My Grumpy Old Bear - Jayda Marx Page 0,51
real dad, I was devastated. I thought Brooks was just some asshole who didn’t care about me, and then tried to come around once I was an adult just to stir shit up.”
“He would never do that!” I protested. “Jay, he contacted you because he couldn’t stand being apart from you anymore. He was so upset over everything he missed out on with you. He just wanted to get to know you.”
Jay gave me a tight smile and continued, “Then when Lee left my mom, I blamed that on Brooks too. I thought if he’d just left things alone, everything would have been fine. I put all of my hurt and anger onto him because it was easy. I didn’t know him, so it was easy to blame him.”
“But you don’t anymore?”
“Like you said, he made mistakes. But so did my mom. She shouldn’t have lied to Lee. She shouldn’t have kept the secret from Brooks. But she was young; she didn’t know what to do either. Everybody fucked up, but I guess that’s life.”
I slowly reached across the table and placed a tentative hand over his. “That’s a really mature way of thinking about it. Nobody has instructions when it comes to these things. Your mom was trying to protect you and her relationship with Lee. Like you said, she was only eighteen. She probably felt she needed a man to help her raise the kid. She didn’t even know Brooks. And from what I’ve gathered, he came out as gay shortly after that, so that probably confused and hurt her too.”
He blinked at me. “How old are you again? I swear, you sound more like a dad than anybo…” Jay’s words died in his throat and he stared at me. “You’re my fucking step-dad.”
My eyes grew large and I barked a surprised laugh. The more I thought about it, the crazier it sounded and I laughed harder. Jay joined me and soon we were both cackling like morons. “This is so fucked up,” Jay said, scrubbing his face again once he settled down.
“Yeah, it kinda is, but listen, technically I’m not your step-dad unless Brooks and I get married.”
“Wow, suddenly I feel so much better,” he smirked.
I laughed again. “My god, you are so much like him. But seriously, I don’t give a shit about any of that crazy step stuff. I just want Brooks to be happy, and I know meeting you and possibly having a relationship with you is what would make him happier than anything.”
“You really care about him, don’t you?”
“I do.”
Jay sighed. “A couple of years ago, Mom and Lee reconnected. He left because he was hurt, with good reason, but he loved my mom. They’d been together twenty years for fuck’s sake. They started counseling together and are still going. They’re working through everything and seem happy again.”
“I’m really glad to hear that.” For no other reason than I knew it’d help soothe Brooks’ guilt. He was convinced he’d broken up a happy home, but things were working themselves out.
He dropped his gaze to the table. “I thought about calling Brooks so many times, but I felt so shitty about the way I treated him. I guess my pride got in the way. Plus, to be honest, things are turning around. My family’s mending back together and part of me is afraid if I reach out, it’ll all turn to shit again.”
“Jay, nobody can predict the future. I can’t promise if you reach out to Brooks that everything will be rainbows and glitter, but I can promise that you’ll get to let go of your what ifs. If you two meet and get along, great! If things don’t work out, well...at least you’ll know.” The last option hurt my heart, but it was a possibility.
Jay was silent for a long time. “Like you said, my mom didn’t know much about him. She did tell me he was gay, and I don’t care about that; everyone should be happy. But beyond that, I don’t know anything about him.” He looked at me. “Can you tell me about him?”
“I’d be happy to.” My pulse raced at Jay’s interest. I took my phone from my pocket and pulled up the many photos I had of Brooks saved to my gallery. “This is him.”
“Holy shit,” he replied, pulling my phone closer to his face. “I look just like him.”
“Had you not seen him before?”
“No. I tried looking him up on social media, but he never had a