At the tail end of Frank’s conversation with the chef Charmayne, just after he rescinds his invitation for a drink because he needs to find his son, she says to him, “I assume you’ll find your son…Or he’ll find you” (325). Char’s comment carries a deeper significance than she intends. In many ways, the trip Frank has planned is for precisely this purpose. Frank sees it as a rescue mission. However, the mission involves both Frank and Paul finding each other. This process begins to gain momentum immediately after Charmayne departs for the bar across the street. When Paul witnesses Frank turn down the drink with Charmayne, he knows that it is because Frank prioritizes his duty as father. Paul opens up to Frank and gives insight into how he has been thinking. Frank realizes that Paul is embarking on the bridge from childhood to adulthood known as adolescence. Frank says, “The first adult conversation a man can have with his son is one in which he acknowledges he doesn’t know what’s good for his own child and has only an out-of-date idea of what’s bad” (329). The old answers—the ones that children are asked to accept from their parents almost as the word of the divine—are no longer sufficient. As Paul loses that childhood innocence, Frank understands that his role as a father will also change, and he will soon need to come to terms with the fact that his son is now becoming his own man.

As quickly as things improved between Frank and Paul, they just as quickly grow tense again. Frank wants Paul to remain in an elevated mood because this makes Frank feel that he is succeeding at doing his job. Frank mistakenly associates his son’s mood with his performance as a dad. The apparent successes of the night at the inn and the following morning’s breakfast are short-lived. Paul’s mood changes back, and he once again becomes snide and antagonistic toward Frank. This exasperates Frank, who says, “Children, who sometimes may be angels of self-discovery, are other times the worst people in the world” (358). The frustration apparent in the comment belies a flaw in Frank’s personality. Frank has experienced major trauma in his adult life, and his response over time has been to detach himself emotionally. He approaches life stoically and strives to keep an even keel. He sees this as a successful strategy, as it prevents him from being hurt emotionally. When Paul acts up, Franks misses the simple fact that in this regard, Paul is not like him. Frank resents the emotional rollercoaster, and this resentment builds until it climaxes with the batting cage incident. When Frank accosts Paul and effectively prods him into the cage, it is as though Frank is not mad at Paul; he is mad at the way life inevitably drives people’s most important loved ones—their children—away from them.