The words felt like stones dropping into his gut as he listened. He knew all of this was important, of course he did. He'd just always assumed they'd be having this talk when his dad was at least 20 or 30 years older. Not now, when he still looked like he should have so much of his life left ahead of him.
He just nodded. His throat had closed up, and his eyes were prickling with tears. Great. Crying wouldn't help anything at all, but a cold knot of fear had settled into his stomach and refused to let go.