One for the Angels

“Okay, are you ready?” Danny said dramatically. “Here it is, the big amazing story of who I am. There’ll be a TV show soon enough: Daniel Fullman: The Reveal.”

“Ha ha,” I said dryly. “Just get on with it already.” Danny had come to the shop early the next morning so he could finally tell me exactly what was going on with him. Once I knew the truth, he’d said, then we could figure out where to go.

“All right, jeez. So, let’s see. I had a pretty normal childhood, it was just me, my mom, my dad, and my older sister. But when I was fourteen my mom and dad decided to get a divorce, and that was pretty much the last I ever heard from my father. He moved out and basically just fell off the radar. Not immediately, of course, he would call us and send us cards for our birthdays and stuff. But by the time I was sixteen, we didn’t talk anymore.

“My mom got a boyfriend about a year later, his name is Peter. They got married when I was sixteen too. He’s a real scumbag. Doesn’t have a job. Just sits on his fat ass all day and yells at my mom to do shit for him, and for some reason she listens to him. He’d make gross comments to my sister too, but I don’t think she ever told my mom. Either that or she did and my mom just refused to listen.

“Anyways, so Peter and I never liked each other. I was always really protective of my mom, so naturally I hated his guts, and he hated mine. Whenever he had a lot to drink he’d single me out and make fun of me, just taunt me over shit like my dad leaving and how he was a deadbeat and I’d grow up to be just like him. And one night, it just . . . got to me. And I just snapped, and I started hitting him over and over and over. And my mom was screaming and begging us to stop but I didn’t listen and we just kept fighting.

“But then my mom tried to step in and Peter pushed her out of the way, but he pushed her so hard she fell down and her head hit the corner of the kitchen table and it knocked her out. And then Pete just kind of went berserk, and he left. And that was just it for me. So I moved my mom, of course, and I put some ice on her head and made sure she’d be okay. But then I packed my things and left before Peter came back.

“I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t want to stay at any friends’ houses because I knew they’d find me eventually. So I just kept walking. After a few days of just sleeping wherever I could, I found a little coffee shop that had a nice awning to keep me dry in a part of the city that didn’t have too many people who’d disturb me. So I thought I’d just sleep there for the night and then go somewhere else, but all of a sudden this random girl started coming out and giving me free food and drinks. So I decided to stay.” He said this with a small smile.

I was speechless, opening and closing my mouth a few times. “You okay?” he asked, laughing a little.

“No, I’m not,” I said finally. “God, Danny, I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged. “Shit happens. You know.”

“So . . . why’d you go back?”

“Well, I knew I’d have to eventually. And everything with me and you was really shitty, and I just didn’t want to be the reason why you were so sad. So I went back home. Both my sister and my mom just about killed me, of course. But then my mom told me Peter had moved out and she was going to divorce him after what had happened. So she’s doing a lot better now.”

“That’s good. I’m so glad.”

“Yeah. They didn’t even want me coming back here, but I told them I needed to. To see you.”

“You told them about me?” I said, feeling my face flush.

He nodded, looking down at his hands. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to meet them. When you go back,” I said with an air of forced casualty.

Danny looked up so fast I thought he might get whiplash. “Are you asking to meet my family?”

“More like telling you,” I said. “Is that okay?”

He looked at me for a moment before he smiled. “Yeah, that’s okay.” He paused. “For what it’s worth, I thought about you every day while I was gone. I’m sorry I never said good-bye. I thought it would make things easier for you if I didn’t.”

“The opposite, actually,” a new voice said. I spun around. Hannah had just walked into the shop, and she was staring at us. “Danny,” she said calmly. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hi, Hannah,” Danny answered back. “You too.”

“You’re back now, so I’ll refrain from killing you, but if you ever pull shit like that again there will be consequences.” Noticing my disgruntled expression, she said, “What? Him leaving literally threw the entire vibe off. Do I need to tell him about the Great Juno Depression?”

“Shut up,” I said, scowling. Danny merely smiled.