Yesterday's Gone: Season Three (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER)

sorrow.
    Will said, “Wanna watch TV? We can watch whatever you want — something you’ve never seen before, or something saved on the DVR.”
    “Something I’ve never seen before!”
    “Okay,” Will said, heading to the DVD cabinet, where he opened his extensive selection and moved his finger along the bottom row of flicks that Luca had never seen before. The bottom row was the most often studied and requested. Will chose from the row wisely, a masterpiece at a time.
    “ Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones! ” Luca said, a smile threatening to take over his face.
    “I’m not sure.” Will frowned and shook his head. “It’s kind of violent.”
    “I’m old enough.”
    Will said, “Oh, all right, I’m easy to convince tonight. Let’s start with the first one. The second is too dark to watch without Boricio on the other side of the safety sandwich. Maybe he’ll come over for movie night and we’ll watch it then.”
    “Yay!” Luca said.
    Will smiled, then slipped the disc into the player and pressed play.
    Will went to the kitchen to make popcorn, dumped the bag into a bowl for the two of them to share, and was digging in beside Luca before the boulder was rolling toward Indy.
    Luca loved Raiders of the Lost Ark , just as he loved The Temple of Doom , which they watched even though Boricio wasn’t there to be the other side of the safety sandwich. He also seemed to love what he saw of The Last Crusade , but that wasn’t much, since Luca was asleep before Indiana even got to Vienna.
    Will brushed the hair from his son’s face, petting his head as Harrison Ford outsmarted the Nazis, Will smiling through every one of Sean Connery’s one liners and Luca’s long bouts of snoring. He wondered what Luca was dreaming almost the entire time, but wasn’t willing to step inside his mind as an intruder. Finally, Indy chose life over immortality and the credits started to roll. Will pulled Luca into his arms, then stood from the couch and carried him to his room and tucked him into bed.
    It was almost morning outside, and Will was pretty sure he’d regret his decision to stay up so late.
    Ah, what the hell, it’s Sunday. I’ll take a nap.
    Will was halfway to the door when Luca turned from the wall, clutched his pillow tightly to his chest, and mumbled, “I love you, Daddy.”
    “I love you too,” Will said, closing the door quietly behind him, feeling bad for hoping that Luca was speaking to him instead the father still alive in his dreams.
    Will pissed, brushed his teeth, and then went to his room and climbed into bed with his iPad, figuring he’d run through his email until his eyes were too tired to stay awake any longer.
    Fourteen emails, and two were from Barry, a guy he had met at The Red Herring, an indie bookstore in New York, two months earlier. They’d gone out just once, but the spark wasn’t there. Will had tried to let him down easy, but Barry wasn’t getting the hint, or figured he’d go with the persistent approach.
    Will had liked Barry well enough, but even if Will wanted a relationship — which he wasn’t even sure he did — he didn’t have the time. Will’s responsibilities lay firmly with his research, and with Luca. Reading Barry’s first email made Will wonder if he’d made a mistake in shutting others out. Staring at Barry’s second email, and all the kind things he’d said, made Will feel lonely, like he was missing out on a life he should’ve had.
    There was a time — decades ago — when Will thought he would find the right guy and settle down. But that time had passed. He had never met the right guy, then life and circumstance conspired to keep him on life’s treadmill, from his time in the Air Force and the Alaskan discovery which changed everything, to Boricio, to his work at Black Island with the Remedy Project, and now Luca.
    Will wasn’t incapable of a relationship. He’d had several, with men and women, though ironically his best relationship had been with a woman, back when he dated women to douse his internal doubt.
    Sissy Braddock was a social worker, as haunted by her work as Will was by his. They dated for nine months, and nearly moved in together. Sissy introduced Will to Boricio, a nine-year-old boy who had sat front row for more suffering than any child Will had ever known. Of course, Will hadn’t known too many, but Sissy agreed.
    Will had just left the Air Force the year he met Boricio, and hadn’t been looking to raise a family. But