Page 85 of Never Forever

I was ice man Matt Sullivan.

“Here, son,” came a disembodied voice.

“Where?”

A hand appeared over the sunflowers in the back. I took the three cement steps down and wandered the curving path past the blackberry bushes surrounded by honey bees.

I found him on his knees beside a bucket of water.

Jenny, the mama cat, beside him. The kittens joined in, attacking the drooping edges of sunflower leaves.

“What are you doing?”

“I am bathing the roots of this sunflower,” he said. Like that was normal.

“Why?”

“Because Google says so. This plant has rot.”

He swirled the giant sunflower roots in the bucket and the gigantic yellow head bashed me in the face.

“Oi.” I pushed the sunflower away, yellow petals and seeds raining down on my feet.

Dad laughed. “Sorry, son.”

He wore a big hat and I was happy to see him with some zinc on his nose. After years of scoffing at sunscreen, it only took getting cancer twice to get him to look after himself. He was a difficult man to yell at – a two-time cancer survivor covered in sunflower petals.

Still, I was going to give it my best shot.

“What the hell was that about last night?” I asked. He blinked up at me.

“What are you referring to?”

“Don’t be cute. You basically told her you’d been sick before.”

He shrugged like it was nothing. “She asked.”

“Dad, she’s not stupid. What if she puts it all together?”

“And what if she does?” he said standing up, his hand on my forearm to give him some leverage. “Would that be the worst thing?”

I shook my head, like he was crazy. “Yes! Are you kidding? She’d never forgive me.”

“Oh, because it’s worked out so well for you this way,” he sighed. “I’m not going to lie, son, I thought this Christmas movie might be a second chance for you two.”

“Are you nuts?” I cried, and then didn’t give him a chance to answer. Because he was. He was totally nuts. Had been for years. “We were just kids. A high school romance that ended badly. Now she’s amovie starwho dates rock stars. She’s not interested in a second chance with me.”

“Ah, but you might be interested in a second chance with her?”

“Dad, stop. You know better than anyone, the world doesn’t work that way. You make your choices. You live with them. I shouldn’t have brought her here last night,” I said. “I knew getting the two of you in the same room would be a mistake.”

He smiled. Beamed actually.

“I don’t know, it was a pretty fun night. And I think maybe you two might have had a bit more fun when I went to bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. It was like Santa Claus with a dirty mind.

“Stop it. Don’t get ideas about me and Carrie.”

“Why not?”