As soon as Loni leaves my apartment, my phone rings. Like clockwork, my father calls me every Sunday morning. The conversations are usually brief consisting of nothing more than a "hi... how are ya... what's new..." Then we hang up and do it all again a week later. But this Sunday is different.

"Jace, how are ya," his voice is loud through the speaker.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Just fantastic." Well, that's a new word to add to his vocabulary. Normally I just get an "alright" or "fine". With how our conversations normally go, I'm surprised he even bothers calling at all.

We've never been close. Not even when my mom was alive. Yeah, we lived in the same house, but he was so disconnected from the two of us.

My mom definitely knew about his ongoing affairs. He made it so blatantly obvious. Hell, in the year leading up to their divorce, he brought random women home with him and fucked them in the guest room while mom was in earshot of all of it.

They divorced when I was in seventh grade. When mom wanted me to live with her, he didn't oppose it. He didn't even bat an eye. But when I started my sophomore year, mom was killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver and I was sent right back to live with my father.

His affairs continued on and I had to witness a different woman coming into our house every single night.

"So I was thinking you should come home for Thanksgiving this year."

He has to be dying.

"Why?" Is all I'm able to muster. I haven't seen him since I started going to Bayside. No holidays, no birthdays, nothing.

"What, I can't see my own son for the holiday?" There's a pause and he lets out a deep breath. "I want to see you, Jace. And I have some big news."

"What news?" I sit down on my bed when I realize I'm pacing the floor.

"I'm getting married!"

My heart plummets into my stomach then dodges back up into my throat. "Married?" I croak.

"Oh come on, show your dad some more enthusiasm. I'm gettin' married!" He's shouting and it makes my ears ring.

"That's great," I say with a weak tone. The idea of him getting married is anything but.

"So what do you say, will you come home?"

He's really squeezing my heart in all the right places. Like he sank his hand into my chest and is toying with my heart until he can find the right spot that makes me weak. That makes me bend to his every whim.

Maybe he's changed. It's been a few years since we've seen each other. Maybe through his countless affairs, he finally found the one.

Fuck I hate to admit it that I was just like him. His actions have definitely rubbed off on me, and as a child, I was like a sponge. I absorbed all of his bad habits and honed his skill.

My fuckery started in high school after mom passed away. And when I would look in the mirror, I saw my dad staring right back at me.

But now, maybe it's from my new found outlook on life, me not being a complete fuck-boy anymore, that I give him the benefit of the doubt. That I want to see for myself that he's actually changed.

I such in a breath and let it out as I speak. "Okay. I'll be there."

"Great!"

The conversation doesn't extend further than that. I end the call and I feel like a weight is lifted off of my shoulders. But now complete dread is being pumped into my chest. I'm going to see my father again as well as his new fiancé. I really hope he fucking changed.