Page 194 of In at the Deep End

“What’s happened?” Dad’s voice was low.

“Nothing.”

“Matt.”

He closed his eyes. “It’s about someone I met this summer.”

There was another pause, but this one felt different, as though Dad was listening carefully now.

“Someone important?”

Matt nodded even though his dad couldn’t see him. “Yeah.”

“Do you want to tell me about him?”

The word caught Matt completely off guard.

He opened his eyes. “‘Him’?”

There was the faintest hesitation on the other end of the phone.

“You said someone,” Dad replied. “I figured I could either wait for you to tell me or make you say it.”

Despite the ache in his chest, Matt smiled. “There isn’t really anything to tell.”

“That isn’t how this sounds.”

He stared through the waiting room windows. People moved around the station, coming and going, carrying bags, checking phones, living ordinary Saturday evenings while his entire world seemed to have narrowed to one man standing somewhere far away.

He took a breath. “But you were right the first time.”

“About?”

“That it’s a him.”

“Okay.”

Matt blinked. “That’s all I get? Okay?”

“I’ll save my dramatic reaction until I’ve heard the rest.”

Matt laughed.

“But just so we’re clear? I don’t have a problem with him being a him.”

Warmth spread through Matt’s chest. “I know.”

“No, you don’t, not for certain. You might know your old man well enough to guess, but I’d rather you heard me say it.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Another silence settled between them. This one felt easier. “So what happened to make you think you got things wrong?”

Matt closed his eyes.

“You don’t have to tell me everything.” Dad’s voice was gentle. “But you can.”

He opened his eyes and swallowed. “He matters to me. And I thought…” He paused to take a breath. “I thought I mattered to him too, until… something changed.”