Adult Content Warning
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Summary
Buck gets a text from his father every third Sunday in July. It always comes around 12:30. His parents don’t text; if they do, it’s never to him. He’s not even sure how his father got his number. He never opens it. He knows how it starts, though.
Dear Son, I hope- Buck hopes he chokes to death before he ever finds out what his father hopes. They have an unspoken agreement that they don’t mention the texts. Buck doesn’t acknowledge that his father sent it, and Phillip never asks if Buck received it.
“Your dad texted,” Tommy tells him while he’s making lunch. “You want me to look?”
“I know,” Buck says, not pausing his chopping of vegetables. He’s trying to make chicken. He doesn’t have time. He won’t read it anyway; he never does. “Just leave it.”
He thinks about how the texts started; he thinks about crying so hard he thought he was going to throw up. He thinks about the pills. He thinks “Daddy, why won’t you love me?” He thinks “Oh Evan, I do. I do love you.” He believes he hasn’t heard his father utter those words since. He thinks he hates him.