Behold, All Things Are Become New

Sneak Peek

“Stupid tie.”

I jerked the uncooperative bow tie from my upturned collar and thumped my knuckles against the wall before I could think and stop myself.

The groomsmen whispered in hushed tones while tucking their shirts and fastening their cuff links. My face flushed. I left my hand there until the sting settled, then faced the smudged mirror and attacked the tie again, fingers clumsy, pulse rising. Despite the air conditioning, the Florida sun penetrated the walls, broiling me.

I shook the tie just as the door to the Sunday school room turned dressing area burst open. I spun around to find my best man, Bryce, hovering in the door way.

“Tyler!”

His usual composure on an EMT call had vanished, and my off-tune whistling trailed off.

“Someone here says he’s your dad. I tried to stop him.” He glanced sideways as if to double-check the veracity of the man’s story. “Wants to talk to you.”

“Huh? Speak English, Bud. What are you talking about?”

His slow blink and lips pressed together seemed to wait for me to catch up. When I did, an acrid tang rose in my mouth—the taste of nights from an Illinois river town. 

I paced the narrow confines of the room while Bryce waited.

He can’t be here. But my pulse didn’t believe it. 

“He wasn’t a dad. Just a man in need of a punching bag.”

I hoped the man outside heard me. I shoved my hands into my pockets, my fists pressing through the fabric.

“Is my mom with him?”

“Doesn’t seem to be.”

I’d sent her an invitation where she worked. An attempt to at least reconnect, knowing she couldn’t get away without him knowing. He must have found out anyway.

“Drunk, isn’t he? Can’t imagine how he ever managed to get down here.”

“Seems calm and collected.”

I threw my hands in the air. “Unbelievable!” My father always knew the worst time to show up to cause the most pain. I pulled out my hands and tugged at the uneven tie dangling around my neck. 

Bryce’s eyes softened, knowing my history.

If he was in fact drunk, Bryce and the guys could cart him off, but I couldn’t allow a showstopper in front of Julie or her family.

Trickles of sweat worked their way into the cracked terrain of old scars dotting my back. I reached behind me to scratch one, angered that it still itched after all these years. Agreeing to see him meant opening a door for him to worm his way back into my life. 

“What do you think?” Bryce asked.

“Not on your life!”

The way he chewed his lip, he was thinking something. 

He stepped into the room. “Buddy … I can only imagine what you’re feeling. But might you reconsider?”

I emitted a low growl.

“Please …  bear with me. He’s already intruded. Get it over with and out of your mind. This is your big day.”

I slapped my pant pockets. “You’ve got the ring?”

“Yes … And?”

“Whose side are you on, best man?”

He squinted, a pained expression tightening his face. “Yours, buddy, always.

Toeing the crack in the tiled floor, I pondered the improbability of my father’s changing. Why only now after six years? I rolled my neck slowly. People don’t show up like this unless something’s driving them. And where’s Mom? Perhaps something’s wrong. My fists unclenched, a finger at a time.

I glanced at my watch. Thirty minutes until marching time. I shook my head but answered, “Oh, alright.”

The guys filed out, heads turning as they passed through the door. Sure enough, the man who made me—but never raised me—loomed steps away. 

Whatever he has to say, he can say to my back. I turned away from the door and went to work on the tie again. My fingers fumbled—not with a strip of cloth, but with a past I couldn’t straighten.

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