“What about Sylvie?”
“Sylvie can wait a few extra minutes. I need to hear all about the girl that got Zeke Malakai Harris to settle down.”
forty-two
Avalon
March
He called you?” Zeke drops down on the couch next to me.
“Yeah,” I respond. “I don’t know how my dad got my number, but he said he wants to meet me.”
“Meet you?” Zeke laughs. “He’s met you. He actually already knew you when he chose to walk out of your life.”
“I know. He said he needs to explain why he did what he did.”
“Explain what he did?” Zeke pulls my legs onto his lap. “How do you just walk out and leave your child?”
“I don’t know.” I sigh. “I guess part of me wants to go to hear what kind of bullshit excuse he comes up with.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” He squeezes my knee. “Like for emotional support.”
“No,” I reply. “I appreciate it, but I think I need to do this alone.”
“When are you meeting him?” He pats my leg, gets up, and heads to the kitchen.
“In a couple hours.”
“You’re meeting with him today?”
I stand up and meet him in the kitchen. He grabs both of us a soda as I hop onto the counter.
“I thought it was better to get it over with. I haven’t stopped thinking about that day at the grocery store. He has a whole family now, Zeke. One that I didn’t know about. I have two younger siblings… who don’t even know who I am.”
“Yeah, that’s fucked up. Not only did you leave your kid, but your new family knows nothing about her.”
“I’ll call you if I need you, okay?”
He steps toward me, giving me a slow, sweet kiss. “And I’ll be there the second you do.”
“Thank you.” I smile. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“That makes two of us.”
He chose to meet at Greystone diner, of all places. The same place we used to go to when I was a kid. If he thinks it’ll make things right between us, it won’t.
It also doesn’t help that he’s late.
The bell rings above the door, and I look up and see him walking in. He doesn’t seem to be in a rush, even though I’ve been sitting here for fifteen minutes, waiting for him.
“Hi.” My dad slides into the booth across from me. “Sorry, I’m late. I had this thing at my kids' school.”
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised they’re more important than me. After all, he chose to stick around for their lives.
“Well, it’s nice to know you finally learned how to be a father.” I take a sip of my chocolate milkshake, and by the look on his face, he didn’t expect that kind of response from me.
It’s hard to know anything about me, though, since he walked out on me over ten years ago.