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“Look...a lot has changed in the time since we last spoke. I’m happy, and Zooey is too. But you have to understand...we tried contacting you and got no reply.”
“What’s your point, Wes? Did something happen?”
“Lawrence...I’m engaged to your daughter. And she’s having my baby.”
There’s silence on the other end of the line. I hold my breath. He has every right to go a little crazy right now. Not knowing his own daughter is pregnant and engaged must be a kick in the teeth, especially considering that I’m the reason for all of that. I assume he didn’t expect anything like this when he walked into work this morning. Now, he has to deal with the fact that his absence has changed everything.
“...engaged? Pregnant?”
“Yes, Lawrence,” I say firmly. I don’t want him thinking that I’ve come up with some crazy story just to spite him. This is real...this is my life with his daughter now. I hear him deflate on the other end of the line and I feel almost sorry for him. If the same thing happened to me, I’d be devastated. But then I hear something else on the other end of the line. It sounds like he’s laughing.
“I’m going to be a grandpa!” he exclaims, laughing to himself. “And the father of the bride...Wes, this is great news. When can I...can I come and see my daughter?”
I pause. I didn’t think I’d get this far with Lawrence. At this point, I’m not even sure that Zooey wants to see him, although I feel like deep down she does, for the baby. After everything he’s put her through, it seems unlikely that she’s going to be forgiving, even given the circumstances. She’s turned her heart to stone to avoid getting hurt, and I’m afraid that it could be irreversible. But with the excitement in Lawrence’s voice and his willingness to accept this whole situation, how can I say no to him? I’ve just told him the biggest news of his life and he wants to be a part of it all. So despite my gut telling me I’ve got this completely wrong, I nod to myself.
“Okay, Lawrence, let me lay down some ground rules. First off, you’re going to call Zooey and let her know you want to see her. I’ll give you her number. Explain to her what you told me about your phone. Then it’s up to her whether she wants to speak to you.”
“Wait...so you didn’t call just to let me know?”
I sigh. “No, Lawrence. To be honest, I called to rip the shit out of you for abandoning her. But now that I see that we got our wires crossed...I’m giving you a second chance.”
I hear Lawrence swallow nervously. “I didn’t even know I had my first chance…”
Anger flares up within me as he’s put his foot in his mouth again. He still doesn’t get it. He walks out on Zooey’s mom before Zooey was born and basically made no effort to be a part of Zooey’s life...and he doesn’t know he had his first chance? Are you f’in kidding me? I want to hang up the phone and be done with him forever, but learning to act in the interests of others, especially when it comes to our soon to be born baby, is going to help me a lot as a father. What better time to practice than now? I bite my tongue and start the process of trying. “Listen here, Lawrence. Even if you’re innocent of one crime, it doesn’t excuse you from the others. You’ve let her down more times than I can count. You abandoned her for years and then the second you got her back, you wasted your opportunity on that ridiculous Halloween party. You treated her like one of your clients and expected love and respect in return...well, it doesn’t work that way. Not on my watch. You have a lot of groveling to do, Lawrence. So you’d better get started. The baby’s due next week.”
With that, I put the phone down, trying hard to steady my breathing. Something about the whole phone call has made me inexplicably angry. The fact that I was so willing to believe he’d changed, just because there was a misunderstanding, frustrates me beyond belief. The fact that he doesn’t even understand how much he’s hurt Zooey over the years makes me angrier still. But I know it was the right thing to do to talk to him. Now, all I have to do is get Zooey’s number to him and hope that he pulls himself together.
For her sake, I really hope he does.
Zooey
I can’t decide what’s stressing me out more...the fact that my baby is due in two days time or the fact that my father is coming over for dinner tonight.
I never expected to hear from him again, to be honest. He’s the kind of man that can disappear from your life with the snap of his fingers, just because he’s stubborn enough to never admit that he’s wrong. After all these years, after all the harm he has caused, I never expected to get a call from him where he grovelled to me about everything. I’m still not sure he realizes what he’s done wrong, but he apologized all the same.
