disagree with me.”

My voice tightened.

“You stopped being my father.”

His expression went blank.

“Alyssa…”

“You thought I was giving up too much, so you gave me up instead?”

Dad looked away.

Then he sat heavily in one of the training chairs.

“I thought you would call.”

I laughed bitterly.

“I did.”

He looked down.

“I know.”

“Then what were you waiting for?”

His hands folded together.

When he finally looked up, his eyes were wet.

“For you to admit I had been right.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“At first,” he added.

“And later?”

He looked at Grandpa’s bag.

“Later, I didn’t know how to answer once you stopped asking me to forgive you.”

Five years ago, I would have demanded an apology.

Now I wanted something else.

I wanted him to see the life he had refused to see.

“Come back to the apartment.”

“Why?”

“Because