Chapter 31

The next morning, Richie sat in the captain's seat, steering the house boat to a different location while he enjoyed the beautiful sight of the large lake.

The wooden door creaking as it opened, had him look up to see who was entering.

Noah took a step back. "Sorry, didn't know you'd be here. I'll find some other place."
"No." Richie said quickly. "Sit down, it's a nice view from here."

Noah concidered it for a sceond before walking over and sitting down in the other large comfortable seat.

Richie watched him sit and lean back in the chair, then saw how Noah picked up a book and open it. He knew how much Noah loved his books and didn't like interrupting him but he wanted to opportunity to talk and decided to interrupt before Noah could even start reading.

"Don't you like the view here?" Richie asked, unsure of how else to start a conversation with his son.
Noah closed the book and looked up. "Yeah, it's beautiful here."
"Thought that's why you came here?" Richie asked.
Noah shrugged. "It's a quiet place to read. Usually there's nobody here. It's a nice view, quiet and perfect to read."
"Don't you want to enjoy our vacation instead of reading all the time?"
The teenage boy frowned, picking up his book and ready to leave.
"No, I didn't mean it like that." Richie said quickly. "Don't you want to look around, see the scenes around here?"
"I do that, just not all day long."
"Okay, what about going out with Ava and Caleb and their friends? You could have brought one of your friends too, there's space enough on this book."
Noah gave him a wondering look. "I wouldn't know who'd to bring."
"Even two friends." Richie suggested.
Noah's look didn't change, if anything, it got more confused.

Richie left the conversation for what it was and turned to look out of the windows again, trying to find a perfect spot to stay for the rest of the day. There were so many beautiful places to see and still enough days to see all of them. He heard the rustling of pages being turned as he did so.

When he finally found a spot, he turned off the engine and decided to let the boat drift for a while, then he turned to Noah again.

"So what are you reading?" He asked, feeling sorry for interrupting.
Noah closed the book and looked at the purple printed cover. "Inkdeath."
"New book?" Richie asked.
"I have the series."
"What's it about?"

Just like last time, Richie was amazed at how Noah talked about his books. He was a quiet kid but when the subject was books, he was unstoppable. He could tell every little detail about the store with as much interest as if he was reading the book right then.

He wished he could see Noah's excitement like that in every day life. He had grown up very differently from Noah. Friends were always around him, it was the same for Ava, she always had friends over and was very social. Now he had a son that was completely different, and even after a year, he still had a difficult time relating to Noah. It was hard to find common interests when he wasn't open to sharing his interests.

It didn't make him love Noah any less, he was his son and he loved him. Although it did make him realize even more that every person was different. Ava and Caleb were socialble people while Noah was an introvert who preferred his own little world. What would Daniel be like? Or the child they were trying to conceive?

A knock on the door interrupted Noah's detailed explanation of the book he was reading.

Sarah walked in, carrying Daniel in her arms. "We found daddy." She told Daniel, then added. "And Noah." She looked up at Richie. "I didn't know you two were hiding in here. Talking about books?"
"Yes, we are." Richie answered, then looked interested at Daniel, back to Noah. "Why don't you read stories to Daniel? He'd love it if you would. Any book, you can read that one to him and he'd just love hearing your voice."
Noah frowned. "He would? He doesn't get it."
"That doesn't matter." Richie said encouraging. "He'd hear your voice, know it's you and that's what babies like, he doesn't need to understand what's being read to him."
"Oh." Noah said, his face filling with understanding. "Maybe." He got up from his chair and quickly walked passed Sarah and Daniel and left the room.
Sarah frown at Richie. "Everything okay?" She asked as she went to sit down in the space Noah had just vacated.
"I don't know. It's still so hard to connect with him."
Sarah sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I do love him, we just don't really have any of the same interests."
"He really got being an introvert from me. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe how I lived my life while he grew up influenced him?"
"Don't be crazy. There's nothing wrong with being an introvert, it just makes it harder to talk to him and keep a conversation going. All he likes are books."
Sarah shook her head. "He likes more than books. History is a big thing for him too. He knows so much about history and not just American history. The presidents, that's something you could talk about. You'll get there, keep trying to get his interest."
Richie nodded. "I wasn't planning on giving up."

Sarah smiled, glad he wasn't, she knew her son was hard to connect to for other people. For her he had always been like that and that was how he was, she wouldn't change a bit about him. She was glad Richie still loved her son, even if it wasn't so difficult.

"How about spending some time with Daniel?" Sarah suggested. "He's easily to please, play him a song and he's completely lost in it." She reminded him.

She was right, something Richie loved so much about their child, how he could be captured by music so easily and lose himself in it at such a young age. There was no doubt in his mind that Daniel would share his musical talent. He couldn't wait to try and prove that.