“Feel like some dessert?” my mom asks quietly, stepping out the door my dad’s just opened for her.

“No thanks, I think I’ll get changed and head out for a while.” I give her a weak grin and shuffle past, choosing to use the back door instead of walking up that damn porch – can’t stand the sight of that swing. But before I have the chance to slip away, my dad stops me with a firm grip on my shoulder.

“Walk with me, son.”

It’s not exactly a request, so I nod, letting him steer me toward the treeline.

When we reach the water, he drops to the grass and leans back on his palms. “Gettin’ warmer.” He looks around.

I loosen my tie and drop beside him.

After a minute or two, he sighs. “You remember that summer we met your cousins and their friends in Chicago?”

“Yeah.” I pull a piece of overgrown grass and toss it.

“We went to that Bears game?”

A light chuckle escapes. “Yeah, and Mason got pissed when Ari’s friend was flirting with me.”

My dad shakes his head, grinning. “Then got mad when Ari started flirtin’ with his friend.”

I laugh, leaning back to match my dad’s position. “I knew she had a thing for Chase. Mason put a stop to that quick.”

My dad scoffs. “Or so he thinks. Ari’s an amazing girl. I think Chase will see it eventually. Though, I’d hate to be the guy that falls for his best friend’s little sister.” He laughs.

I nod, but can’t find it in me to care right now.

My dad sighs. “That game we went to, Nate; the Bears played the Tomahawks.”

My head snaps to my dad’s, eyes narrowing slightly.

He watches me for moment, studying me. “It was a playoff game, remember?”

I nod, scanning his face.

“She was there, Nate. She and her family. Her dad was the one who took our pictures in front of the stadium.”

“How the hell do you know that?”

He doesn’t snap at me for my tone or my words, but looks away, guilt shadowing his features for a moment.

“I figured out who she was the day I met her,” he admits quietly. “Put two and two together based on what I knew; her story and her name.” He pushes up, lifting one knee to rest his arm on. “Didn’t tie her to that event until you guys had your fallout, and I started to really think everything through.”

I scrub my hands down my face, unsure how to handle this situation, confused if it even matters at this point. “Why you telling me this, Dad?”

He ignores my question. “Remember that quarterback camp you flew out to a few years back, at SDU? The one Mason submitted your highlight reel to, without telling you?”

“Yeah, Dad. I remember.” I turn my scowl on him. “What about it?”

“Did you know that program was created and funded by the Tomahawks? Their head coach, Lee Embers, ran that camp. He took you under his wing that summer.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Son, listen to me. What your mom and I have…” His dark brows raise and he nods. “It’s special. As sad as it is, most people who have been married, or together as long as we have, don’t have that zing anymore. They don’t get their breath stolen from their lungs when their wives first step outta bed, get lost in her eyes when she looks up at them, or blinded by her smile.”

I wish he’d stop talking.

I palm at my chest.

“Yeah,” he chuckles to himself. “What we have is really something.” He locks his eyes on mine. “But what you and Lolli have?” He raises a brow and I frown at him. “That’s once in a lifetime. Once.”

“Dad-”

“I’m dead serious, son. I’ve never witnessed the kind of connection you two have. Hell, I’m not even sure I believed in it until she came along.” He shakes his head. “It’s almost too much to watch you two together. You’re so attuned to one another, it’s as if you’re one person. You know what she needs without her telling you. You have deep, meaningful moments with just your eyes.”

“Dad-”

“And when that girl laughs, I swear to God, I can see it leave her and run through you. You live for it. For her.”

“Yeah, well. Sucks to be me, I guess.” I hop to my feet and start toward the house.

“Nate, damn it.” He catches up to my quick strides. “Don’t you get it?”

I stop, dropping my head back. “Get what, Dad?” I lift my face to see his frown mirrors mine. “Get that the girl I’m, as you just pointed out, desperately in fucking love with doesn’t give a shit about me, and took off without caring to glance back? No, Dad, I don’t get it!”

Again, I expect him to smack the shit out of me for talking to him like this, but it never comes. Instead, he squares his shoulders and stands tall.

“You don’t find it weird that, throughout your life, you’ve had multiple opportunities to meet her, and never did?” He doesn’t give me time to answer. “‘Cause I sure as hell do. I think this is how it was all supposed to happen. Your lives have been mixed and intertwined for years without your knowledge, but the universe knew you two weren’t ready for each other then. You needed to live, Nate. To screw up a bit before she came to you. Otherwise you’d have never seen her worth, her particular type of perfection. Without your regret, you’d never have had something, or someone, to be better for.

“And, as messed up as it is, she needed to see what life was lacking, experience pain and loss, and figure out her own way of handling it before she had you to lean on. Or else she never would have needed you, never would have searched your soul for her safe place. She’d have gone through life taking it only as it came, never truly living, or loving. That’s the only way it could happen; through her terrible losses.”

His theory makes sense, in a fucked-up movie kind of way. She came here and shook me to the core, right when I needed it. I quit the partying that threatened to ruin everything, because I didn’t like the way she looked at me, like I was a typical guy. I had a breakout year in football, earning pretty much my choice of schools because knowing she was sitting there, watching me, pushed me to work harder. To make her proud.

I didn’t want to be typical to her. I wanted to be all she could ever want and more. I wanted to be her everything, like she quickly and without my knowledge, became mine. And I was so sure I succeeded. I was so sure she felt me with every cell in her body, like I do her.

I bite the inside of my cheek, my nostrils flaring, as I try to keep my emotions in check in front the man I look up to. I lift my shaky gaze to his.

“I don’t know what happened. Heard the bit you told your mom, but I can see it in your eyes; you’re not convinced. I know you’re scared of the truth, pissed and hurt, but ask yourself, Nate,” he places a hand on my shoulder, his dark eyes locked on mine, “what’ll be worse? Finding out it was true, that she didn’t love you? Or never knowing for sure, always wondering if you still hold a piece of her, like she always will for you?”

My shoulders drop and I look off to the side.

“She was made for you, Nathaniel. The other piece of your soul. She came to you, was given to you, when you were ready for her, when you needed her. Way I see it, things are coming around now. It was only right something happened now, to test you, like she was tested.” My gaze returns to his and he gives a resolute nod. “It’s your turn now. Go to her when she needs you most.

Well, shit.