“Haven’t decided yet.”
“Perhaps you ought to give that some thought, huh?”
“Perhaps I will.”
“Excellent. How about the job at the Wayfarer? What do you think about that?”
“I think it might be perfect for me. Work hard for four months and get paid an annual salary while coasting the rest of the year? That probably wouldn’t suck.”
“Probably not, and we’d love to have you here with us year-round.”
When John had first come back to Gansett for the housewarming party, his entire life had been a mess. He’d lost a job he’d put his heart and soul into, his first real relationship had imploded, and he’d been living a lie for as long as he could remember. Now, though… Things were looking up, and he couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
Hope waiteduntil she got Scarlett down for the night and then went to find Ethan and Paul. On the nights when Paul, a town councilman, didn’t have a meeting in town, the two of them could be found enjoying a bowl of ice cream while they watched some form of sports on TV. Tonight, they had a Red Sox game on and were talking about how to identify the various types of pitches.
“See that curve?” Paul asked. “Right at the end? That’s how you know it’s a curveball.”
Hope would be forever thankful to Paul for treating Ethan like a son, long before she and Paul had admitted their feelings for each other. Her son hung on Paul’s every word, followed him around like a puppy, and even imitated some of Paul’s mannerisms. She couldn’t think of a better man for her son to look up to. She ached at the thought of anything disturbing their harmonious life, especially the man who’d caused them so much pain in the past.
“Can I talk to you guys for a minute?”
Since they’d planned this conversation earlier, Paul muted the TV. “Sure.”
“I wanted to talk to Ethan about his dad getting out of jail.”
“Oh,” Ethan said.
“As you know, he’s agreed to allow Paul to adopt you.”
“That’s still happening, right?” Ethan asked, seeming unnerved.
“It is,” Hope said, “but your father has requested the opportunity to see you, just once. I believe he’d like the chance to apologize for everything that happened. Paul and I have talked about it, and we think the decision should be yours.”
Ethan thought about that for a minute. “Do I have to see him?”
“No, you don’t.”
He looked at Paul. “What do you think I should do?”
Hope wasn’t at all surprised that he wanted Paul’s opinion.
“If I were you, I’d want to see him and hear him out so I could move on with my life without any regrets, but I want to add that if you think it would be too upsetting for you, then you shouldn’t do it.”
“What about you, Mom? What do you think I should do?”
“The part of me that still has a lot of feelings about what he put us through wants you to tell him to go to hell.”
Ethan laughed at her unusually harsh language.
“However, the part of me that will always be grateful to him for giving me you thinks that maybe we could give him an hour and then close the book on that chapter of our lives for good.”
“An hour is really no big deal, right?” Ethan asked.
“It’s nothing in the grand scheme of things,” Paul said.
“As long as you know that you’re my dad, that you always will be, I’ll see him,” Ethan said.
Paul took Ethan’s empty bowl and placed it on the coffee table. Then he put his arm around the boy. “I’ll always be your dad. Nothing could ever change that, and nothing could ever change how much I love you. If you want to see him, now or any time in the future, you should.”