HE NOTICES SOMETHING IN HER THAT’S DIFFERENT. carol never really spoke about anyone that way –certainly not him when they were dating. but there’s something different about the way she speaks about luke’s father –this mystery guy she hooked up with sometime after scott left to find his father– she loved him.
and more importantly, she loves her son. his thoughts about this guy aside, he does smile when he hears her go on about what a great kid luke is. and she doesn’t even realize it, but she’s contributed more to how he was raised than anyone –there’s so much of her in him.
❛ that’s where you’re wrong, carol. there’s so much of you in that kid…his stubbornness for one. when he puts his mind to something, he’s gonna figure it out. and he’s smart –not just book smart, but he knows how to pull some strings to get what he wants. and he has this radiance about him that just…draws people in. ❜ a beat. ❛ just like you. ❜
when she reaches for him, he puts his whisk down and takes her hand. ❛ my dad just…wasn’t the guy i thought he was. he wanted me to think he was dead even after he knew i wasn’t. and maybe our parents were awful, but i know one thing…luke’s got the best mom in the world. ❜
THERE WAS SOMETHING FREEING about talking about scott like this. how he didn’t know that the man she’d defend until the cows came home was him. it was a freedom she was only granted with him— sharon knew the bad parts of the situation all too well, and had her own thoughts on it. kyle was just happy to be there when he could. but scott didn’t know that the mystery man was him.
despite how freeing it felt— it hurt to keep it from him. but it would’ve been selfish to tell him now. she knew how he was. one thing would ruin the life he had built for himself, he’d psych himself out and doubt everything… and at the end of the day— the life he had now was more than anything carol could give him. so she needed to let him have it.
❛ you didn’t know his father. ❜ there was a small smile as she thought about the past. how much she adored how stubborn scott was, but loathed it in herself. maybe when she did it, it reminded her of her father— how she was just like him. how even though he didn’t know it, he had carol wrapped around his finger— just how many jobs she quit because they scheduled her on game days, knowing how much it meant to scott for her to watch him. ❛ even that... it’s all him. ❜
❛ i don’t know about that. ❜ she gives his hand a squeeze and sighs. resting her head on his shoulder for just a moment, as if she was just pretending things turned out differently for them. not caring about the food for just a minute. ❛ i would’ve went with if you asked y’know. i’ve got a few thoughts on your father. ❜ now she had to sort of regret luke’s middle name.