Simon frowned. “Wait... Mom kept you from seeing me?”
His father nodded vigorously. “You know how she is. We’d be on again, then off again. One day she’d be madly in love with me, and then next day she’d be threatening divorce. Your mother changes her mind at the drop of a hat.”
“That sounds very familiar.” Heather’s unexpected voice cut through the room as she walked back into the living room. She shot his father a hard look as she resumed her seat.
“Familiar?” his father asked, puzzled.
She nodded. “Yes. It sounds like something my ex-husband recently said.”
Simon stole a glance at her. There was a smile plastered on her face, but her eyes were narrowed in suspicion. It was unlike her to react this way, but maybe the surprise of seeing his father again was taking a toll on her emotions.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear you’ve had domestic problems,” his father said, seemingly oblivious to her chilly demeanor.
“I’m sure you can relate, Onslow,” she said pointedly.
Surprise made Simon stare at her. It wasn’t like her to be so openly hostile. “Dad and I have already gone over that.”
“I see.” She put her hands in her lap and looked directly at his father. “So, Onslow, what brings you to Seattle? I remember hearing that you had left several years ago.”
His dad nodded. “I’ve been all over the country, doing whatever work I can get. I was in Alaska for several months on fishing trips. I came back to Seattle a few weeks ago to do some work with a canning company, but I never planned on seeing Simon. With the way things ended between us, I didn’t think he’d even be interested in seeing me. But then I saw this article about him on the internet yesterday.” He paused, shifting in his seat in discomfort. The way he sagged in the chair made it look like he was carrying a heavy burden he didn’t know what to do with. “And I saw the photos. I could see how happy he looked. I... something in me wanted to see you again, son. I dropped by because I wanted you to know that I was thinking of you.”
Simon had hated having his photos taken during the interview Heather had orchestrated, but he had never anticipated agreeing to be friendlier to the media would lead to something like this.
“How did you even find out where Simon lived?” Heather pressed.
“Simon’s mother,” he answered. “I begged her to give me his contact details. When she finally gave in I thought about making a phone call. But I worried he’d hang up on me. Figured if I showed up at his front door he couldn’t turn me away so easily.”
Guilt gnawed at him again. His father really thought he was cold enough to hang up on him after a decade apart. And it stung to realize that maybe his father had a point. It was tough to consider the exact outcome of a hypothetical, but Simon could imagine himself refusing to take his father’s calls.
That realization just about wrecked him. He had let his bitterness and anger get the best of him for years. His selfish pride had made his own father too afraid to even make a simple phone call. There were so many unresolved issues between them, but the fact that his father didn’t feel comfortable calling him was a crushing blow. The fact that he hadn’t made a call either in all these years hurt even more.
“Dad, I know we’ve had our differences, but I never wanted you to be too afraid to call me,” Simon said.
“I should have called regardless,” his father said. “But I didn’t know how to pick up the phone. Plus, I thought I’d just drag you down.”
“How could you drag me down?” Simon asked.
“You’ve done so well for yourself,” his dad responded. “I mean, look at me compared to you, son. You’re this hotshot rich guy and I’m just a scruffy old man. Nobody would look at the two of us and guess that you were my son.”
“Dad, I want to tell you that money isn’t important, but money was what drove us apart in the first place,” Simon said.
His father nodded sadly. “I know. I’ve made my share of mistakes. It’s my fault. I didn’t even take the time to read up on your accomplishments. That article I saw online was the only thing I took the time to read about you in all this time. I was a crappy father and I let your mother come between us, son. I don’t blame you for turning your back on me. For pretending I don’t even exist.”
Simon’s eyes drifted to the framed photos on the small table beside his father. As cold as the design of his apartment was, the photos he had put up in his living room had been the only source of warmth in his life. Before Heather, memories were the only thing that had kept his heart from turning entirely to stone.
With a frown his father followed his gaze until he, too, was looking at the photographs on the table. He reached for one of the framed photographs and stared at it. “I remember this photo. We went on a road trip one summer. Me, you, and your mother.”
Simon had put that photo out so long ago that it had begun to blend into the background. He rarely so much as glanced at it now. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t even know why he had bothered with the photo of his parents. Maybe he hadn’t shut the door on them as well as he had thought.
“You caught one hell of a fish.” Simon smiled at the memory. One of the few happy memories he had of the time he spent with his parents. That road trip had meant so much to him because he had believed he had finally made a breakthrough with his father. Finally bonded with him. His hopes were dashed the moment his father realized how utterly hopeless he was in the outdoors. Simon had been ten. Hadn’t caught any fish. Didn’t know how to bond with the other kids around, mostly because he had missed Heather so much. He had always been much more comfortable staying indoors, tearing electronics apart and putting them back together or coming up with algorithms.
That was the summer Simon realized that he and his father were so different that they might as well be strangers to each other. Strangers the way they were now.
“We should have had more road trips,” his dad said.
“Nothing was stopping you,” Heather said coldly.
He scowled. “Heather.”