him. “Because I hadn’t slept in four days. Because every time she cried, I heard Jennifer not breathing. Because I was terrified I’d drop her, or fail her, or hate myself for not being enough for either of them.”
He scrubbed both hands over his face.
“I rang the bell. Then I sat in my car across the street until I saw you pick her up. I didn’t leave until then. I needed to know she was safe before I let myself go.”
I broke.
I cried right there in that booth, and Andy cried with me, quieter, his head bowed and both hands pressed over his face like he could hold the grief in if he just pushed hard enough.
After a minute, I wiped my face with the back of my wrist and asked the only question that mattered. “Do you want to be in her life?”
His
head came up fast. “Yes. God, yes. I’ll be there for her, every day, I swear it. I just — I need help, Jodi. We don’t have anyone else left.”
I nodded, slow. “All right. Then don’t you dare disappear on her.”
“I won’t,” he said. “I swear to you, I won’t.”
PART 6 — Face to Face
I drove home that evening with Andy’s truck trailing behind mine, and Paul was already waiting in the driveway when we pulled in.
He saw Andy climb out and pointed a finger like an accusation all by itself. “You.”
I shifted Hope higher against my shoulder, a wall between them without meaning to be one. “You don’t get a say here, Paul.”
He ignored me completely. “You ruined my daughter’s life! Where is she? Where’s Jennifer?”
Andy went pale, but he held his ground. “No. Jen loved me. Your pride ruined the rest of
