Top Secret

“Keaton?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you. And I’m sorry I couldn’t figure out how to get over my own bullshit before and just be your guy.”

He swallows. “Can you be now?”

“I want to. If you’ll let me try.”

When my terror eventually began to wear off, it was too late. Keaton had stopped giving me the kicked-puppy face, and he was all jazzed up for his trip to Chile. I didn’t want to complicate his life, so I let him go.

Now I miss him terribly.

“Exactly, and you need to be firm about that. Draw your line in the sand, babe. When we get back to school, you need to phone him up and say, ‘Dad, this is how it is. I’m not interning at your company this summer. I’m going to Chile to play with Shamu—’”

I snicker. And I wonder if he realizes he just called me babe. But I don’t mention it, because it’d probably send him into a panic again.