David's Dilemma

3.75... and here is where I'm revealed to be a horrible person. It's true. Can't deny it.On paper this is exactly the kind of books we bemoan there aren't enough of. Stories about mature MCs who are ordinary people, with everyday jobs, bodies that, while good for their age, aren't stopping traffic due to their hawtness. They're also dealing with RL issues. [a:Lynn Lorenz 1496392 Lynn Lorenz https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1510681708p2/1496392.jpg] delivers two men, Travis Hart, a police Detective and David Delaney, a landscape designer, who at 40 have come and gone around the block and are ready for a real relationship. The ‘baby' and ‘honey' come pretty quickly, but I didn't mind. Both MCs are at a stage of their lives where they recognize a good thing when it's starring them in the face, and are also smart enough to know that they don't have oodles of time to fritter away. The hitch in their story is David's father, David, Sr. who, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, is living with David, and on a pretty precipitous downward spiral, making David's time for a new relationship limited. That, coupled with David's guilt, relegates the budding thing between him and Travis to late night phone calls. It turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as they get to know each other down to brass tacks foregoing, at first, the physical. Those middle-of-the-night phone calls are an open space for Travis to unburden his soul of the darkness he witnesses everyday, and David gets the hope of something more than his father's the horror of seeing his father disappear before his eyes. I liked all of this. It felt realistic, true to life. So what was my problem? I hated David's father, didn't care what happened to him, actually felt it was a bit of a comeuppance, and I'm not even a tiny bit sorry. Why?Alzheimer's has closely affected my family, and it's a crushing experience. I felt for David, who's a sweet and kind man. His father? Not so much. Yes, David loves him, and having lost his mom at a young age, his father was his main care taker. David thinks of him as a good man, because he himself is one, but I'd beg to differ, and the evidence would support me. David, Sr. does have Alzheimer's and it disinhibits his inner monologue and his behavior. The senior Delaney is a homophobe and a racist. These are not newly acquired views. He just hid them better when his mind was intact. In fact, pre-illness, he never accepted David's ‘life choices', and yet poor David feels a duty to him, reluctant to commit him to a care facility, even though David, Sr.'s grasp on reality is hanging by a thread. His presence in the book, or rather David's accommodations for his attitudes dampened my enjoyment of the story, but that's solely on me. I don't think that sickness or aging cleanses our slate. Travis & David's romance is sweet and rooted in RL. I liked it and wish them well.