Chapter 1

1

David rolled the window down and breathed in the muggy air. The wisteria and purple jacaranda flowered. The oak trees’ dark canopy framed the road on both sides as he drove toward their destination, noting that very few things had changed since he was last in his boyhood neighborhood. He checked on his son, asleep in the booster chair. David was tempted to wake him, so he could see the house as they pulled up, but the early morning flight from California to Florida had worn out Quinn.

He wished Quinn remembered meeting David’s folks. Quinn’s grandparents passed shortly after Quinn was born, almost three years ago. Frankly, David hadn’t thought about returning to his parents’ home. Once he moved to LA, and got married, he came back out only a few times to Florida to visit. His parents were only too happy to visit David in the City of Angels. He could count on one hand how many times he returned to Florida.

His life had been centered on California for the last fifteen years. College, minor leagues, then signing a contract for major league baseball, meeting Jason, then establishing their life together as Jason became a power player in the Hollywood scene consumed him. Now a new life beckoned, forced by circumstances David hadn’t expected but subsequently demanded for him. For his son.

“Papa, where are we?” Quinn yawned after he spoke.

David smiled. It was as if his son sensed he wanted him to wake up.

“Almost there,” David said. He slowed. The brick-lined streets of Thornton Park had seen good days and bad days, but the last two decades of gentrification led to the budding resurgence of restored Craftsman-style homes. Various bungalows here and there that were prevalent as one of the older neighborhoods of Orlando before Walt Disney opened a theme park not more than thirty minutes south from his childhood home showed new care and pride of ownership.

David didn’t need GPS to tell him they arrived. The Craftsman home had a newly painted white exterior, restored dark wood floors for the porch, and inside floors, and a new thirty-year shingle roof. He had his bestie, Sarah, to thank for helping supervise the refurbishments and changes to the house in the last few months while David and Jason wrapped up their divorce.

The renters who took care of the house after his parents died had moved to Tampa, so David and Quinn’s new home had been unlived in the last few months. Sarah was a top-notch real estate agent, who helped him hire the contractors to renovate the home, made sure the work got done right, and was there when some of the furniture had arrived.

“We’re here, son,” David said. He pulled into the small driveway and got out. Quinn had removed the restraint on the booster seat and fiddled with the car door.

David opened it for him and gently spoke to him, as he picked him up. “Hold on.”

Quinn kicked out as soon as his feet landed the ground, and then ran up the steps, running from one corner of the porch to the other, then pulled the screen door open, and tried to open the front door. He grabbed the outside of his shorts. “It’s locked! I got to pee!”

David made a quick jog and opened the door. “Hall bath is behind the stairs straight ahead.” Quinn ran quickly to the bathroom behind David, who breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a stool for Quinn. Quinn moved the stool closer to the porcelain, stood and averted the crisis. After hearing the familiar thwack of a toilet seat being lifted against wood, David had turned away from his son and his attention back to the car. His son was four, so he would be no help unloading the luggage. By the time he placed their rollaways on the porch, Quinn threw open the screen door.

“This is a small house. Is it big enough for when Daddy comes?”

David exhaled. He had to come up with a lie even though he didn’t like lying to his precocious son.

“I don’t know when he’s joining us. He’s got a lot of work to do. Plus, he’ll probably stay in a hotel.”

“Oh. He’s always got a lot of work to do.”

David nodded, and was happy that Quinn took the small Star Wars bookbag on wheels David placed on the porch that belonged to him into the house.

David debated on the plane telling Quinn the truth that Jason, David’s new ex-husband, probably wasn’t going to see Quinn for a while. Jason and David finalized their divorce and custody agreement less than forty-eight hours ago.

Finalizing the terms of divorce had taken more time than the custody issues. Once David promised that Jason could visit with at least one day’s notice, and that Jason could have ten days in the summer with Quinn, Jason had quibbled for several weeks about their homes in Palm Springs and Los Feliz that they purchased after they got married.