Landon & Shay: Part Two (L&S Duet #2)(18)

“I’m an actor, Dad, and I just landed a starring role in a huge film. I’m not going to be a lawyer. I was never going to be a lawyer.”

“What is it with you that makes you so content with being mediocre?” he grumbled.

“He’s not mediocre,” Shay shot in, marching up to his bedside.

“Shay, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. It’s not fair, and it’s not right for him to talk to you like that. Mr. Harrison, your son is talented beyond belief, and he is making something of himself. Just because he’s not growing into what you think he should be doesn’t mean he’s not achieving greatness, and the moment he found out about this, he put all his feelings aside and came rushing to see you because he cares for you that much. It’s cruel for you to treat him this way when he showed up in your time of need.”

“Little girl, I don’t know who you think you are, but you are stepping into the wrong territory,” Dad warned.

“As are you,” Shay replied, standing tall. If she was nervous, she didn’t reveal it. She didn’t tremble a lick.

I cleared my throat. “Listen, you’ve been through a lot, so we’re going to get out of your hair. I’m glad you’re okay, Dad. I wish you the best.”

“Don’t call me Dad. It’s clear you have no drive to come back to your roots; therefore, you are not my son anymore. You are nothing to me. Don’t come back here. I never want to see you again.”

He turned away from me and stared out the window without offering another word.

Shay looked at him, baffled by my father’s coldness, but it was nothing new to me. The last time I’d seen him, he had said he wouldn’t be surprised if I took my own life. I wasn’t shocked that he was still harsh, even after a life-threatening issue.

My father’s heart had been damaged long before his heart attack.

We turned around to walk away, and my father spoke once more as we made our way out.

“He’s going to hurt you, and then you’ll be left a fool.”

The words were obviously directed toward Shay, a last-ditch effort to get in a dig at me.

I took Shay’s hand into mine, and I saw the fire still burning in her eyes indicating that she was still ready to fight, but it wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t worth it.

As we left the room, April was standing there with worried eyes. “You didn’t stress him out, did you? His heart has already been through so much. He doesn’t need any added stress.”

I didn’t say a word to her.

I was still replaying Dad’s digs at me inside my head.

Don’t let those remarks settle, Landon. Be better than him. Be stronger.

Shay gave April the dirtiest look and tilted her head with narrowed eyes. “I hope you never change because it appears Landon’s father cannot handle people who experience personal growth. Otherwise, be careful. He only holds on to things that agree with his jaded views.”

We walked off, leaving April standing there dazed and confused.

Whatever went on with my father was her problem to deal with.

As we stepped outside into the fresh air, the morning sun beamed against our skin. Shay was quick to pull me into a hug. “I’m so sorry, Landon. I had no clue what kind of monster your father was. I can’t believe he was that cruel, even after what he just went through. You would think a near-death experience would make him humbler.”

“My father does humility the same way he does love—he doesn’t.”

“Still, what he said to you was cruel.”

“Ah, if I had a dollar for every time someone said something cruel to me, I’d be rich enough not to care,” I joked. I reached forward to open the passenger door to her car, and Shay placed her hand upon my arm to halt me.

“Landon, you know those things he said aren’t true, right?”

“It’s all right, Shay. My dad just talks. That’s all.”

“Yeah, but please tell me that you know his words don’t hold any truth to them.”

I gave her a half-hearted smile. She frowned as she took both of my hands into hers and placed them against my chest. Then she began repeating the words she’d said to me the night I first showed her my scars. “You are smart. You are talented. You are handsome. You are good, Landon Harrison. You are so good it makes me ache that anyone in this world might think differently.”

God. How did she do it? How did she help soothe my erratic thoughts?

“What are you thinking?” she asked me, staring up with those chocolate eyes. “What’s going through your mind right this second?”

I swallowed hard, pushing a hand beneath my nose. “Why do I care so much for a man who doesn’t even love me? Why do his comments always sting a little more?”

“Because you love him,” she answered. “Even when it hurts, you love him. That’s the problem with love—you can’t shut it off just because it’s not reciprocated.”

“Do you still love your father? After everything he’s done to your family?”

“Pieces of him, yes.” She nodded. “Even when I don’t want to, there are pieces of that man that I love, or memories, more so. Like how, when I was a little girl, he’d lie with me in the grass and we’d name what shapes the clouds looked like. Or how whenever he’d come home after being away for a long time, he’d come into my room, tuck me in, and kiss my forehead. Or how he’d help me with my writing or acting and critique me. I love those pieces of him, the memories—but I also love myself enough not to let him back in, to not let him close enough to affect me any more than he already has. The love I have for him stays in those memories. They rest in the past, and I refuse to let them into my future.”