To Learn to Let Go | ✔

Chapter 40

Trent's father had been moved to a different wing of the building. He had a small bedroom to himself, and I could tell it was decorated with some things from home. There was a picture of him and Trent on the nightstand, and one of his wife with Trent. Pictures like that weren't up in the house too much, so I wondered where those pictures came from. Mr. Rodriguez was in plain clothes, just jeans a t-shirt. It was odd seeing him like this, the couple of times I had seen him prior he was in a suit or a hospital gown. He seemed more relaxed and happier than when we visited the day of his heart attack. He smiled at the both of us as we walked into his room, and the smile never faltered when he looked down at our intertwined hands.

"Hey Dad," Trent said as we sat down.

"Hey son, how are you?" His father asked.

"I'm doing pretty well. How are you?"

"Great actually," he smiled. "Grayson, how are you?" He asked turning to look at me. I froze up, replaying that night in my head. All I could see was him lunging at me, trying to attack me for who I was, for loving his son.

"Grayson, it's okay," Trent said as he squeezed my hand, pulling me out of my flashback.

"I know you're probably pretty afraid of me. I'm sorry for what I did."

"I-It's okay Mr. Rodriguez," was all I could stutter out.

"Please, call me Victor," he said.

"O-okay," I stuttered.

"We definitely got off on the worst foot, I just wanted to say I'm so sorry for how I acted towards you. I'm not that person anymore though, and I really hope I can get to know the man that my son has quite literally risked everything for." I smiled at that. His father seemed sincere, like a whole new person. The demons were still there, but like me, he was learning to just take each new day as it comes and cope with the situation at hand in a positive way. He really was a much different person that the bitter, angry, abusive drunk I met a few weeks ago. Even in such a short time span you could see that this program was making a difference for him.

"It's o-okay."

"How has the program been?" Trent asked.

"Good, it's been a lot of therapy, a lot of examining why I started drinking in the first place, what I can do to avoid drinking, how I can make amends to the people in my life that I hurt."

"And how can you do that?"

"By being better going forward. I can't change what I did in the past. But I can make better choices for the future. I'll start by saying that I really appreciate that you both came to see me."

"Of course I came, Dad," Trent said. He looked on the verge of tears and I reached out for his hand. "I know I've said and done a lot of hurtful things recently, but I... I do love you. And all I've ever wanted was for you to be a good dad."

"I will be going forward," he said, and then pulled an envelope out of his bedside table. "Happy eighteenth birthday, Trent."

"What is this?" He asked, confusion evident on his face.

"Open it," was all his father said. Trent opened the envelope, pulling out a brightly colored card. When he opened it, a slip of paper fell out onto the floor. Trent picked it up and looked at it and his eyes bugged out.

"Dad, this is..." he gasped.

"That's your first semester's tuition, plus a little extra so you can take Grayson on some nice dates."

"But Dad, I don't even know if I got in yet... I probably didn't..." He took out the envelope from Rutgers and held it in his hand. "I just got this in the mail when I stopped home, I haven't even opened it yet."