After we ate the dinner my mom made, she looked ready to collapse. Yawning loudly, she walked over and kissed my stepdad on the forehead. She told me to make sure to go to bed early so I wouldn’t be late for work tomorrow, and then made her way upstairs. I caught the glance my stepdad shot her, the eager hope in his eyes, the way he watched her ass swaying up the steps before it disappeared. But she genuinely seemed exhausted, and who could blame her after working two shifts in a row over the weekend? The hospital couldn’t let her take the days off; it was only Father’s Day after all.
My stepdad sank the leather couch beside me, the disappointment clear on his face, and I finally knew the perfect present to give him. I’d felt so bad during dinner when mom presented her lasagna and my stepbrother, who’d gone to the gym, gave him a brand-new watch. All I’d given him was a mug that said, “World’s Best Dad.” I couldn’t think of what to get him. What’s the best way to tell my white stepdad how I really felt about him?