He gave me a look that said he still didn’t believe me. I knew what he was thinking—there was no such thing as a guy who didn’t want to bang everything in sight. But it was the truth, and I was getting really sick of having this argument.

“Here we torquing go again, Dad!” I snapped. “I haven’t seen you for two annums, and already you’re on my back. Can you go for even five minutes without harping on me? Is it really any of your business what I do with my life, how I handle my relationships?”

“Of course it’s my business,” Dad snapped. “You’re my son.”

“Really? Because it sure hasn’t felt that way in a long time. The last time I saw you was before my fifteenth birthday. You haven’t been there for me while I was growing up, what makes you think you get a say now?”

“That’s not fair, Isaak. I didn’t leave you on purpose.”

“Are you sure? Because I saw what you left in that box in the garden. Where’s your wedding ring, Dad?”

He blinked at me, then glanced down at his left hand. But he didn’t say anything.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. Maybe you weren’t planning on coming to Iamos. But you were still going to leave all the same.”

“I wouldn’t have abandoned you, Isaak,” he said softly. “I would have kept in touch with you.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” He stared at me for a long moment, then sighed. “Look. Things weren’t working out with me and your mom. Everyone knew it. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you and Celeste.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” I said, turning my back on him and looking up at the green, leafy roof of the guesthouse. “Look, forget it. There’s nothing going on between me and Nadin. She’s engaged to Ceilos, and she’s my friend. That’s all there is to it. So let’s just drop it and get some sleep.”

Dad nodded, getting up to move back to his own bed. When he was safely out of my space, I moved back, sitting down on my bed and trying to fight off the scowl that was still pulling at the corners of my mouth. I wish I’d never come out to him to begin with, back in ninth grade. Everyone else in my life—Mom, Abuelo and Abuela, even Henry—had been totally stellar about it. Everyone except Dad. He just couldn’t comprehend a life that didn’t one hundred percent completely and totally revolve around sex. He’d been all over me about Tamara before he disappeared, and I could just tell that he wasn’t going to let this Nadin thing go, either.