I sat across from the foot of my father’s bed. My knee was bouncing a mile-a-minute as he watched the end of a baseball game.

“Something bothering you, Son?” he asked without looking up.

“No.”

“I raised you,” he said, meeting my gaze as he spoke. “That knee starts doing that when you’re thinking. I don’t see your laptop in front of you, so my guess is something’s eating at ya.”

“I need to talk to you when the game’s over.”

He pointed the remote at the television and turned it off. “There. It’s over.”

I looked at Jess, drew a long breath, and then met his curious gaze. “The kids really liked it in Florida.”

“When are you moving?”

I didn’t know how to continue.

I stood. Jess came to my side. I looked at my mother and then my father. “We liked the city. The schools are second to none, and the crime rate is non-existent. I want to take the kids there for the same reasons you took us from San Diego. It’s what’s best for the family, Pop.”

He pursed his lips and nodded. “I’m happy for you, Son.” He looked at Jess. “Congratulations.”

“Are you okay with it?” I asked.

“Would I like you to stay? Sure. I’ve grown kind of fond of you over the years, Son. But. I want what’s best for your kids no differently than you do. Your older kids are all in school, and there’s not much that ties you to this God forsaken city. Move somewhere that inspires you to write and do what you do best.”

“So, it’s okay with you?”

He sat up and opened his arms. After giving me a hug, he hugged Jess. When he released her, he gestured at Landon.

“Lan-dino will be hunting snakes and lizards, just like you did. Mark my words.”

The thought of leaving him was difficult to digest. I fought back tears. “Probably so.”

He could see my emotional struggle.

I could also see his.

With our eyes locked, he forced a smile. “It’s what’s best, Son. Swallow that lump in your throat and give your mother a hug, I’ve got a ballgame to watch.”

The next weekend, we told the big kids. Alec explained that the best time of his life was when he’d spent spring break with his brother in the Gulf of Mexico, on the Texas coast. Derek agreed. Erin was excited for us and went on to explain that she wanted to move to Boston as soon as she graduated college.

It was settled.

We were moving.

We signed the paperwork, sold our home furnishings, and packed the remainder of our belongings into a U-Haul trailer.

With the trailer hooked to the back of Teddy’s truck, we began our journey. Teddy and Heather drove his truck. Jess, Charlee and Lily drove her SUV, and Landon and I drove my car.

Three days later, we stepped through the threshold of our new home. I took photos, emailed them to my mother, and then called my father.

“We made it,” I said.

“Kids excited?” he asked.

“You’re going to like this one,” I said.

“What’s that?”

“There’s lizards everywhere. Landon’s hunting them. Already caught three.”

“Chip off the ol’ block, isn’t he?”

The phrase, of course, meant that Landon was like his father. I wasn’t Landon’s biological father, but in the time that had passed since Jess and I were together, he’d forgotten about his father.

My father always said the ‘sperm donor’ didn’t deserve to claim the children, and that I was their true father. I agreed wholeheartedly.

I gazed into the yard. Landon was chasing Lily through the grass with a lizard clutched tightly in his hand. I’d done exactly the same thing with my sister.

“He sure is,” I said.

“Son?” My father asked.

“Yeah, Pop?”

“I need to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

“When I die, I don’t want a funeral.”

“Pop. That’s something we can discuss one day. We don’t need to do it now.”

“Promise me.”

“Pop…”

“Promise me, Son. I know if you do, you’ll honor it. No funeral. I want to be cremated. Immediately, too. I don’t want anyone looking at my dead ass.”

“Pop…”

“Promise me, Son.”

I sighed. “Okay. When you die, no funeral. Cremated immediately, with no one looking at ya.”

“Alright. Now that we’re done with that, let’s see. Oh, your mother and I celebrate our fifty-ninth in two weeks. Long time to be married to one woman, isn’t it?”

“Sure is Pop. Congratulations. What are you two planning? Big Scrabble game?”

“Nope. Homemade dinner for two.”

“She catering it in?”

“No. I’m going home.”

I jumped up. It had only been three days since I’d seen him, and I knew they hadn’t fixed his knee in that time. At least I thought they hadn’t.

“They get your knee fixed?”

“Fuck these dip-shits. I’m done waiting. I walked to the end of the hallway yesterday. That’s what they required, so that’s what I gave ‘em. They’re working on my paperwork right now.”

“Well, good for you. I’m proud of you, Pop.”

“I’m proud of you, too, Son. Give Jess my best. I’ve got shit to do, I can’t sit here and yack all day. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Talk to you soon, Pop.”

“I love you, Son.”

“Love you, too, Pop. Tell mom I love her.”

The following Sunday, we talked. He was at home, right where he belonged. Midway through my current novel, HARD, he gave praise for what he’d read. The bikers in the group were vigilantes. They took the law into their own hands and administered punishment as they saw necessary.

I’d dedicated the book to a woman I didn’t know. She was raped at Stanford University by a man who was then sentenced by the judge to sixty days in jail. I explained in the dedication that I couldn’t correct what happened, but I could acknowledge her being raped twice.

Once by the man, and once again by the court.

It sickened my father that the judicial system could sentence him to sixty days in jail, and me to three years in a maximum security federal prison.

We ended the call with me explaining that I was going to Hollywood, and then Las Vegas for two back-to-back book signings the following weekend.

“You’ve come a long way, Son. I remember when you said you’d never do a book signing.”

“Jess made me.”

“Career took off after that, huh?”

“Kind of.”

“Kind of, my ass. Give credit where credit’s due, dip-shit. She’s a good woman.”

Charlee was crawling through the house giggling, and Jess was chasing her playfully. I glanced at them, smiled, and then agreed.

“She sure is, Pop.”

“Give her and the kids my best. I’ve got an anniversary to plan. I’ll talk to you soon, Son. Have fun in Hollywood.”

“Will do, Pop.”