Chapter 10
Daniel came to Nora’s house after three weeks.
I agreed to meet him on the porch.
Nora watched from the window.
Unsubtly.
Daniel looked thinner.
His eyes were tired.
“I took the test,” he said.
“I know.”
“Dad is still Dad.”
I nodded.
“That’s good.”
“But everything else…”
He looked lost.
For a moment, I saw the man I had married.
Not the coward at the table.
The man who cried during old movies.
The man who brought me soup when I had the flu.
The man who had let his mother turn me into a shield.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Not just for the dinner. For years.”
I waited.
He continued.
“I let Mom make your body a family project because I was afraid the truth would make me less of a man.”
I looked at him.
“And did watching me be blamed make you feel more like one?”
He flinched.
“No.”
“Good.”
He wiped his eyes.
“I started therapy.”
“Good.”
“I told Mom I won’t speak to her unless she apologizes to you.”
I almost laughed.
“She won’t.”
“I know.”
We stood in silence.
Then he asked, “Is there any chance for us?”
I answered honestly.
“I don’t know.”
His face crumpled, but he nodded.
For once, he accepted an answer he did not like.
That was new.
May you like
Not enough.
But new.
