For once in my life, I should’ve fought for what I wanted instead of bowing down to my father like always.
The night I met you, I was planning on burning my world down. There was nothing for me anymore, because I had just found out that the people I’d spent my entire life trying to please weren’t really mine and that they had no intention of ever telling me the truth.
I know I don't deserve this chance. I know I've missed her entire life and that fact alone kills me. I’ll never know what it felt like to cradle her in my arms when she was first born. I’ll never know the sound of her first words. I’ll never know what it was like to feel her crawling up my leg, asking for a hug.
I’ve missed so much, but I’m here now and I want to try. I want to learn who she is. I want to be the kind of father she can depend on. The kind who shows up. The kind who listens. The kind who stays.
I’ve walked away from everything to be here. From my family. From their money. From the life they built for mebecause I don’t care about any of it anymore. Nothing compares to the chance to know my daughter, if you’ll let me.
Please meet with me. Just once. Let me explain, face-to-face. Let me try to be the man she deserves and maybe, if I’m lucky, someone you can stand to look at again.
I’m not asking for forgiveness. I just want a chance. That’s all.
- Jamie
P.S. I’m sorry for showing up at your door. If you’re reading this, it didn’t go as I’d hoped. It was a stupid gesture, and I panicked. You’ve always had that effect on me, even when I didn’t fully understand why.
I read the letter twice. Then a third time. Slowly. Methodically. Like maybe, if I comb through it enough, I’ll find the part where he slips. Where I can see the lie, and believe he’s really just doing this for his father.
There’s no spin, or calculated twist. There’s just raw honesty…and pain. Pain of being with a family who doesn’t accept you when they’re supposed to love you unconditionally. My heart aches, my stomach filling with dread because I know that feeling. I felt it when I looked into my parent’s eyes after they found the pregnancy test.
And suddenly, I’m not sure where the lines are anymore. Between villain and victim. Between what he knew and what was stolen from him, too.
Could it really be true? Could Jamie have been just as lost in all of this as I was?
His number stares back at me from the bottom of the letter, waiting for me, and without thinking I know what I need to do.
I need to talk to him.
For Ella… and closure.
I take my phone, and hesitate before I finally type:
Tiff: I read your letter. We need to talk. I’ll be on the St. Michael’s campus by the Summers’ building at 12 tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll see you there. Tiff.
I hit send before I can talk myself out of it.
Then I fold the letter in half and curl my hand around it, letting the feel of the paper across my skin ground me. I lie there in the quiet, staring at the ceiling as I agonize over the decision I just made. Have I opened the door for his family? Or is he going to be worthy enough to become part of mine?
I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.
Chapter 9
The notification banner slides down my screen just as I'm crossing the quad toward the Summers building.
Asher:Dude. Your dad just got the transfer notice. I was at the golf course with him when it came through.
My stomach drops.
Asher:You should've seen his face. Turned purple. Legitimately thought he was going to have a stroke on the 9th hole.
Asher:He threw his phone into the sand trap. Had to fish it out while everyone pretended not to stare.
Asher:It was honestly kind of entertaining. But also terrifying. Like watching a volcano realize it's about to erupt.
I slow my pace, reading the messages twice. Part of me wants to feel guilty—the part that spent eighteen years trying to be the son they wanted. The other part, the part that's been slowly waking up since I found those documents at sixteen, feels nothing but relief.
Another text comes through, but this one's not from Asher.