Page 82 of Without Judgment

“I should’ve fought harder for you. And for that, I’ll never forgive myself. Tomorrow I’m holding a press conference where I’ll announce I’m dropping the bid for Mayor. It’s done. It should’ve been done a long time ago as I shouldn’t have put my family in the limelight like this or prioritized my campaign.”

I stepped back, taking in his tired face and teary eyes. “You can’t give up now. If you do, all of this will have been for nothing. The bad people will have won. You’re what the city needs, Dad. Especially if there’s corruption.”

“You’re more important. I never should’ve lost sight of that. I love you more than I could ever desire to be mayor.”

Although it felt good to hear the words, it was even more important that I say my own. “Thank you. But because I love you, I want you to be able to have both. All of this will be behind us. You’ll be elected, and you’ll do good things for this city. Things I’ll be very proud of.”

“Do you mean it? You’re truly okay with me staying in the race? It’ll mean a spotlight on you.”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. As for the spotlight, that’s something we need to talk about. I’m moving. I’d prefer to live in another city in Texas, so I can remain close, but I have to leave Houston. I need to be your daughter, not the mayor of Houston’s daughter, if that makes sense.”

“You really want to leave home?”

“Definitely. At least for a while.”

“You’ll still come back for holidays?”

Considering he dreaded and avoided them, I was shocked he’d asked.

As if understanding my surprise, he clarified. “I’ve done a lot of soul searching over these last few days. About you and Trevor. About your mother. About the fact I haven’t done a very good job in honoring her memory. I’ve been numb. Avoiding anything having to do with holidays or anniversaries and it needs to stop.”

“You’ve been grieving.”

“Yes, but it’s been ten years, and I know she wouldn’t wish me to any longer. She wouldn’t want her Christmas decorations stuffed in the attic. She spent years collecting them, truly obsessed over it. She’d want us to think of her, to remember her, but most of all, to celebrate our time together. This year, let’s take everything down from storage. Decorate like she used to. Make the meals she used to.”

“Really?” I’d wanted to do that for years, but the most he’d let me do was get a new tree and put it up. He’d always said it was too painful to put out the old decorations.

“Yeah. And we’ll have Trevor and Emma here, too. Make it about family again. Sound good?”

It sounded more than good. It sounded like a fresh start. Just what I needed.

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