Chapter 18

“You can talk with him. Tell him stories.”

“My stories are long and dull, Vaughn. Even the laziest of blue jays flies off from his tree in the woods halfway through one.”

“You and Liam could be a perfect romantic match.”

“What is with your interference in this part of my life?”

“In Europe, one’s parents often choose a mate for their offspring. It is not such a farfetched notion. Is it so wrong for me to wish you a companion? Is it unthinkable I might want the same for my son? You certainly seem in no hurry to find one for yourself.”

“You know such a thing is impossible. The reason I was able to rouse your son from his deathbed, that’s the same reason he and I can never be lovers.”

“Franklin, go. And speak to Liam like a man in his twenty-fourth year in this decade—the nineteen seventies. If you wish to be an actor, take the stage. As it is, you are hiding behind a curtain sewn from peculiarity. Purposely, I dare say.”