Page 31 of Till Cupid Do Us Part

“I’m not a goddamn kid anymore. The last year has been a lot for me.”

Concern strikes me. “Why? What’s goin’ on?”

“Do you suddenly care now?”

“I’ve always cared. It’s hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t wanna speak to you, though.”

“Do you blame me?”

“No.”

He sucks in a long breath before blowing it out in one puff. “You called me for something, and it wasn’t to ask about my life. Just come out and say what you want to.”

I wince, guilt threatening to eat me alive. “Your life is important to me, Travis. I know I’ve done a shit job of showing it to you. If you’re okay with it, we can work toward fixing that.”

“Is Ivy listening in right now?” he asks sceptically.

“No. She’s watching a movie in the living room.”

“You snuck away to talk to me?”

I evade the question. “There’s somethin’ I want to talk to you about, and I’m interested in hearin’ how life has been for you while I have you here on the phone.”

“You had a chance to talk with me when I was there for Christmas.”

“I didn’t know you were comin’ then.”

“Yeah, clearly. It was awkward as shit.”

“A heads-up would have been nice.”

“I’ll consider it next time,” he mutters.

Whether he meant it or not, his mention of a next time settles something inside of me. I try not to pay too much attention to it.

“If I knew you had wanted to come, I would have made a point to invite you. You’re always with your mother on Christmas.”

“That was before you had another kid.”

“She’s precious, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she’s great.” His tone warms.

Swallowing past my nerves, I take a shot and bring up what I need to. “I want to give her a stable family, Travis. When you were growin’ up, I failed you too many times to count, but one thing I regret most of all is breakin’ up the only family you knew when you were too young to understand what was goin’ on. You should have had two parents with you, and I stepped away when shit got too hard. Your mother and I were never meant to be, and while I wouldn’t have stayed with her, I do wish I had fought harder for my time with you once we’d separated. You deserved that from me.

“I don’t think it’s too late to try and fix our relationship. Not if you’re willin’ to give me a shot and put the effort in as well. There’s still so much time left for us.”

“This is all coming up because of Junie?” he asks, slightly tense.

“No. It’s that little girl but also her mother.”

“Ivy.”

“Yeah, Ivy. I know shit’s awkward with our relationship. Neither one of us expected differently. But . . . I do hope that one day, we can try to make it work.”

“I was horrible to her,” he states, shocking me. “Made her life hell because I was a mess inside. She took the brunt of my hatred of the world.”

“She’s forgiven you.”

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