Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Jasper felt Azure’s eyes on him, then she nodded in agreement. Shit. She sees it, too. Of course she sees it. She’s a damn artist…
“Harrison, can I be frank with you?”
“You can be Frank, Tom, Gary, anyone you want! I’m just glad to be here!”
The table erupted in laughter. Caspian faked it for the sake of the conversation. With his tight smile in place, then allowing it to fade slowly, in a natural fashion, he nodded.
“I uh… I was curious only about you, at this age and time in my life, because I want to find out what happened to my mother. I feel like maybe you’d know something. I don’t have any ill will towards ya but no expectations, either. I’m curious, but I don’t need a father anymore. That ship has sailed. I didn’t write out a long list of questions, either. You’re not going to get any tears or emotional outbursts from me. I just accepted the fact a long time ago that what will be, will be. For whatever reason, you weren’t in my life. It doesn’t matter why because I figure—”
“Okay, stop. I hate to interrupt you, Caspian, but I must.” The man’s booming voice cut through the air like a blade. “First and foremost, it may not matter to you the reason why I wasn’t there, but it matters to me. I need to be able to tell my side of this story, regardless. I didn’t know a damn thing about your existence. Excuse my French.” His brows ruffled as he spoke. “Your mama and I wasn’t always together, we broke up quite a bit, and I was in prison for quite some time. I asked her once word got around that she was pregnant if you were mine. She said that you weren’t. Then I heard about two or three years later when I got out the joint that Cheyenne had a lil’ boy. It never dawned on me that I could be the daddy ’cause it didn’t seem like her to not say anything if I was the father, but once I did the math in my head, I realized that the baby, you, could in fact be mine. I confronted her. Again.”
“Wait, so you’re tellin’ me that you asked about the paternity, twice?”
“Yes. I called and asked, ‘Is that baby of yours mine?’ She said no once again. I asked who was the father, and she just hung up the phone. I knew she didn’t want shit to do with me. I wasn’t a good boyfriend. I was young and stupid. I wasn’t good to her, and she’d had enough. I took her at her word though and honestly, I was relieved when she told me you weren’t mine because then I didn’t have any responsibilities.
“I ran into her a few months later at a grocery store. Even as a baby, you looked just like her, and since I didn’t see a resemblance, I let it go again. Now, here we are… I see you. I’m sitting across from you at this table. Man to man. That nose of yours is somethin’… that’s a McKinlay nose for sure.” The man’s voice brimmed with emotion.
Caspian sat back in the booth and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I didn’t expect to hear that. Well, I expected to hear excuses as to why you weren’t around, and it wouldn’t have made me no difference, but I didn’t expect for you to say you confronted ’er and she said no. I find that troublin’. That either means she was telling the truth and your assumption is wrong, or she lied.”
“Maybe she wasn’t sure. DNA testin’ wasn’t that common back then. If she really believed I was the father and lied, then she was probably doing it to keep you out of harm’s way.”
“Harm’s way?”
“I told you me and your mother wasn’t a good fit, mostly on account of me. I hung with the wrong crowd. I was involved in some things no baby should’ve been around. I was young. Like I said.” He pointed at himself. “I was sowin’ my wild oats and getting into loads of trouble. I… I was also,” his face reddened, “…taking some substances. I ’spose she didn’t want you ’round that, either. ’Specially after seeing some of ’er family members hooked on the same stuff.”
“Alcohol. Marijuana. Cocaine.”
“All of those and then some. It’s a miracle I’m still standing.”
Just then, the waitress approached with their food. They proceeded to eat and share light banter. After a while, Harrison cleared his throat and reached into his pocket for his wallet, from which he produced two small, old photos. He slid them across the table toward Caspian. Caspian set his hamburger down onto his plate and grabbed one of the pictures.
Now, his heart began to flutter. His chest tightened. His mouth became dry after the last swallow of the grilled meat, thick sliced tomato, and soft bread. He held the photo with a hand he tried to control, to not allow it to tremble.