meet Adam alone first.
Public place.
Forty-five minutes.
No promises.
We met at a coffee shop the following Saturday.
He was already sitting there when I arrived.
He stood.
I didn’t hug him.
He gestured toward the chair.
“Thank you for coming.”
I sat.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Finally, I said, “Why?”
Adam looked down.
“I panicked.”
I almost laughed.
“You panicked for twelve years?”
“No.”
“Then try again.”
He rubbed his palms together.
“The pregnancy scared me. Three babies scared me. The hospital bills scared me. Everything felt like it was closing in.”
“You told me we could do it.”
“I was trying to convince myself.”
“So instead of telling your wife you were terrified, you emptied the emergency money and disappeared.”
He flinched.
“I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like what happened.”
He nodded.
“I had been contacted about a sales job in
