Betrayed by My Childhood Love novel · Chapter 26 of 32
Chapter 26: My Father
I turned off the engine and sat there with my hands on the wheel.
My father stood on Gran's top step and didn't come down.
He looked older than he had in the desert.
I got out of the car.
"He's been here since four," Gran said from the doorway. "I gave him water."
"Not tea?"
"Tea gets earned."
My father almost smiled at that.
Then he didn't.
"Esme," he said. "I'm not here to ask you anything. I'm here to say some things, and then I'll go if you want me to."
I stood at the bottom of the steps with my NASA badge still around my neck.
He looked at it.
"Okay," I said.
He took a breath.
"I looked away every time it counted."
I didn't say anything.
His voice went rough.
"And in the desert, I sat in that chair and let my daughter push the button."
"Which daughter?" I said.
He looked at me.
"Both of you," he said. "I let both of you down at that table for five years. I'm sorry, Esme. I'm sorry for every day of it."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of Betrayed by My Childhood Love are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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