridiculous.Not the kind of ridiculous that tries too hard. The kind of ridiculous that does not have to try at all. A gate. A driveway. A front door that weighed

RickI found out about Matthew on a Tuesday.Not from Damon. From a letter. Anonymously mailed. No return address. Just a photo and a typed note."Your father has another son. His name is Matthew. He lives in Seattle. He is 25 years old. Ask him why he never told you."I stared at the photo for an hour.A man. Mid-twenties. Glasses. Brown hair. My eyes.My brother.I did not know I had a brother.---That was three days ago.I had not slept since. Not really. I would close my eyes and see the photo. See his face. See the resemblance.See the lie.Damon had kept a son from me. A whole human being. For twenty five years.While he was raising me. While he was paying for my school. While he was buying me a house for my nineteenth birthday.He had another son. Somewhere else. Living a whole life. And he never said a word.---I called Chloe first."He has another son," I said."What do you mean another son.""I mean a son. A real son. A twenty five year old engineer named Matthew who lives