Page 104 of Protecting Love

He studied his son for a long moment.

Ian wasn’t defiant. He wasn’t angry. He was wary. He was tired. He was being a stubborn teen.

“I might,” Ian said. “I don’t know when it will be.”

He set his fork down carefully. “Then you figure it out when she gives you dates. But yes, you should see her.”

Ian’s shoulders tightened. “Dad⁠—”

“No,” he said gently but firmly. “Listen to me.” He sat back on the chair at the island. “You don’t get to pick and choose when it comes to your mother. Whether you’re irritated. Whether it’s inconvenient. Whether you’d rather be somewhere else.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair,” he said evenly. “But character? That’s a choice.” His son was studying him. As much as he didn’t want his kid to hate him, he couldn’t coddle him either. There were life lessons everyone had to learn. “You show up,” he continued. “You be respectful. You give her your time. Not because she’s perfect. Not because everything’s easy. But because it’s the right thing to do.”

Ian’s jaw clenched. “Even if she hasn’t exactly shown up for me?”

That one hit. Hard.

He refused to flinch over that question. “Yes. Even then.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does,” he said. “You don’t let someone else’s behavior dictate yours. You don’t become small because they were. You become the bigger person. Be the person who can say at the end of the night that you did the best you could. Always. It won’t always feel good. It won’t always be fair. But you’ll be able to look in the mirror and respect yourself.”

Ian was quiet for a long time. “Do you always do that?”

“I try to.”

“Even with Mom you did?”

He held his son’s gaze. “Especially with your mother.”

“Okay. I’ll see her. But I’m not giving her a lot of time.”

He wouldn’t push more. “Good,” he said. “And if you’ve got something else going on? We’ll work around it. But you don’t avoid her.”

His son nodded once. “Got it.”

“And one more thing,” he added.

“What?”

“You don’t carry my drama. Or hers. Whatever happened between us? That’s ours. Not yours.”

Ian’s eyes softened just a fraction. “I know.”

“I know you do, but sometimes we all need a reminder of the past.”

And maybe it was a quiet one that his past was just that. In the past.

He had something else staring him down.

He just had to figure out what to do and how to handle it.

25

EVERYTHING CHANGED