A huge red one.
Underneath it was the brand-new black car he’d arrived in. For a second, I genuinely couldn’t understand what I was looking at.
Then my father lifted a set of keys.
“Happy birthday.”
I stared at them.
“That’s mine?”
“Paid for.”
Mom came onto the porch.
Ray stayed behind her.
His hands disappeared into his pockets.
My father noticed him.
And something in his expression changed.
This wasn’t only a gift.
It was an audience.
He held the keys higher.
“Go ahead.”
I still didn’t move.
His smile widened.
“Come on, son.”
Then he looked directly at Ray.
“Your stepdad could never compete with this.”
Ray looked down.
And through the open front door behind him, I could see the wooden box sitting on our kitchen table.
I looked at the car.
Then the keys.
Then the man who had been at my house for ten minutes after being gone for 14 years.
I walked straight past his open hand.
“Ray.”
Ray looked up.
“Come here a second.”
Ray didn’t move.
“This is between you and him,” he said.
My father laughed.
“Smart man.”
I looked at Ray.
“Please.”
That brought him off the porch.
My father jingled the keys.
“What’s going on? You don’t like the color?”
I turned toward him.
“I want to ask you something.”
“Sure.”
“What position do I play?”
His smile stayed there for half a second too long.
“Football.”
“What position?”
He looked toward Mom.
She said nothing.
“Come on. I haven’t exactly had a chance to catch up yet.”
“Okay.”
I nodded.
“What college am I applying to?”
His jaw tightened.
“Your mother kept me out of your life.”
Mom inhaled sharply.
I held up my hand.
One more.
I pointed at Ray.
“What subject almost kept me from passing last year?”
My father stared at me.
“How would I know that?”
“You wouldn’t.”
Across the street, Mrs. Patterson had stopped watering her flowers.
I didn’t care.
My father held the keys toward me again.
“Look, I know I missed things. That’s why I’m here. I’m trying to make up for it.”
