~IX~

Wiping his mouth, Phillip tossed his crumpled napkin onto his plate. "I'm stuffed," he told his stepfather with a large grin. "Thanks, Lee."

Lee took another sip of his beer. "Me, too."

"But you hardly ate anything."

"Didn't need to," Lee laughed. "Watching you was more than enough."

Phillip grinned again, shrugging his shoulders in embarrassment. "Guess I didn't eat much dinner." Feeling Lee's eyes on him, he added quickly, "This is a pretty neat place, huh?"

Lee looked over at the cute little waitress who was giving Phillip the eye. "Yeah," he agreed, "pretty neat." He smiled as Phillip squirmed in his seat. "So, Chief, I've helped you wrangle a phone number from our very attentive waitress over there, watched you swallow the Mega-Burger special practically whole . . ." He eyed Phillip's empty glass. "I've even looked the other way when you flashed that impressively professional fake I.D. of yours." Drumming his finger on the table, he added with a smile, "And under the right circumstances, I could even be persuaded not to tell your mother about that last one."

"Oh, yeah?" Phillip rejoined with a conspiratorial laugh. "Do I have to take out the trash every night when I'm home on break? "

"No, nothing so drastic as that," Lee returned. "All you have to do is tell me what's got you so wound up."

Phillip gave a hollow laugh. "Taking out the trash isn't really so bad."

"You're forgetting we have a baby in the house again," he teased. "You know, speaking from experience here, you might feel better if you get it off your chest." Pausing briefly, he regarded his stepson carefully. "Want to tell me what's really going on with you and your dad?"

Phillip exhaled loudly, his eyes darting away from Lee's. "Same old stuff, I guess."

"Define 'stuff'."

Phillip shrugged. "You've seen him this weekend – the guy never lets up." Pushing away from the table, he began to rock vigorously on the back legs of the chair. "It was the same thing orientation weekend," he continued, the words tumbling out to keep pace with his rhythmic motion. "First, he kept reciting a whole stream of 'things not to do' all the way here. If that wasn't bad enough, when we finally got here, he was so uptight. He didn't want to do anything, wouldn't meet any of the other parents or go to any of the activities. All he cared about was picking my classes and setting up a study schedule. If it wasn't for Carrie, the whole weekend would have been a disaster."

He leaned forward, letting his chair hit the wood floor with a forceful thud. "It doesn't matter what I do, Lee; nothing is ever good enough for him."

"He seems pretty pleased that you're talking about law school."

Phillip snorted. "Yeah, because he thinks I'm gonna be a junior version of him." Grabbing his napkin, he began to tear it into little pieces. "Believe me, that's the last thing I'm ever gonna be."

Lee picked up his fork, tapping it absently against the edge of the plate. "Your dad cares about you, Phillip. It may not be the kind of caring you want or even appreciate, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel it. People do the best they can, in their own way."

"You're getting as bad as Mom. You really don't have to defend him, you know."

Lee tossed his fork down on his plate with a loud clang. "Joe and I don't always see eye to eye, you know that," he said in a low voice. "But the one thing we do agree on is you and Jamie. We both want what's best for you."

"But you and Mom let us decide for ourselves what that is. You don't try to control everything we do."

"Your mom and I want you to think for yourselves – that's what every parent wants. We just have a different way of showing it, that's all. Believe me, we make mistakes, too. Nobody's perfect. Joe is just a little . . ."

"Obsessive-compulsive?"  Phillip smiled at Lee's raised an eyebrow. "That's what Jamie says," he joked.

Lee chortled appreciatively. "I'm not sure I'd put it quite like that, but okay. Who am I to argue with the future 'Dr.' King?" Leaning closer, he caught his stepson's eye. "If that's the case, then you just have to figure out a way to deal with him. You're a lot younger than he is, Phillip; more than likely, he's not going to change."

"Yeah, well, that's easier said than done. Especially when he's always on my case. You have no idea what it's like when your father . . ." Stricken, he bit his lip. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean . . ."

Lee leaned back in his chair. "I know you didn't," he stated quietly. "But you're wrong about not understanding. You think you have it tough with Joe? Try being raised by a military machine. Trust me, you don't know what tough is."

"But the Colonel was such a great guy . . ."

Lee rolled his eyes. "Let's just say, when you got to know him, your mother had mellowed him considerably. When he was younger, the man gave the term 'obsessive-compulsive' a whole new definition."

Phillip leaned closer, resting his weight on his forearms as he looked at his stepfather thoughtfully. "So how did you handle it?"

"Not too well. For years, if the Colonel said something was black, I said it was white, just on general principles. And I did stuff that probably turned his hair gray a whole lot sooner than Mother Nature intended."

Phillip grinned. "So that's how you always knew what I was up to before I did."

"The benefits of a misspent youth," Lee laughed in reply. Folding his arms across his chest, he gave his stepson a long look. "I also managed to get myself kicked out of a succession of universities in a concerted effort to piss the old man off."

"Did it work?"

"After a fashion. He told me in very succinct terms that after three 'failures', I was on my own. He held up the next distribution of my parents' trust fund and refused to pay my tuition." Lee shrugged. "Looking back, I'm sure I deserved it, but . . . well, the two of us didn't really speak for years." Lifting his glass, he quickly downed the rest of his beer. "We lost a lot of time together. Time we never made up."

"Is that why . . ."

Squirming under his stepson's earnest gaze, his voice faltered slightly. "Why . . . what?"

Phillip took a fist full of shredded napkin, holding his hand over his plate and letting the crumpled pieces fall like tiny flakes of paper snow. "I know, Lee," he answered at last in a small voice. "I overheard you and Mom talking last summer."

"Phillip . . ."

"I know you paid Dad's half of my tuition when he refused."

Lee shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "That was supposed to be a secret," he said at last. "I didn't want you to know . . ."

"That my father's a giant asshole? Why shouldn't I know? And why shouldn't Jamie? No," he added quickly, "I didn't tell him. I wanted to, but I didn't."

"Your father's not an asshole, he's just a little . . . 'rigid'. Like the Colonel.  He thinks . . ."

"That he should live my life for me," Phillip jeered, his lip turning up in disgust. "Who gave him that right? Just because I wouldn't go to Georgetown, he refuses to pay my tuition anywhere else. If that isn't an asshole, I don't know what is."

Lee shook his head. "I suppose in his own convoluted way, he thinks he's doing what's best for you."

"Doesn't he understand that I wanted to do this on my own? I never asked for his help. And I sure didn't want Carrie to pull strings to get me in somewhere I don't belong." Phillip sighed, his face set in a grim smile. "Don't worry, Lee, I have no intention of flunking out. And I'll pay you back every penny."

"There's no need to pay me back. You're my . . . you don't have to pay me back," he repeated, staring down at the remains of his dinner.

"Thanks," Phillip returned, equally interested in the restaurant's china pattern. "I really appreciate . . . well, I, uh, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Looking up, he caught the boy's eye with a sly smile. "I probably shouldn't admit it, but using part of the money the Colonel left me to pay your tuition . . . well, there's a certain poetic justice to it that I find eminently satisfying." As Phillip grinned back at him, Lee rose, tossing some bills on the table.  "Come on, let's get out of here. I don't know about you, but I could use sure a walk to work off this little snack."

TBC