she comes into my restaurant.”
I heard him let out another sigh, and thought I heard him grimace.
“Lizzy is my daughter. The text you got, was for her. I was on my way to pick her up from science camp.”
He sighed again.
This time, it was me to slip down against the door.
I had no idea.
Everything that had been Truth to me these past two weeks just pulled a 360 and I felt the rug being pulled from under my feet. I slid down the door, dropped myself onto the ground and started to weep.
What had I been doing?
“She really likes science,” Adan said through the door, “I think you'd really like her. It’s actually kinda funny now, because when I went to pick her up she had asked where I was and I told her that I texted her, but she said that I hadn't. She was so mad at me that day. I had to make her favorite pie before she would even talk to me again. It all makes sense now.”
I was as confused as ever. He wasn't part of some cruel joke to humiliate me, for that I was grateful, but he also hadn't told me that he had a daughter. I don't know what I expected, is not like we were dating or getting married or something, but it seemed like his daughter would have come up in conversation at least once.
To be totally honest, I wasn't even sure that I believed him. I barely knew him.
He could have just been a really good con-man.
I needed to find out, for my own sanity, what the truth was.
I stood up, turned to face the door and asked,
“Do you want to come in and talk?”
The reply was quiet, gentle, and spoken in a low tone.
“Yes — yes, please I do.”
I slowly put my hand on the lock and knob of my front door and twisted the two together.
I pulled open my door and saw that he had been crying.
Chapter 14
I pulled the screaming teapot off my stove and set it to the side. I cracked open two packages of herbal tea and poured the hot water over the teabags. A sweet aroma was released into the air, and I felt the herbal crawl up my nostrils, signal to my brain that everything was going to be OK, and my shoulders relax as they received the same signal.
I closed my eyes, gathered as much courage as I possibly could and brought the cups into the living room of my house. I handed Aiden a cup and sat across from him on my couch.
It was a sad sight. The two of us sitting there, looking like we had just been informed that our loved ones had died. Here was the man who had my life a living hell for those past two weeks looking like a wounded animal. His head hung down, his arms were folded across his legs, and his shoulders rolled inward like a wave about to break.
“I'm ready to listen,” I said.
He let out a deep sigh.
“I don't know what to say.”
“You could start with the fact that you never told me you had a daughter.”
“You have to understand, Sarah, I haven't always been who I am today. I've made some very serious mistakes in my life. He looked up at me and said, but there is one that I don't regret.”
“What mistake is that?” I asked.
“My daughter.”
It was sentimental thought, but it did nothing to answer my original question.
“Tell me about her.”
It was almost like a fresh breath of life had suddenly filled his body. He sat up straight, set his tea down, and repositioned himself to face me. A smile had overtaken his face.
“She's the best,” he said, “she loves science, she's really good at soccer, and I like to think we are best friends. I know that someday when she's older she's gonna turn away and do that teenage girl thing, but she's just a little girl now, and so we can still have fun. It's been really hard because I'm working so much at the restaurant, but I try and do fun things with her when I can. When I can't, which seems to be more and more often now, I know how much she really likes doing science stuff so I send her off to science camps or on field trips to OMSI and stuff like that. When you and I met, that's where she was — science camp. Oh, you
I heard him let out another sigh, and thought I heard him grimace.
“Lizzy is my daughter. The text you got, was for her. I was on my way to pick her up from science camp.”
He sighed again.
This time, it was me to slip down against the door.
I had no idea.
Everything that had been Truth to me these past two weeks just pulled a 360 and I felt the rug being pulled from under my feet. I slid down the door, dropped myself onto the ground and started to weep.
What had I been doing?
“She really likes science,” Adan said through the door, “I think you'd really like her. It’s actually kinda funny now, because when I went to pick her up she had asked where I was and I told her that I texted her, but she said that I hadn't. She was so mad at me that day. I had to make her favorite pie before she would even talk to me again. It all makes sense now.”
I was as confused as ever. He wasn't part of some cruel joke to humiliate me, for that I was grateful, but he also hadn't told me that he had a daughter. I don't know what I expected, is not like we were dating or getting married or something, but it seemed like his daughter would have come up in conversation at least once.
To be totally honest, I wasn't even sure that I believed him. I barely knew him.
He could have just been a really good con-man.
I needed to find out, for my own sanity, what the truth was.
I stood up, turned to face the door and asked,
“Do you want to come in and talk?”
The reply was quiet, gentle, and spoken in a low tone.
“Yes — yes, please I do.”
I slowly put my hand on the lock and knob of my front door and twisted the two together.
I pulled open my door and saw that he had been crying.
Chapter 14
I pulled the screaming teapot off my stove and set it to the side. I cracked open two packages of herbal tea and poured the hot water over the teabags. A sweet aroma was released into the air, and I felt the herbal crawl up my nostrils, signal to my brain that everything was going to be OK, and my shoulders relax as they received the same signal.
I closed my eyes, gathered as much courage as I possibly could and brought the cups into the living room of my house. I handed Aiden a cup and sat across from him on my couch.
It was a sad sight. The two of us sitting there, looking like we had just been informed that our loved ones had died. Here was the man who had my life a living hell for those past two weeks looking like a wounded animal. His head hung down, his arms were folded across his legs, and his shoulders rolled inward like a wave about to break.
“I'm ready to listen,” I said.
He let out a deep sigh.
“I don't know what to say.”
“You could start with the fact that you never told me you had a daughter.”
“You have to understand, Sarah, I haven't always been who I am today. I've made some very serious mistakes in my life. He looked up at me and said, but there is one that I don't regret.”
“What mistake is that?” I asked.
“My daughter.”
It was sentimental thought, but it did nothing to answer my original question.
“Tell me about her.”
It was almost like a fresh breath of life had suddenly filled his body. He sat up straight, set his tea down, and repositioned himself to face me. A smile had overtaken his face.
“She's the best,” he said, “she loves science, she's really good at soccer, and I like to think we are best friends. I know that someday when she's older she's gonna turn away and do that teenage girl thing, but she's just a little girl now, and so we can still have fun. It's been really hard because I'm working so much at the restaurant, but I try and do fun things with her when I can. When I can't, which seems to be more and more often now, I know how much she really likes doing science stuff so I send her off to science camps or on field trips to OMSI and stuff like that. When you and I met, that's where she was — science camp. Oh, you
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