Grantley
“Do I look okay?” I asked, straightening my button down shirt.
Phoebe got up on her tiptoes and gave me a soft kiss. “You look extremely handsome. He’s going to be very proud.”
“I have no idea why I should care whether he is or not.”
“Because he’s your dad, and even though he left you, he was a great dad before he did.”
I let out a long exhale, shoved my hands into my pockets, and leaned against the hood of the rental car. We’d parked a couple of blocks away from my dad’s address because I figured a strange car pulling up outside his house would announce my arrival and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to give him an opportunity to run again.
Phoebe had been great at keeping me calm. She’d worked her magic on me once again. I smiled as I thought about how she’d woken me a couple of hours earlier. Shit, that girl had skills. In fact, she was just amazing in every way. I’d been a total douche over the whole Serena meeting, but after I’d apologized, that had been the end of it. No sulking or pouting or bringing it up at every opportunity. She even apologized for overreacting, but she shouldn’t have – I was in the wrong, not her.
Looking up from the sidewalk my eyes met Phoebe’s, and all I could see was warmth and gentleness, and I was so damn glad I’d asked her to come with me. It had been a spur of the moment decision, made because of how damn adorable she looked in her embarrassment over the boys playing with her dildo. However, once the words were out of my mouth, I knew I’d made the right choice. The way she’d been with me since we’d got to Ohio only proved that.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I said, snagging her hand and moving away from the car.
A few minutes later, we stood a little ways down from his house.
“It’s lovely,” Phoebe said, looking up at the single-fronted two-story.
It was; it had a neat, well-tended lawn with a curved flowerbed cut into it with a few bushes planted. It was half brick and half clapboard, painted a brilliant white and on the driveway, at the side that blended into a path to the door, was parked a small sedan and his 1976 Harley Davidson Shovelhead.
“Shit,” I muttered, squeezing Phoebe’s hand.
“What’s wrong?”
I nodded toward the driveway. “His bike. It’s the same one he had when I was a kid.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “The same one he’d take me on around the neighborhood.”
“Oh Grantley.”
Phoebe kissed my bicep and moved closer to my side.
“We can go, if you want to,” she said, her eyes firmly pinned on the bike.
“Nope. I came all this way for a reason, and I’m going to do it.”
Taking a deep breath, I led Phoebe up the path and rang the bell. I heard it chime inside followed by a woman’s voice.
“Hold on, I’m coming.”
I looked at Phoebe and gave her a tight smile, as we waited for Deanna Miller, my dad’s wife, to open the door. When it did swing open, I took a step back and drew in a breath.
“Oh hello. Can I help you?” Deanna, a pretty brunette, beamed at us.
When I opened my mouth, nothing came out. Deanna must have properly looked at me then, because she gasped and put a hand to her chest.
“Oh my God,” she croaked out. “It’s you.”
I coughed and stepped forward again. “I guess that depends on who you think I am.”
Anxiety gripped me, because if she said ‘Grantley James, the movie star’, if my dad had never acknowledged me, then I think it would have broken me.
“Trent’s boy,” she whispered.
I drew in a jagged breath, desperately trying to keep my emotions in place. Just those words: ‘Trent’s boy’, made me want to drop to my knees and sob for the dad I’d missed. My dad.
“Is he home?” I asked, my voice unsteady.
Deanna nodded and stepped back from the door, silently inviting us in. As we walked into the spacious lounge, with a set of stairs off to the right, I felt my knees trembling.
“You okay?” Phoebe asked.
I nodded, my mouth too dry to speak. I knew I should say something to Deanna, about how I was going to spoil her and Sue-Ann’s damn stupid plan, but no words would come. Deanna hovered next to us and looked between me and Phoebe.
“He’s going to be shocked. I just can’t believe you’re here.”
Thankfully, Phoebe spoke for me. “We know that this isn’t what you want, but Grantley felt he had to speak to his dad about it.”
Deanna slapped a hand across her mouth, stifling a sob, and shook her head. “No…you have no idea.”
“I’m sorry.” I managed to get out. “I had to.”
She looked at me with tears in her eyes and I was sure I saw joy, but had no idea how could that be when I was about to tell my dad that it was my kidney he was getting. She must know that he was going to refuse it – or maybe Sue-Ann had got it all wrong.
“Please, take a seat,” Deanna said, wiping her face. “I’ll go get Trent.”
“Thank you.” Phoebe gave her a warm smile and led me to a brown leather couch.
We sat in silence, the only noise, the tick of a clock on the wall above the fireplace. I looked around and could see they lived a comfortable life. Their furniture was of good quality, their TV pretty big, and there was a bookcase, with books and framed pictures on every shelf. I was too far away to be able to see properly, but I was pretty sure I recognized one of the photographs. It was me and Dad, sitting on his Harley. I was in front, holding onto the handlebars, with Dad’s hands over mine, and we were both grinning like we’d just won the damn lottery. If it was the picture I was thinking of, I had two front teeth missing and a huge scrape on my knee where I’d fallen over in the park. That was why I was smiling – Dad had taken me for ice cream and then for a ride on the bike to make me feel better.
“She seems lovely,” Phoebe whispered, leaning in closer.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
After a few minutes, I heard footsteps behind me on the hardwood floor and I thought my heart was going to explode, it was beating so fast. Adrenaline rapidly pumped through my veins, turning my blood to ice and electrifying the hairs on my arms. I could hardly breathe, in the corner of my eye, I saw the long, lean body of my dad.
I dropped my head and leaned forward, pulling my hand from Phoebe’s to rest my forearms on my knees. He was here. My dad. My world for six years, before he left me.
“Grantley.” Phoebe laid a hand on my back, her voice tender, yet full of urgency. “Are you okay?”
Breathing heavily, I nodded.
His boots came into view – biker boots like he’d always worn. The hems of worn denims draped over the tops of them. Then I smelled it, that familiar odor of my dad. Engine oil and juniper. He smelled exactly the same. Almost twenty years and he was still wearing the same cologne.
I couldn’t look up, for fear of seeing hatred in his eyes. For fear that he’d disappear again. I wanted to scream at him, but I wanted to hug him. I wanted to punch him, but I wanted to cry because he was here. After twenty years, he was here. I started to shake, desperate to know what to do. Now wondering whether I was right to take his chance of life away from him. This was wrong. I shouldn’t be here, he would refuse to take my kidney through guilt and he’d die. I would lose him again.
Then, I felt it. His big hand was on my head. Just like he used to do when I was a kid.
“It’s okay, son,” he said in his deep growl. “It’s okay. I’m here.”