14. Theo

14

THEO

Although I cringe inside as Francesca asks about my family, there's no reason to be ashamed or hide it. If she wants to get to know me better, then she has to know the hard parts of me too.

I hear her swallow hard. "I'm so sorry," she whispers. "I had no idea."

I rub her back. "It's fine. You wouldn't know."

"I don't want to hurt your feelings." Her voice is shaky.

I chuckle. "It's fine. I promise you're not hurting my feelings. It's been my life and I'm used to not having her around." I shrug. "Besides, Dad raised us, and I have a great career." I hesitate but continue. "When my mom left, she promised it was only temporary and she'd be back to get us." I blow out a breath. "That never happened."

"That's terrible."

"That's probably part of why I fight. Sometimes it's like this pent-up energy— this pent-up anger that won't release."

"Mmmm."

"I also get into fights because my dad is kind of a bully."

"A bully?"

"He didn't want weak sons, so he raised us to be tough. You know the type…boys don't cry, and they don't show weakness. He'd ridicule us if we so much as even acted like we had feelings about something." My words continue to spill out. "Even participating in sports throughout our school years. We both wrestled, and we were on the track team. Dad wouldn't punish us if we lost a match in wrestling, but he'd be moody and stand-offish— act like he was ashamed of us. You could win two matches and lose one and the focus was always on the loss."

"Not a way to build a young man's self-confidence."

I shrug. "I learned to live with it, and it forced me to get tough. Mental and physical strength wins, and weakness loses."

"What's your relationship like with him now?"

"He comes to some of my games. He's in corporate sales, so he travels a lot." I pull her closer and kiss her forehead. "He sits in the stands wearing his black turtleneck sweater and black peacoat— usually with black trousers. My teammates call him the man in black."

"Do you guys talk?"

"If the team loses, he leaves. If we have a win, he'll wait for me outside the locker room and congratulate me." I blow out a breath. "It's usually something like ‘Congratulations son. Nice win.' That's it. Sometimes he'll hold out his hand for a handshake and then he's gone."

"He just turns around and leaves?"

"Pretty much. Yeah."

There's a long silence between us.

"That's a tough way to grow up and an unpleasant way to communicate with a parent." She squeezes my hand under the covers.

"What about you this afternoon? You looked so upset when your sister called. Everything okay?"

"More or less. She was calling to tell me my ex is now engaged to my so-called friend."

I let out a low whistle. "Jay is engaged to that Whitney chick?"

She nods. "Apparently, he is."

"I'm really sorry." I don't know what else to tell her. She's so sweet and I hate the thought of anyone hurting her.

"Like my sister said, it hurts now, but it's better in the long run, right? I have no idea how long they've been together and better off to find out now than after the wedding."

I lace my fingers with hers. "He sounds like a piece of work."

Francesca yawns.

"Did I wear you out?" I chuckle.

"You did."

"Come here. Let me hold you."

Francesca moves closer to me, and I wrap her in my arms. I close my eyes and feel my body relax as her sweet scent fills me.

"Let's at least rest for a bit," she whispers.

"For a bit?" I squint to look at the clock on the nightstand. "It's after one."

"You never know, I might wake up in a few hours and be ready for round three."

I tickle her ribs which makes her giggle. "Oh yeah? Well, I better get my beauty sleep then so I'm ready for you."

She snuggles closer to me and lets out a deep sigh.

"Good night," she whispers.

It's definitely been a good night. I can't deny that.