Page 141 of String Boys

Yeah, his dad had confessed. It had been sort of cute, actually. He wasn’t even sure if Kelly had caught it, but the two of them had shared a bed in Tuscany. Sure, Craig hadsaidhe was sleeping on the couch, and every morning, the blanket and pillow would be crisp and pretty on the end of the couch in the living room. Seth had said guilelessly that Rosa was really super-efficient, and his father had seized on that and clung.

But Seth had given his father an arched eyebrow, and Craig had shrugged guiltily. That evening, as Seth was trailing Kelly up to the bedroom to cling tightly to his body as they snuggled and slept chastely, their time together almost at an end, his dad had stopped him.

“You… uh… do you mind?”

“Mind what?”

“Uh… the sheets. I’m not, uh… using the sheets.”

Seth had raised his eyebrows. “You’re usingsomeone’ssheets.”

And his father had glared, defensively, like a kid. “You know what I mean.”

Yeah, Seth had known.

He was happy about it.

His father wasn’t alone. The Cruz family reallywasSeth’s family. Those years of being alone, by himself, waiting for his father to get home had nearly faded from memory.

But you didn’t say to your boyfriend—your boyfriend who talked all the time, rambled on subjects from movies to the shit they put in fabric softener, and yet kept some things so close, so tight to his own heart that they festered in the soul—“Hey, babe, my dad’s banging your mom. You good with that?” So Seth wasn’t sure, actually, how Kelly felt about it.

He was prepared for any eventuality.

Or he had been, until that semi had come out of its lane and attempted to squash him like a bug.

“How’s the driver?” he mumbled. An older man, Indian, with a picture of Jesus hanging from the rearview mirror and a photo of his family stuck in the overhead visor—he had driven like he had something to lose if he died.

Since Seth felt the same way, he was grateful.

“Fine,” his father said, holding his hand. “He actually walked away. You got pinned behind the passenger’s seat. They had to cut you out.”

“How’s my violin?”

His dad let out a strangled chuckle. “Good too. You had it strapped in the seat next to you, Seth. I think that Prius would have needed to blow up to hurt your instrument.”

“Mm. No blowing up. Head’s doing that.”

“Yeah. Concussions will do that. You’ve probably got some soft tissue damage in your neck and back, so they’re going to get you an MRI in a bit. I think they’ll probably put you under for that, because right now, everything probably hurts.”

“Got that shit right.” Seth tried to take a deep breath but couldn’t. “Bruised ribs.”

“Yeah. Not going to lie there, son. You… you were on the fine edge of being not all right.”

“Fuuuuuck….” He kept his eyes closed. “Where’s Kelly?”

His father’s silence was the most terrifying thing he’d ever heard.

“He’s okay, right?”

“He is. But….” Again, that terrible silence. “Matty came by tonight. He’s… well, Isela had another baby, for one thing.”

Oh. Oh no.Nothing good… nothing good came with Matty. “And for two?”

“Kelly took him to be evaluated. He was coughing blood. Matty said it was a side effect of hepatitis, but….”

“Dad?”

“I work in a warehouse, Seth. It’s a shitty neighborhood. People who look like Matty generally don’t… don’t get better.”