“To apologize.”
“Accepted.”
“And to confess.” He sighed, then sat back and threaded his fingers through his damp mop of hair. “Your mother won’t talk to me, so I guess you’re the lucky one who gets to hear about my sins.”
Rattled, Harper held up her hand. “I don’t think that’s a good idea—”
“I had an affair.”
Harper stilled. She should shut down this line of conversation right now, but the sorrow and remorse in his eyes stopped her.
“Her name is Veronica. She was a flight attendant I met years ago. The details aren’t important. Just know that I ended it. Since then I’ve been trying to work things out with your mother, but she’s so stubborn.”
“She has to be hurt, Dad. You can’t do something that horrible and expect her to be okay with it.” Harper was far from okay with it, either, but her father’s genuine anguish took some of the sting away.
“I didn’t realize how hurt she was until now. Your mother has always kept her emotions locked up tight. She’s been that way since I met her, although when she was younger she would relax more often. Now she’s wound up tighter than a spring, and I can’t get through to her. We’re supposed tosign divorce papers on Wednesday. I gave her everything, even though my lawyer thinks I’m insane.”
“Everything?”
“My pension, both houses, the cars...” He shrugged. “She deserves all of it, for putting up with me. I was gone all the time. She practically raised you alone. Then I go and...” His eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything.”
“Oh, Dad.” Harper got up and knelt beside him, surprised at the compassion filling her heart. She should be furious with him for cheating on her mother. And she was angry about it. But she could also see he was genuinely repentant.
“Can you forgive me? For not being the father you needed me to be?”
Tears slipped down her face. “Yes,” she said thickly. “I forgive you.”
He leaned forward and hugged her tightly. She buried her face in his shirt, the few memories she had of him interacting with her coming to the fore. He hadn’t been entirely MIA her whole life. There were times he had been present, like once when he’d seen her play softball when she was in elementary school, and he’d taken her and her mother out for ice cream to celebrate her batting a triple. When he’d flown in one weekend when she was a freshman in high school and surprised her and Madge with a weekend trip to Disney World, one of the items on her bucket list. She still had the stuffed Minnie Mouse he’d bought her.
He pulled away. “I don’t know how to make years of neglect up to either of you. I’ve tried with your mother. Takenher places she always wanted to go, buying her things she always wanted. I thought we were making progress. Then she found out about the affair and filed for divorce.”
Harper sat cross-legged on the floor. “Did you ever think that maybe it wasn’t the things or the trips she wanted? Or I wanted? Although Disney was really cool.” She wiped the tears from her face. “All we wanted was you.”
“And I want to be here for you.” He gave her a watery smile, then rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes. “It’s too late for your mother and me. Is it too late for us?”
“No,” she said, even though her guard was still up. “But I have to be honest. I don’t know what our relationship should look like right now. I’m a grown woman.”
“Who still wears bunny slippers?” His eyebrows arched.
“You noticed those.”
“They’re kind of hard to miss,” he said. “I know what you mean, though. I guess we have to take it one day at a time.”
She nodded, then got up from the floor and sat back on the couch. “You look awful, by the way.”
“Yeah, I know. You don’t look so great yourself, though.”
Harper tucked her feet under her and sighed. “Touché.”
“I tried calling you,” he said, picking up his coffee. “When you didn’t answer, I went to your office and saw it was closed. I got worried until I saw your car in the driveway. Are you on vacation?”
She shook her head. “Just didn’t feel like working.”
He scoffed. “I might not have been around much when you were growing up, but I know you well enough that if you don’t want to work, there’s something seriously wrong. I can relate.”
She stared at her bunny slippers on the floor, a joke gift from Anita two years ago. Her instinct was to dismiss his comment and either show him the door or make him something to eat. She was that baffled. But this would be a good time to test his sincerity about working on their relationship, so she took a risk. “I think . . . I think I’ve fallen in love with someone. Or in really, really,reallyserious like. I’m not sure.”
“All right.” He set the coffee cup back down. “This is probably more your mother’s territory—”
