Page 27 of Deking
Stay. He wants to stay.
While it wouldn’t be much to most people, it means everything to me. Kyle never hung around. He wanted nothing to do with my home life. He didn’t want to get to know my dad before and especially not after.
“If you’re not careful, you’re going to make me fall in love with you,” I tease as I pull back.
“Maybe that’s the plan.” He winks, shooting me a smile.
“Oh, there you are, Agatha. Who’s this?” Dad asks as he walks into the kitchen.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were home. This is my boyfriend, Wyatt, and before you ask, Daddy knows he’s here,” I lie.
“Oh.” My dad frowns.
“But your father said that if I was going to be here, we needed a chaperone,” Wyatt cuts in.
Dad rolls his shoulders back and puffs out his chest. “That’s right. Tell me, Wyatt, do you like cards?”
“I do.”
“I can grab the deck,” I tell them as I move to do just that.
Dad and Wyatt chat quietly as they head to the table and sit down. When I grab the cards and turn, I just stop and stare at them for a minute.
I might have been teasing him earlier when I told him that I could fall in love with him, but it’s not a lie. If Wyatt keeps doing things like this, I’m sure it’s going to happen.
I just need to protect myself.
“What are you two whispering about over here?” I tease as I step forward and move toward them.
“I told him about that diner you like over on Third Street,” Dad says.
“Their food is delicious.”
Or so I’ve heard. They closed long before I was born.
I hand the deck over to my dad. “Here. You know I’m not any good at shuffling.”
Wyatt leans over and whispers, “Is this okay?”
“Yeah, and Wyatt? Thank you.”
His eyes soften. “You’re welcome.”
“Now, the secret to a good shuffle is you have to hold your hands just right. Pay attention, Agatha. I won’t always be here to shuffle the deck for you,” Dad cuts in.
Tears fill my eyes at his words. He won’t always be here, and I don’t know what I am going to do when the day comes that he’s not.
“I’m watching,” I tell him as I look his way.
Then, for the first time in a long time, I have fun with my dad, and I have Wyatt to thank for that.
Out of all the things that Lyla could have been hiding, I wasn’t expecting it to be that her dad was sick, and make no mistake, Jerry was sick in the worst possible way.
Until tonight I have never been around someone whose mind is betraying them, and it’s fucking hard to watch. It hurt watching moments of clarity come in a flash and then be gone in the blink of an eye, and I’m not even his kid. I don’t have any skin in the game.
The porch swing creaks under me as I sit down to wait for her.
About twenty minutes ago it became evident that her dad was tired and it was time to get him to bed. Again, she tried to give me an out, but I think I surprised her by staying. Not only that, but I helped get him to his room.
