Jackson’s Dad (Tom Wade)

Quick Facts

• Role: Jackson’s father; former musician and construction worker living with multiple sclerosis (MS)
• First appearance: Early in the novel; described as tall (Chapter 8) and sometimes using a cane on bad days (Chapter 9)
• Family: Husband to Jackson’s Mom (Sara); father to Jackson and Robin
• Defining conflict: Pride versus practicality—resisting help even when the family is in crisis
• Symbols: Guitar (identity and resilience), “car camping” (denial), MS (uncontrollable forces)
• Turning points: Busking with Jackson’s sign (Chapter 25); reading Jackson’s note and choosing honesty (Chapter 50); accepting a job at a music store

Who They Are

Beneath his jokes and songs, bold, stubborn, and deeply tender, Tom Wade is a father trying to keep his family afloat while illness and unemployment narrow his options. He shields his children with humor, recasting hardship as adventure, yet that protective optimism curdles into denial when his pride won’t let him ask for help. A lifelong musician who once named his children after guitars (Chapter 6), he clings to dignity even as MS limits his body. His arc embodies the family’s struggle with Honesty and Communication: real strength arrives only when he lets go of the façade and speaks plainly about what they’re facing.

Personality & Traits

Tom is defined by a moving contradiction: a playful protector who uses jokes to soften reality, and a proud provider who mistakes asking for help as failure. That blend makes him both comforting and, at times, the obstacle his family must overcome to move forward.

• Proud and stubborn: He equates help with failure—“There’s everything wrong with asking for help… It means we’ve failed” (Chapter 11). He insists on driving while in pain (Chapter 20) and initially calls selling the TV “barbaric” (Chapter 11), clinging to symbols of normalcy.
• Optimistic and playful: He reframes homelessness as “car camping” (Chapter 21), writes silly songs, and banters to keep fear at bay. The levity protects the kids but also postpones hard truths.
• Creative and artistic: Music is his anchor. As a former “starving musician” (Chapter 6), he busks to earn money and to lift spirits, using his guitar to assert identity when everything else feels uncertain.
• Loving but flawed: He aches over perceived failures. After Jackson makes him a new busking sign, he breaks down (Chapter 25)—a private, unguarded moment that reveals love punctured by shame.
• Vulnerable: MS shapes his days—tall, sometimes leaning on a cane (Chapters 8–9). Intimate details like Jackson noticing his “stubbly” cheek (Chapter 25) emphasize the closeness and the strain.

Character Journey

Tom’s arc moves from denial dressed as optimism to honesty grounded in humility. In early flashbacks and the present, he paints hardship as adventure—“car camping”—and refuses help, believing self-reliance equals dignity. Crisis strips that stance down: busking with Jackson’s handmade sign (Chapter 25) is both humiliating and healing, a public admission that pride can’t feed a family. The breaking point comes when he reads Jackson’s runaway note (Chapter 50). Faced with his son’s pain, he finally drops the performance, explains that life rises and falls, apologizes, and chooses transparency. By taking a job at a music store, he trades the purity of pride for the steadier dignity of showing up—adapting for his family’s sake.

Key Relationships

• Jackson: Their bond begins with protection and silence—Tom hides the worst to spare his son. But the secrecy isolates Jackson. After the note, Tom treats him as an equal, sharing the truth and acknowledging Jackson’s maturity; honesty becomes the bridge that repairs them.
• Jackson’s Mom (Sara): Loving partners with clashing approaches. Sara is pragmatic, urging him to accept help; Tom’s pride sparks arguments about selling possessions (Chapter 11) and seeking support. Their shared musician past binds them, but financial precarity tests the marriage until Tom chooses openness and compromise.
• Robin: With his younger daughter, he’s tender and playful—reading her favorite book nightly and meeting her imagination with his own. These rituals show how his humor is nurturing at its best, making uncertainty feel safe.
• Crenshaw and Finian: Crenshaw reveals Tom had an imaginary friend, Finian (Chapter 46). This parallel reframes Tom’s humor and creativity as coping tools he learned young; when Jackson later asks about the name, Tom’s knowing look affirms a shared lineage of imagination as survival.

Defining Moments

Even small choices carry symbolic weight for Tom. Each moment below forces him to renegotiate what dignity means.

• Busking with Jackson’s sign (Chapter 25)
  • What happens: Tom plays guitar on a street corner; his first try falters, then he uses Jackson’s hand-drawn sign and earns more.
  • Why it matters: He surrenders a piece of pride to provide, and his tears show the cost—and the love—behind that surrender.
• The argument about help (Chapter 11)
  • What happens: Tom insists asking for help equals failure; he resists selling the TV and rejects outside support.
  • Why it matters: This scene crystallizes his core flaw, setting the stakes for whether he’ll prioritize image or family stability.
• The honest talk after the note (Chapter 50)
  • What happens: Confronted by Jackson’s runaway note, he admits mistakes, explains life’s “jiggly line,” and promises truth.
  • Why it matters: He replaces performance with partnership, modeling the very honesty he once avoided.
• Accepting the music-store job
  • What happens: Tom commits to steadier work connected to his skills.
  • Why it matters: It’s a practical, pride-tempering choice that turns love into daily responsibility—not just brave words.

Essential Quotes

“There’s everything wrong with asking for help,” my dad snapped. “It means we’ve failed.”
— Chapter 11

This line exposes Tom’s central belief: independence as the only acceptable form of dignity. The absolutism—“everything wrong”—sets up the arc he must dismantle to care for his family.

I wasn’t like my dad, who kept saying we weren’t homeless.
We were just car camping.
— Chapter 21

Jackson’s internal voice highlights the gap between Tom’s narrative and reality. The euphemism “car camping” shows how Tom’s optimism becomes denial, turning comfort into a barrier to problem-solving.

“You can be mad at someone and still love them with all your heart.”
— Chapter 20

Here Tom articulates a mature, nuanced understanding of love—one his actions sometimes fail to match. The line foreshadows the later reckoning, when love must include honesty as well as comfort.

“Here’s the thing, Jackson. Life is messy. It’s complicated. It would be nice if life were always like this.” He drew an imaginary line that kept going up and up. “But life is actually a lot more like this.” He made a jiggly line that went up and down like a mountain range. “You just have to keep trying.”
— Chapter 50

This is Tom’s thesis after growth. The “jiggly line” redefines failure as fluctuation, reframing help and adaptation as part of resilience—finally aligning his words with the hard truth he once avoided.