Our Kind of Love (29 page)

“I tried, Mitchel,” he defends himself. “I went
to rehab.”

“Yeah, and how many times have you done that
only to give up?”

“Oh Mitch,” he grumbles and massages his temple.
“I’m sorry I failed you all those times. But I’m clean now. I haven’t had a
bottle in five months.”

I hold up a hand and gesture for him to stop
talking. “Look, I’m not even trying to hear this right now. I have something
important to take care of, and when I come back, you better be gone.”

He throws his head back, aghast. I really don’t
care about it. He’s had plenty chances in the past and I’m all out of
forgiveness where he’s concerned.

I start for the front door. Dad slants and
watches me walk by him. “I think we should talk, Mitch. There’s a lot that we
need to work on.”

“Not interested,” I scoff and go out the door,
slamming it shut behind me.

The nerve of him, wanting to
take on the father figure in my life now.
I mean, what if I
didn’t come back, would he even look for me? Does he know about my time in
juvie?

I’m not going to think about all that right now.
I’m going to call Greg so he can let the Harrisons know I’ll be stopping by. My
energy is focused on facing Lewis. After that, it’s goodbye to Haxtun.

Chicken shit.

That’s how I feel right now. I spend a good five
minutes outside of Lewis Harrison’s brick house, pacing by their red maple
tree. I try to think of the right words to apologize for what I’ve done.

Suddenly the thought crosses my mind that he’s
probably going to kick my ass, and that this whole wanting to meet with me is
about payback. I didn’t even ask Greg if Lewis has spoken to Jason in jail.

Then I start to scold myself for deliberating so
much and just man up. There’s no way I’m going to come all the way here only to
cower and run back to Newport. I’m done being that kind of guy. I have to face
my past.

Blowing out a long breath, I finally take the
steps up to his porch. The door opens before I get the chance to knock. I
swallow down the huge lump that’s lodged in my throat, as I look into the grey
eyes of the man I’d partially hurt two years ago.

Lewis isn’t that different from the last time
I’d seen him. He still has patches of grey hair on both sides of his head,
peeking through his dark strands, only now there’s a scar on the left side of
his forehead and he appears chunkier and more intimidating.

“Um…” I fumble for words.

“I saw you out there,” he says.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure what to say so I
thought maybe I shouldn’t—”

“It’s good you changed your mind then,” he cuts
me off.

After a pause, he steps aside and opens the door
further. “Come in, Mitchel.”

I inhale and exhale quietly as I make those few
steps inside his house. It’s not as different from Grams’. You walk into the
living room, the kitchen and dining’s off to the side and there’s a passage
leading to the bedrooms.

“Have a seat,” he offers, his voice is calm.

Ambling over to the espresso-colored leather
couch, I take my time sitting down so as not to seem too jittery.

“Care for anything to drink?” he asks.

“No thank you, sir,” I mutter.

Lewis sits down in the armchair and clasps his
hands, studying me. “Still so polite,” he says lowly.

Unable to hold it back any longer, I blurt out,
“I’m so sorry about that night. I was angry at my dad, I’d been drinking, and I
just…snapped.”

He lifts his head slowly and blows out a gush of
air. “That’s just it, Mitchel. I don’t understand why
you
of all people
hit me. Honestly, I expected Jason to do what he did. He was always a troubled
kid. I don’t get why you were even friends with him to begin with.”

“Because everyone else gave up on him, and I…” I
trail as I consider my words. “I know what it’s like for him, not feeling like
he’s good enough. His parents abandoned him. He got kicked off the baseball
team, and I just wanted to be his friend.”

“But, Mitchel, even though you didn’t have your
parents growing up, you still had Annie. She did a wonderful job raising you.
Your life is so different from Jason’s.”

“If we’re so different then I wouldn’t have hit
you,” I tell him, my tone sharp.

Lewis eyes the rug and clasps his knuckles. His
forehead wrinkles in deep thought.

“I went to see Jason two days ago,” he says.

I straighten, surprised by this news. “You did?”

He nods. “Yeah, and let me tell you, he’s
certainly changed. But there’s one thing he said that had me amazed.”

“What’s that?”

Meeting my gaze, the corners of his mouth turn
up slightly. “He told me not to blame you, said you were a good friend and that
what happened was his fault. Not yours.”

