His eyes are watering again, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen my dad cry. He hasn’t seen me cry since I was a little kid either. Hell, I don’t even know the last time I cried. But alarmingly, I’m starting to do it now.

Because my dad just told me he loved me.

While it’s not the first time, it is the first time I’ve heard him say it after knowing that he fully understands who I am. Maybe if either of us were any better at communicating, it wouldn’t have taken us this much time to get here.

I swipe at my eyes the same way he did, as if the tears offend me.

It kills me to think my relationship with him could’ve been different all this time if only we’d been more open with each other sooner. We still have more time though. This conversation doesn’t have to be the last time we’re honest with each other.

But as long as we’re being honest right now—

“I love you too, Dad.”

“You want a beer?” he asks, standing abruptly.

I laugh. “Sure.”

When he comes back with a bottle for me and a new one for himself, he turns on the TV, but we don’t really watch it. We just talk. About random stuff, nothing important.

It occurs to me that this could be a good time to address his habit of using gender stereotypical language, and how that can also be harmful, even if he doesn’t realize it. But honestly, I’d rather deal with that issue another day. Right now, I’m enjoying that the two of us can still be like this, how we’ve always been with each other.

Only it’s even better somehow, now that everything’s out in the open.

He surprises me when he smirks and says, “So Brenden, huh?”

My face heats. “Yeah, but I fucked it up.”

“But you love him?” he questions.

“Yeah. I do.”

He takes a pull from his beer, then asks, “Did you tell him?” And I don’t even have to answer. After a few seconds of my silence, he huffs. “Dumbass.”

For a moment, I gape at him, but then I can’t help chuckling. Because he’s not wrong. And also, it’s so strange that I’m sitting here talking to my dad about a guy I love. Strange, but not bad.

It feels like there’s so much more I could tell him. About me. About me and Brenden and how I could see myself spending the rest of my life with him. I might not be great at talking about this kind of stuff, but being with Brenden has helped me become better at it.