Honestly I feel even if Neil forbade contact it won't make him a proper villain. Ultimately he raised MC and was a loving supporting Dad. I can't see him telling the grandfather to get fucked for whatever reason been enough to override 18 years of been a good parent. MC will have a cry, sulk and get over it.
If Neil were secretly evil, it’d come out in the diary—unless Neil tore pages out of it, and missing pages should’ve been discovered long before now.
I suspect much of the reason Neil is so poor is healthcare. Non-Americans may not be aware: Healthcare costs are
insane in this country. I have a friend who had a severe allergic reaction last year, went to hospital, and had to be in an induced coma for a week. She has good health insurance, which covered everything but her deductible, but her total bill was more than $1 million. Without insurance (and without the Affordable Care Act, which began in 2010)
she would have to pay that million herself—and she’s still paying off her student loans! Ever wonder why some people can never, ever get out of debt? Healthcare and student loans.
So trying to save Lynette’s life would no doubt have cost Neil several thousand dollars he doesn’t have, and Lynette’s parents, who’d blame him for knocking up their daughter, would no doubt have been no help. Neil’s still paying off that hospital bill—and
that’s why he can’t get over her. How could he? Every monthly check to the HMO, plus interest, reminds him of her.