“Congratulations.”
“Come on.”
“No. You don’t get ‘come on.’ You disappeared.”
“I wasn’t okay after Melissa died.”
“You think I was?”
Silence.
Then Eric said,
“I want to reconnect.”
I laughed.
I couldn’t help it.
“Reconnect?”
“They’re my daughters.”
That sentence did something ugly inside me.
I walked out onto the fire escape before the girls could hear.
“No,” I said.
“What do you mean, no?”
“You want to be their father? Show up.”
“I’m trying.”
“No. You’re making a phone call.”
“Mason—”
“Get on a plane. Get in a car. Walk here. I don’t care. But don’t call me from another state and tell me you’re ready to be a dad because you’re feeling guilty tonight.”
He became angry.
“You can’t keep my children from me.”
I almost shouted.
Instead, I lowered my voice.
“I’ve spent thirteen years making sure they never feel abandoned again. If you want to be part of their lives, you come here sober, stable, and prepared to stay.”
