Page 43 of One Last Chance

Threats again, huh?“Or what?” I ask calmly.

I don’t see that I’ve poked the wild animal and kicked the can of gasoline at the same time until it’s too late.

The slap comes seemingly before my eyes can send the message of what happened to the brain. A loud yelp follows, loud enough to ensure Rowland hears it downstairs. I’m so paralyzed by what I just saw that I stand there, my veins running with ice, while Mina lands on the bed, holding her cheek. Her eyes teary and red, she recoils from me while protecting her face.

I don’t blink or even breathe. She just slapped herself in front of me. She did it, with resolution, like some sort of last ditch effort in the face of certain death, and she’s in it to stick with it and act her ass off.

Rowland runs into the open door, poking his head in with wide eyes.

“What happened?!” he asks, but I barely hear his voice. My brain is short-circuiting, my body unresponsive after seeing a little girl do something like that.

When I don’t respond, Rowland hurries to Mina who whimpers and cowers on the bed.

“W-we argued and he sl-slapped me, Daddy,” she sobs. As Rowland bends over her with his back to me, for a split second she meets my eyes, and her gaze is a response to my question.You know what now, it says.

Finally breaking out of the trance I was in, I step back, causing Rowland to sharply turn to me. He’s confused, distraught. So much so it sends a jolt through my heart. There’s no screaming or accusing. But that means nothing. The realization hits me like a battering ram.

A realization that there’s no walking this back.

“I…I didn’t,” I mutter breathlessly, even knowing it means nothing. “Rowe, I didn’t…I didn’t touch her.” My voice cracks in the middle. No matter how confident I am in what is the truth, I can’t help but feel this immense weight that lands on me when I have to say something like that. The fact I ever have to kills me.

“Mina?” He turns to her again, trying to calm her, but she doesn’t let on. She shakes her head. Rowland whispers something and she nods rapidly, sobbing. “I— Can you just…just wait outside?” he asks, sounding somber and low.

Gulping, I give a nod he can’t even see and stumble out of the door. I make it a few steps before leaning against the wall, staring at my feet on the ground blankly. Whether Mina realizes the full extent and power of what she did or not, she won. She stumbled upon the one and only situation that can be solved by only one way.

I wait in the hallway for I don’t know how long. My heart pounds inside my ears. My stomach twists. I feel like on the verge of a panic attack but I keep it together to be able to talk to Rowland when he comes out. The fear of how that conversation will go gnaws at me so much I have to close my eyes and set a low whistle to calm down.

Breathing slowly, I take in the comforting scent of his pheromones wafting through the air and that finally does it.

Just in time, I hear the door click. I turn sharply, finding Rowland standing by Mina’s now closed door with his hand on the handle before he inhales and finally faces me. I don’t knowwhat to do or say. His expression is…fragmented. Filled with emotions and shadows mingling together.

“You know I would never touch her,” I say desperately, as desperately and hopelessly as I feel. I step closer, reaching for him, but midway through I pull back.

Rowland nods, looking down for a moment. “I know you wouldn’t.”

And there it is. We both know it. We both think the same thing. He knows I would never hurt him or his children, that I love him. I know it. And yet…his daughter claims I did. Before—beyond—me or our love, Rowland is a parent. Even without kids, I understand the severity of that. Just like I know my mothers would not hesitate a moment to trust me and stand by me if I accused a stranger of hurting me, even a stranger they love, and just as I know I would be the same were it to happen to my child, Rowland has no choice but to take Mina’s side. Thereisnochoice.

Perhaps even if he knows deep down that she’s lying.

My heart feels like it’s being ripped out of my chest. Once my eyes begin to water and Rowland’s distraught gaze refuses to meet me, I know I have to do my best to make this as painless for him as I can.

“Al-alright. I will go.” It’s like those words don’t even belong to me. Someone else is saying it. Must be. Rowland doesn’t respond—because he knows, and because he’s the one in the impossible position.

You’re an adult, Dayton. It’s your turn to do what needs to be done.

This isn’t like all the times before. This isn’t some stupid break up over a misunderstanding or a difference. It’s an obstacle beyond our control. Beyond our wants and needs. There’s no going over it, around it, no avoiding or ignoring it.

“I’ll just…take my phone and stuff before… Yeah.” It takes all the willpower I have to walk past him without breaking down.

“Day,” Rowland whispers, his voice so weak and broken I want to throw up.

I keep going, right into the bedroom, where I gather all the important stuff. I leave the clothes in his drawer and my toiletries—there is no way I can make it longer than this before losing it. I need to go. I have to do the right thing and leave before making it harder for us.

“It’s okay, Rowe,” I mutter at the top of the stairs, my back to Rowland, while barely keeping my voice steady. I hear his rugged breaths behind me. “You’re a good father,” I assure him, hoping it will make it at least a little easier for him, knowing I don’t hold it against him. “That’s what I loved about you.”

That’s why I’ve been dying to ask you to maybe be the father of my child one day.

I rush down the stairs, feeling like the world is collapsing around me.

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