“He…” I’m almost out of breath, hearing that.
Jason cursed me the day he was sentenced. Said I was a pussy and I should’ve
finished off Lewis. “He said that?” I confirm.

“He did. And it’s true. That night when you hit
me, I was disappointed because I knew you were better than that and I felt sad
for Annie. But I also knew something must have gone wrong for you, because
after Jason nearly killed me, I could hear you next to me when he took off. And
I knew you were still good.”

“Lewis, I’m so sorry—”

“This isn’t about that, Mitchel. The reason why
I wanted to see you is because I know you must have been disappointed in
yourself all these years, and that you felt like you broke your grams’ heart.
You didn’t.”

I suck in a deep breath and look down at my
hands, trying to remain tough. “I’m sure I did.”

“No, you didn’t son. Annie came to see me when I
was in the hospital. My wife said she was there until she fell sick and passed
away.”

My eyes expand. “What? She…she visited you?”

“Grace said she was there apologizing, telling her
that you were a good boy. That you were only sad in your heart and made a
terrible mistake.”

I shake my head in dismay. “That definitely
sounds like something my grams would do.”

“She did it because she loves you, and I just
couldn’t be mad at you after hearing that, Mitchel.”

There’s another pause between us before he
stands up and pats my shoulder.

I stand as well.

Lewis shakes my hand and mutters, “That’s really
why I wanted to see you, Mitchel. To let you know there’s no reason to hold on
to guilt anymore.”

“Thank you, sir. This…helps a lot.”

He walks me to the door. “Also, I met your
father. He seems like he wants to make amends, so if you’re planning on staying
in Haxtun for some time, then I suggest working things out with him. It takes
time but at least try.”

As he opens the door, I step out on the porch
and look at Lewis from sideways. “I’m not staying after tomorrow. There’s
nothing to work on with my dad.”

An unsatisfied expression appears on his face.
“Well, that’s too bad.” He peers down for a second before looking up to meet my
gaze again, saying, “Thanks again for coming by. All the best with whatever
decisions you make.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I walk away from Lewis Harrison’s house feeling
contented with that part of my life. Meeting him has made me realized that the
past needs to stay in the past, and that I have a bright future to look forward
to, especially if I have a girl like Reign in it.

When I get back to Grams house I take out my
cellphone to give
Reign
a call, wanting to let her
know I’ve met with Lewis and that I’m content to move on now. Only as I step
inside, Dad is on the couch waiting for me.

“Why are you still here?” I hiss.

He springs to his feet. “I’m not going anywhere,
Mitch. We need to talk.”

“I already told you there’s nothing to talk
about. Just leave. It’s what you’re good at, anyway.”

“You know,” he drops his hands on his hips. “You
have some nerve coming down on me when you’ve been in juvie,” he snaps.

“Oh,” I let out a sarcastic laugh. “So you wanna
play that game now? Of who’s messed up the most? Well, maybe you should
consider the fact that if I had a good father figure in my life then I probably
wouldn’t have ended up there.”

He clamps his mouth shut and twists it from side
to side, fuming. After a moment he says in a softer tone, “I’m sorry. I should
have been there for you.”

I scoff, “You should have done a lot of things.
You should have fought your disease a long time ago, if not for Grams then for
me. And you think just because you’re sober now we’re gonna be all cool as a
cucumber, it doesn’t work like that. It’s been years and years of hurt, and I’m
sorry, but I can’t forgive you in just one day.”

Lewis could. So, does that make me a hypocrite?

Heading down the hallway towards my room at the
back of the house, Dad mutters, “Please don’t leave again, Mitch. We really
need to fix this.”

I stop midstride and mutter over my shoulder, “I
have to go back. There’s someone waiting for me, someone I know will never
treat me the way you did.”

“It’s not only me that needs your forgiveness,
Mitch,” he says as I start to walk away again. When I don’t stop he calls out,
“Your mother wants to see you!”

Thirty
-
Four

Reign

I CAN’T JOG for five minutes straight without
thinking about Micah. He hasn’t called to let me know he’s arrived in Haxtun
much less sent me a text.
It’s
Saturday now, and still
there’s no word from him. I wonder what’s going on.

After another ten minutes I turn and head back
to my house. That was a flimsy workout. I didn’t even break a sweat. But it’s
hard running without Micah now.

Dad’s in the kitchen making breakfast when I
walk through the arched doorway.

“Mom’s not up yet?” I ask, slumping over the
island.