“I want to help,” he said, sitting down his coffee. I scoffed, unable to keep the disgust out of my voice.
“Help how? Five months and you’re a brand new man?” I threw on the sarcasm. Thank you, defense mechanisms. “I don’t think so. Leave.” His eyes narrowed the way they always had when he was getting angry. But something even stranger happened than him just showing up unannounced. He opened his eyes again and looked around. When he looked back, the anger was gone. He got up and walked over to the mantle, picking up a picture.
“He looks just like me,” he said chuckling. I was so angry. Why now? We had just gotten settled. No more job hunting. No more moving. This town, this place. Everything was perfect.
“Your cousin told me, by the way. Said I shouldn’t come,” he said, his voice shaky. “But I had to. It’s like, I don’t know, the past seven years, I’ve been asleep. When she told me I had a baby boy…”
“You woke up?”
“…”
“Leave. Don’t come back.”
Then, I heard the bedroom door open.