Bonding

Christopher

“Done?” I asked Olin

“Fishing. This was supposed to be us bonding, right? We bonded. I’d like to go home and eat.”

“Olin, we’ve been out here for thirty minutes and haven’t even gotten a bite.”

He groaned. “This is stupid.”

“Olin, listen, we need to talk. I know things haven’t been great between us. I know that, and I take full responsibility for it, but it’s time to make a change. We’re all we have in this world. Wouldn’t you rather have me to depend on then no one at all?”

He scoffed. “You make it sound like we’re the last two people on earth.”

“We are in some ways. You lost your mother. I can’t imagine what that must be like for a teenage boy, but I also need you to understand that I lost my wife. My best friend.”

“Dave was your best friend,” he retorted.

I could tell he was trying to be tough, but I could hear the pain in his voice. “Dave was my best guy friend, but your mom was my partner in all things. She was my other half.”

“You guys hardly talked. You were always