Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m freaking the hell out.” John sits on the edge of the bed, his leg bouncing up and down.
I frown. “What happened? Is it your mom?”
“Callie’s pregnant.”
My mouth drops open. It’s not as if I didn’t know John and Callie have sex. They started dating when we were fourteen—our freshman year. They were each other’s first everything. She’s the first girl John asked out, the first girl he liked, held hands with, kissed. They lost their virginity to each other, but I also know John always uses condoms. He’s too responsible not to do something like that.
“Shit…shit…how?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. Condoms aren’t a hundred percent. She just told me tonight. I’m going to be an eighteen-year-old dad,” John says, and I’m not surprised. There’s nothing wrong with making the choice that’s best for you, and John would support the right to choose for anyone, but I know him, and I know Callie well enough not to be shocked.
“Fuck.” I sit down beside him.
John is the star quarterback on our high school football team. There’s no doubt he’ll get into a D1 school to play football. He’s a straight A student, one who manages to party on the weekends like a lot of teenagers, but also work and volunteer and be a great boyfriend to Callie, best friend to me, and a good son to his parents.
“If anyone can handle it, you can.”
“Cal is scared, but she wants to keep the baby too. We’ll figure it out, ya know? It’s not as if I don’t love her. I planned to spend the rest of my life with her anyway, to start a family with her. It looks like all that is happening earlier than planned, is all.”
I put an arm around him, and John drops his head on my shoulder. There’s nothing sexual between us, no romantic feels. I’d worried he might think that when I came out to him, but again, John did all the right things. He knows I don’t see him like that, and I know he never will with me either.
“I got your back. You know that. Any way I can help, I will.”
“Uncle Marsh,” he says, and I can tell he’s smiling.
“I like the sound of that.” My head is still spinning, but I’m trying not to let it show.
When John cries, I hold him. I’m sure he’s probably wondering about his future and feeling like he’s letting his family down, as well as worried about a million other things he takes responsibility for.
“You’re going to be the best father in the world,” I tell him because John’s the type that needs to hear it.
“How do you know?”
“Because I know you.”
John wipes his eyes. “Thanks, Marsh. It helps that you have my back.”
“Always, brother.”
“Yeah, I know. And I always have yours too.” And though I don’t have it in me to believe that about anyone else in my life, I believe it from John.
When high school graduation comes around, he chooses to spend the night with just me and not Callie. He’s doing it for me so that I realize that no matter what happens in our lives, we’ll always be like brothers.
When I leave for college in California, John makes sure we speak at least once a week. He travels out to surprise me for my birthday, comes to my college graduation too. When he goes on trips with his family, I’m always invited, though I typically don’t go. That’s their time to be together, without me hanging around, but it means the world to me that even as the years go by, and time and miles separate us, John makes sure I know I have a place in his life and always will.
CHAPTER ONE
JT
Twenty-two years later
“How was your date last night?” Reggie asks while we have a few minutes downtime at Black Salt, the restaurant where we’re both waiters. We got hired around the same time about two years ago and hit it off right away, eventually becoming roommates and best friends. Reggie is working here while he goes to college, but for me, I simply like the atmosphere. I like being surrounded by food and seeing people on dates, celebrating birthdays, or a group of women on a girls’ night out. Being satisfied here is something my dad can’t understand, and it’s the topic of way too many conversations in the Dirks family.
He and I are different. He always knew what he wanted—to go to college to be a dentist, to marry my mom and have a family—and he accomplished all that despite having me when they were eighteen. My dad is like a fucking superhero. As soon as he conquers one challenge, he’s on to the next, but I don’t have the same goals. I don’t need to go through life being perfect at everything and using one accomplishment as a building block for the next.