“She wanted him to choose you for himself.”
“Did he?”
I forced myself not to soften it.
“Not when he should have.”
“Did Mom want him to stay?”
Lucas looked at the photograph.
“Do you hate him?”
Don’t miss
“I did before I knew who he was.”
“And now?”
“I understand him better now. That isn’t the same as forgiving him.”
He nodded slowly.
“I did before I knew who he was.”
“Do I have to meet him, Grandma?”
“No.”
“But can I?”
Every frightened part of me wanted to say not yet.
For ten years, Lucas and I had been enough.
What if letting this man in changed us?
“But can I?”
Then I remembered Teagan’s letter.
“You never asked why I was scared.”
I wasn’t going to make Lucas pay for my fears.
“Yes.”
***
The first meeting happened at a public baseball field.
Lucas chose it.
“You never asked why I was scared.”
His father was already there.
He held an old leather glove.
Lucas stopped.
“That’s the one from the picture.”
The man looked down.
“Yeah.”
Lucas stopped.
“You kept it all this time?”
“I kept more things than I had a right to.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“I’m Lucas.”
Lucas pointed toward the field.
