The boy took refuge in anger. “How do I even know you’ve been trying to help her?”
“I’ve been trying to help your mother since day one, and you know it. I just hired a private investigator, because Sophie wants to get more information about your mom’s family background.”
AJ narrowed his eyes. “Anything to get rid of me, right?”
“Don’t be a little shit,” Bo snapped, panic giving way to anger. “Your mom’s back in Mexico and I know that sucks for you, but copping an attitude won’t help a thing. Believe me, nothing will stop me from trying to bring your mom back.”
“You can’t wait for me to leave,” AJ persisted.
“If that was so, I wouldn’t have invited you to the city for the weekend. I would’ve left you behind in Avalon.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?”
“Because I love you, dammit.”
AJ looked as if Bo had hit him. “You love me.”
“Hell, yes, I love you. You’re my boy. My flesh and blood. And you’re an awesome kid, and after you’re back with your mom, I still want to see you, no matter what she says.”
“So when did you decide this? All of a sudden you want to love me.”
“It wasn’t all of a sudden. Ever since you were born I’ve wanted to love you, but your mom was in charge. Even though she had her reasons, it didn’t stop me from wishing we could be like father and son, at least some of the time. It’s a terrible thing, the way we were brought together, but I’m glad I’m getting to spend time with you. Anyway, yeah. I always wanted to love you. I’m trying to do it right.” He didn’t know how else to explain it. Getting to know AJ was like falling in love—not in a romantic way, of course. But it was a kind of anticipation, something he felt in his heart. He couldn’t wait to get up in the morning—couldn’t wait to see what the day would bring. Couldn’t wait to see his son’s face.
The boy was quiet for a long time. Bo braced himself, hoping he hadn’t crossed a line with that speech, which revealed more of his heart than he’d intended.
Finally, AJ said, “Okay.”
“Christ, you’re a pain in the ass sometimes.”
“Yeah, well, so’re you.”
AJ had turned Bo into someone he barely recognized and never expected to be—a father. A better man than he’d been before AJ came into his life. He couldn’t claim to be good at it, but he was clear on what he felt for this boy. “I’m not going to quit helping your mom. Say you believe that.”
AJ stared at him for a long time. Bo sensed all kinds of things going on in the boy’s head, but all AJ said was, “I believe it.” He still looked unhappy, though.
“Would you rather I hadn’t brought you to the city for the weekend?” Bo challenged him. “Would you rather have missed out on this?” He encompassed the fancy suite with a gesture.
“No,” AJ admitted. “It’s cool.”
“And just so you know,” he told AJ, “all this wouldn’t seem nearly as cool if you weren’t here with me.” Bo meant it from the bottom of his heart. If there was one thing he’d learned from being with Kim, it was the power of saying what you meant, loud and clear.
“Okay.” The boy was still guarded.
“So, what do you say? I better get dressed for high society. And you can get busy picking out what you want to order from room service and what movies you want to watch while I’m at the reception.” He finally coaxed a smile from AJ by finding an upbeat radio station that was playing “Superfreak,” and dressing in time to the music. He slapped on aftershave in exaggerated fashion, then tossed the bottle to AJ, who cringed a little as he daubed some on.
“I hope I don’t blow it tonight,” Bo said.
“You won’t blow it.”
“The reception’s going to be full of VIPs.”
“Quit freaking.”
Kim had told Bo what to wear. He knew better than to argue with her taste. He held up a sport coat that had cost him more than his first car. The song on the radio faded, and a commercial came on, so he turned down the volume. He felt AJ watching him, and sensed a shift in the boy’s mood. “What?”
“You could fix everything, you know,” he said in a voice that was almost too quiet to hear.
Bo paused in the middle of knotting his tie. “What do you mean, fix everything?”
“My mom, is what I mean. You could fix it.”
“If I knew how, I’d fix it.”
“There’s a way.” AJ paused, took a deep breath. “You could marry her.”
“Sorry, bud. What’s that?” Bo hoped he’d heard wrong. But the curl of dread in his gut told him otherwise.
“If you married my mother, she’d be allowed to live in this country legally. I swear, it can work. People do it all the time.”
The way it came out, all in a rush, indicated to Bo that the boy had been thinking about the idea for a while, probably trying to figure out how to broach the topic.
“Aw, AJ.” Bo’s heart ached for the kid. He’d probably built up this big scenario in his mind, picturing the three of them together as a family. Bo was familiar with his father fantasies. He’d had them himself as a kid. “That kind of thing isn’t going to work. The system’s set up to keep people from doing it.”
“It’s a free country,” AJ said. “You’re allowed to marry anybody you want, right?”
“The authorities have ways to figure out which marriages are sincere and which took place just to cheat the system.”
“You know how to be sincere,” AJ insisted. “You’ve been studying it, I’ve seen you. Kim taught you how to be sincere.”
“It’s not the same. That’s media training, not…Sorry, AJ. I
