***
I missed things, too.
- A cousin’s wedding in Denver because Claire had the flu.
- A fishing vacation I’d promised myself for 10 years.
- The chance to have a family of my own.
- And Diana, the woman I love.
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Diana was patient for a long time. Longer than she should’ve been.
I missed things, too.
“I’m not asking you to choose,” she told me one night at the front door. “I’m asking if there’s room.”
“There isn’t,” I said. “Not the kind you deserve.”
She nodded as if she already knew. She left a sweater behind. I never returned it.
I stayed with the triplets, not because they asked me to, but because someone had to.
“I’m asking if there’s room.”
***
Daniel showed up the way the weather does.
A birthday card once, with no return address.
A Christmas card with a stamp from somewhere I’d never been.
When the girls were 12, he called.
“I want to reconnect, Noah. I’ve been thinking.”
“Thinking about what, exactly?”
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“About them and being a dad.”
I held the phone so tightly that my hand cramped.
