He could probably get away with not telling them.

Paul was a few blocks away from the Gaf, where he was meeting his parents and Steven and Holly for lunch. For the entire drive from Lawrence, he'd been debating with himself -- well, arguing, really -- whether to tell Helen and Jack McDonnell his big secret.

His bruised, cowardly angel said: They've lived their whole lives just fine without this little bomb being dropped on them. And it's not like they live in town or that you see them very much.

His also bruised, angel-knows-best side said: You're lying to them. There is no excuse for that. The lie compounds...