Troy snorted. “Everyone here expects me to live up to you, Dad.”
Tanner went still. Troy had used the word “dad” several times now, but it was never going to get old. He wanted to treasure it, wanted to demand Troy say it again. “Well, then,” he said instead, “what I really want you to know is that you shouldn’t give a shit what anyone thinks.”
“Easy for the football star to say. You’re not going to put on a pair of tights and get on stage.”
Tanner hid his grimace. “But you get to kiss the girl.”
The kid tried to hold back a smile and failed. “Yeah. And I get to die. It’s awesome.”
“So see, it’s what you think that matters,” Troy said. “Not anyone else.”
Troy nodded. “That’s what Callie said you’d say.”
“You discussed this with Callie?”
“Yeah, and I don’t know what’s up with girls but they have a way of making you talk.”
Troy sounded so baffled that Tanner nearly laughed. “Get used to it,” he muttered, but a part of his brain was back on Callie. Was he actually jealous of what she and Troy had?
Yeah, he decided. He was.
“You can’t be mad at her,” Troy said, reading his mind with startling ease.
Since this was sounding like a repeat of a conversation he’d had with Callie in reverse, when she’d told him he couldn’t be mad at Troy, Tanner shook off his annoyance. “And the color purple?” he asked. “You hate it since before or after you painted your entire room purple?”
Troy winced.
“Since before then,” Tanner muttered. He leaned back. “Jesus. It’s really true.”
“What’s true?”
“We’re a lot alike.”
Troy did not look any more thrilled at this knowledge than Tanner felt. He shook his head. “Think we can have a cease-fire?” he asked the kid.
Troy went wary. “What would that involve?”
Tanner slid him a look. “You talking more than you have, for one.”
Troy made a face.
“You continuing to make yourself at home here in Lucky Harbor with things like doing the play for another,” Tanner said.
Troy just stared at him.
“And most especially,” Tanner added, “you picking out a color for your walls that you like.”
“And what about you?” Troy asked.
“What about me?”
“Well, if I have to do all this stuff like talk and crap,” Troy said, “seems like you should have to do something.”
“Like…?”
“Like—” Troy broke off.
“Oh, don’t chicken out now,” Tanner said. “Talk to me.”
“Callie.”
Tanner paused. “What about her?”
Troy looked down at his feet. “If you’re holding back with her ’cause of me…”
“No. I’m not.”
Troy looked up. “So you two are a thing?”
“No.”
Troy blinked. “I don’t get it.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Complicated, like you don’t like her enough?” Troy asked, both disappointment and anger crossing his face. “Because that sucks. She’s totally into you. Like, really into you. If you don’t like her, you’re leading her on.”
Tanner let out a long breath. “It’s not like that. We decided we’re…friends.”
Troy stared at him. “She put you in the friend zone?”
Why did everyone in his life think that this was all Callie’s doing? Because besides your son, she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you, and everyone but you, the resident jackass, knows it…
“What did you do?” Troy asked. “Did you forget your one-month anniversary? Or accidentally bring up another girl? Or tell her that you think any Nicholas Sparks movie is dumb? Girls don’t like any of that stuff.”
Tanner scrubbed his hands over his face. “We agreed to be friends. The two of us agreed.”
With benefits…
And how’s that working out for ya? a voice inside his head asked.
Troy shook his head. “That was dumb.”
“Yeah.” Tanner blew out another breath. “It was.”
“So…”
Tanner looked at him. “So…what?”
“God, Dad. Even I know you go after the girl when you do something dumb.”
Tanner stared at him and Troy laughed. Laughed. The sound was precious. “I love you,” Tanner said.
Troy’s smiled faded.
“I’ve been trying to give you your space before I said that too much,” Tanner said. “I wanted you to get to know me, but that doesn’t seem to be working out so well for us and I don’t want to waste any more time. I love you, Troy. And like I said, that’s never going to change. You need to know that.”