Richard Ward hollered, “Lookin’ good up there, Dad!”
Still holding his smile firmly in place, Harold Ward shouted back through his teeth, “Thank you, son!”
“Are we about done here?” Ethan Hill asked.
“Oh, enjoy it!” his new husband teased. “This is our dream come true! ‘Bout time we gained some good attention, eh? Haha!”
“We can definitely wrap it up here, Dr. Hill. I’m sure I got more than what I need, heh. Thanks again for the interview.”
“You heard ‘im! Coast’s clear kids, so come give your granddad a hug!”
Little Annie shot out of her mother’s arms and cheered “GRANDPA!” while Ben decided to keep his cool a little better with, “Hey, Granddad. Congrats on the Care Home.”
As Harold embraced both of his grandchildren in love and laughter, Ethan approached the adults with a similar lightness in his heart. “Thanks a lot for coming out to this, it means a lot to us.”
Richard eagerly greeted his new step-father in a hug of his own along with, “Come off, Ethan. Where else would we be but here celebratin’ with you?”
“You saying that means something especially important to me, Richard. Harold and I—we know we made mistakes in the past, and neither of us handled the consequences particularly well.”
“I’m ready to call it ancient history if you are,” he answered, looking a little anxiously to the sky where he believed his mother Anna Ward might be looking down on them. While Richard made efforts to outwardly support his father, the troubled musician remained unsure if that also meant betraying his mother’s memory in some way.
That was when Max Green thought to jump in:
“Hey, nice to meet yah! I’m Max. So you go way back with my boy Rich here, eh?”
“Something like that, yes,” the old man chuckled a little.
Amy Parker tried to politely cut in with, “Max, you remember Ethan. He was at Ben’s birthday party the day you came home. We’ve all met before.”
“Is that right!” he feigned, failing to take her hint in favour of committing to his new mission: save Richard by making himself the center of unwanted attention instead. “Sorry, don’t take it personally. I’d forget my head if I didn’t have these two always looking out for me. That’s what we do, we look out for each other.”
“That’s right, Harold told me the good news. Congratulations goes both ways today, hm?”
“You better believe it, neighbour.”
Ethan spun around for the journalist. “Jeremy! What can we do for you?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, only—is that Richard Ward and Max Green together?”
“No pictures,” Max warned him.
“No, no, it’s not like that. I’m actually just a big fan, heh. Richard, I saw your solo show in Feverfew last fall with my sister. Well, technically she’s my niece—it’s a little complicated, heh, but she’s practically my sister. My family isn’t exactly conventional, I think it’s safe to say we have that in common. In any case, it was the best concert we’ve ever been to.”
“Oh, thanks man,” Rich answered.
“I don’t usually write review or spotlight pieces like what I’m doing for your Dads here, it’s sort of entry-level for what I do these days, but I make the odd exception for the right client. Feverfew is losing two giants now that Harold and Ethan have decided to start this place here in Whibley. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jeremy Humble.”
Richard stepped forward to explain, “I appreciate what you’re sayin’ but this day isn’t about us, y’know? It’s about my Dad and Ethan and the Sunset Care Home.”
“Right, of course. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t’ve said anything. Not very professional of me, I realize, but my sister wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if I met Richard Ward and didn’t say anything, heh.”
“Actually,” Ethan squeaked, “Jeremy’s just covering for me, this was my idea. I told him how close you were with your father and how you’d likely show for the grand opening. Name dropping you meant that we could get Jeremy’s attention, his publishing company is a big deal these days and we could use all the good publicity we can get. Erm, Harold and I don’t have the best reputation here.”
With a little hesitancy the local celebrity asked the journalist, “What do they need?”
“Pretty much anything from you would help — an endorsement picture, a few comments of support — but what everyone would really love is another Richard Ward solo show. If word went ‘round that you occasionally play here not only the elderly would want to live here, I can tell you that much.”
That’s when Harold interjected. “Ah, come on, son. What’s the big deal? You were gonna visit us anyway, right? So, swing by the odd weekend and bring your guitar with you, nothing to it.”
Max flinched to say something in protest but Amy pulled him back just in time for them to hear his answer: “Sure Dad, whatever you need.”
As the two fatherless ones of their trio it pained them to hear words they could never repeat, and all at once it made sense to Max why Amy stopped him — even if he didn’t like it.
“That’s the spirit, my boy! Now, enough talk. Come inside, I’ll give you all a tour. We’ll grab a couple glam shots inside this way too. Let’s go!”
“Max Green, right? It’s nice to meet you too.”
