My biological father came back on my 17th birthday determined to prove he could outdo the man who'd raised me. He thought one expensive gift would settle it. Then I went inside and brought something out to the driveway.
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"Come on, son. Your stepdad could never compete with this."
Then he held out the keys and waited for me to thank him.
I hadn't seen my father in 14 years.
He left when I was three.
For most of my childhood, it was Mom and me, and money was the thing we talked about most without actually talking about it.
I knew when the electric bill was late because Mom stopped buying coffee.
I knew new sneakers meant we weren't ordering pizza that month.
By 13, I'd learned to stop asking for things before Mom had to say no.
Then she met Ray when I was 15.
Ray came with his two kids.
