Scotty is still proudly showing off his party shop wares when my phone vibrates in my hand.
Expecting it to be Dee, I freeze when dad’s name appears on the screen.
Dad: You better get your butt here, son. Because our boy just passed with flying colors, and I know you’re the one person he’s going to want to see when we walk out of this office.
“Fuck yeah!” I yell, earning the attention of the entire crew now gathered around the dining table. “Luc tell the Cap we’re offline for twenty minutes. I’ll have my handheld on if he needs us.”
“On it,” Luca says, running out of the room and toward the Captain’s office. As he goes to leave, the captain’s daughter London happens to be in the hallway and the two of them crash into each other. There’s no mistaking the blush that covers the young woman’s cheeks as Luca says something I cannot hear before rushing away. What was that about I wonder?
While we wait for Luc to come back, I bring up my conversation with Dee and type another message.
Rhodes: He passed! On route to see him now.
Dee: That’s awesome. Tell him congrats for me and that he’s earned lava cake on demand for a month.
Rhodes: And what do I get?
Dee: You get me on demand for as long as you want. If you wanna swap that for dessert . . .
Rhodes: Saving this text as evidence. Talk soon, sweet cheeks.
A minute later, party supplies loaded, the guys and I are headed to the DMV office, my chest swelling with pride and my heart full.
We’re only in the parking lot for five minutes before Dad, Connor, and a beaming Jake step out onto the sidewalk. ‘Drive My Car’ by The Beatles is blasting from Zach’s cellphone, and all of us are looking a sight in cardboard race car helmet hats, party blowers in our mouths, and a huge ‘Congratulations’ sign hanging from the side of the truck. As soon as we see him, the guys start cheering and clapping as I move forward and shake hands with Dad and Connor, both of them seemingly just as proud as I am. I lock eyes with my son and pull him in for a huge bear hug, lifting him off the ground as I do it.
“Thanks, Dad. One more tick off the list,” he says for my ears only.
“Your mom would be crying right about now.”
He laughs, and we pull apart, my hand hooked around his neck and pressing our foreheads together. “Got something for you.”
Jake looks over my shoulder at the guys, grinning from ear to ear. “You mean my own personal CFD cheer squad? Wait . . . is that a tiki piñata?”
I snort. “One guess who was in charge of decorations.”
“God, Scotty is something else.” He turns back to me. “Right. If it’s not this—which is fucking cool—what is it? Dee’s lava cake?” Jake’s expression is so hopeful I throw my head back and laugh.
“She sends her congrats, and apparently you have dessert on demand for a month.”
He actually does a fist pump at that. “Awesome.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I shake my head at him.
Connor comes over and nods at me. A silent conversation passes between us before he cups Jake’s shoulder. “Don, Rhodes, and I, along with your grandmothers, decided to band together and get you something to show you just how proud we are of the man you’ve become and the man we know you’ll continue to be. So close your eyes and give me your hand . . .”
Jake closes his eyes, and I don’t miss his breath catching as Lily’s dad drops something into his outstretched palm. Slowly, he opens his eyes, his mouth dropping wide at the blue Ford key ring with the car key attached for the 2005 Red Ford Ranger XLT truck we bought for him.
“No way,” he rasps, his voice thick with wonder. He jerks his gaze to me first, then his grandfathers before he looks to the parking lot where Connor left it after arriving ‘late’ for Jake’s appointment.
“No fucking way! Yes!” He hugs Don and then Connor, then turns to me and shakes his head in disbelief. “You said I’d have to save up five grand for you to match my savings. You totally lied,’ he says with a laugh before tackle-hugging me then near on running toward his new truck.
Dad comes up beside me and hooks an arm around my shoulders. “You did good, son.”
“Thanks,” I say gruffly. It’s hitting me that this is another step toward Jake growing up and getting closer to being an adult.
“Proud of you. And I know if Lils was here, she’d be crying buckets already,” Dad adds.
I snort, because he’s not wrong. “She’d have also insisted we install GPS to track him in it.”
“You mean you haven’t?” Connor chuckles.
“First thing I did. I’m not an idiot. He’s a good kid, but I was a sixteen-year-old boy with a car too.”
“Yep. Know that, ’cause it was around that time Lily started talking about the cute football player at school with the cool old mustang.”
Don soon joins us laughing. “That car. I swear it was off the road more times than it was on.”
“At least we got him something reliable.”
“He’s a credit to you, Rhodes.”
I look between my two dads, the men who’ve always had my back before, with, and after Lily. Not once did I ever feel alone, and in the hard times—moments like this when there’s a milestone in my son’s life that Lily and I always wondered about—I’ve known Lily is right here with us, cheering him on, blowing her own party whistle, and beaming from ear to ear with tears streaming down her face, because that’s just the kind of woman she was.
And ironically, she’d also be the kind of woman who’d be texting me to see if he’d passed yet
