“So, he looks just like him then? He’s exactly the same?” Connor hadn’t glanced up from his book since I sat him and his sister down to talk about Sully, but he was clearly paying attention because he was asking a lot of questions. “How come we didn’t know about him?”
“Your dad and Sully had a really bad argument, and they weren’t friends for a very long time. Your dad came here to make friends with him again, though, and he really wanted you to get to meet Sully.”
“I heard Mommy say Sully in her sleep,” Amie announced. “She was sad. She was crying in her dreams.”
“No, she didn’t,” Connor snapped. “That never happened.”
“That’s okay.” I put a hand on Connor’s shoulder, trying to cut that line of conversation off before he could grow agitated. “All I want to know right now is if you would like to have Sully over to the house?”
Connor closed his book and put it down on the arm of the chair. “What if we don’t want him to?” he asked.
“Then that’s okay. He doesn’t have to come here at all. I think you would like him, though.”
“I want him to come,” Amie sang. “I want to say thank you for my dinosaur.” I’d confessed that Sully was the one who’d sent them the gifts at the beginning of the conversation, and Amie’s eyes had lit up. Likely she was planning how to obtain even more dinosaur skeletons from this stranger so she could start up a proper collection.
“What about you, Connor?” He was silent. “Connor?” I went and sat down next to him. “I mean it, you know. It really is okay if you don’t want to meet him. I get it.”
“Why hasn’t he come and seen us before now?” he asked.
“Well.” God, this was going to be difficult. “You remember how you felt when your dad died, don’t you? Sully felt the same way. He’s been very sad. It’s taken him a long time to feel better, but now that he does he would really like to see you.” It would have been far too complicated to explain it any other way. Connor nodded a little and sniffed.
“Okay. He can come over. But if I don’t like him, I’m not going to talk to him.”
“That’s all right, buddy. It’s totally okay if you change your mind.”
I could imagine it all too well: Sully showing up and not knowing what to say or how to act. Connor feeling uncomfortable and running for his bedroom. Odds were that was exactly what was going to happen, but it was better than the alternative. It was better than Connor never meeting Sully, and it was better than Sully always wondering.
There was only one way to find out.
******
“Are you ready?”
“Not really. This is more intimidating than going before a military court.”
“You went before a military court?”
“No. Kind of. Not really. Are you sure they’re not going to flip out?” Sully clearly didn’t want to talk about the military court comment, however I was all too interested. Another time, though. I rubbed my hand across his chest, trying to reassure him.
“They might at first. But it’ll be fine, I promise. They’re good kids. You might just need to give them a moment to adjust is all.”
“I’m the one who needs time to adjust,” he said. “What if they call me Dad by mistake? I’ll lose my fucking shit, Lang. I’m not joking.”
“No, you won’t. You’ll remind them your name is Uncle Sully, and you’ll cut them some slack. This is just as hard for them as it is for you. Harder. You knew they existed, after all. You’re completely out of the blue to them.”
He looked unconvinced. I’d been so sure he was going to call and bail this morning, but when he’d actually shown up at ten o’clock sharp, wearing a smart, ironed shirt and a pair of clean black jeans I’d had to give him credit: he was a man of his word. A terrified man of his word, admittedly, but still.
“Come on,” I told him. “They’re waiting for you.” Leading him through to the kitchen, both Connor and Amie were sitting at the table, gluing down pictures I’d been cutting out of magazines for them all day onto huge pieces of craft paper. Amie was covered in glitter, her fingers absolutely plastered with glue to the point where she couldn’t spread them apart anymore. Connor had small, white fragments of paper down the front of his shirt and in his hair, which was curling like crazy all over the place.