Page 71 of Karma
“No, I haven’t—”
“I do,” she says. “That’s what my therapist tells me. Lex and I have gone to a few sessions together, and she’s shared how she’s wasted too much time wanting closure that will never come. She forgives you for how you treated her, but it’s not for you. It’s for her.”
“I don’t want her to forgive me, either.”
She smiles. “You don’t really get a say in it. Holding onto pain and anger only creates a personal hell for yourself.”
“You’re too damn smart, you know that?” he asks, laughing and wipes her fresh tears.
“It’ll only take me a minute to pack up my stuff. I’ve been praying you’d come back and take me home since you left. This isn’t my home, and I didn’t want to make it one.”
“I’ll wait,” he says. “Unless you need help.”
Standing up straight, she shakes her head. “I’m okay. I don’t know if you can put it on your bike, though.”
“I’ll carry it to the house.”
She runs up past him towards the door, but she stops and turns to him. “Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“I miss her.”
“Me, too, kid. Every single day.”
“I missed you, too.”
Zane stares as she disappears inside. He doesn’t deserve any of this, but he refuses to take it for granted. It bothers him how little his father was able to make this a home for her. A safe space.
Am I really that surprised what I’ve learned?
Looking up at the sky, he smiles as tears slide down his cheeks. “I’m gonna make you proud, baby. And I’m going to stop being a disappointment, Mom. This is for both of you as much as it is for Margaret. And me.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Griffin’s Beach
Zane
“Dad?” Margaret asks when she comes from her room for dinner. “What’s wrong? Did you burn dinner again?”
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Zane shakes his head. “Well, yeah, but I ordered pizza this time.”
“Thank God.”
They sit, and he lets out a long breath as he stares at the stack of pizza boxes on the table. His stomach flips as he tries to plan the best way to bring up the subject about his relationship status.
“Dad, are you planning to invite a group of teenage boys to join us for dinner?”
“What?”
“There are five large pizzas here!” she exclaims. “I’m a growinggirl, not a teenage boy who eats everything in sight.”
He chuckles and honestly doesn’t even remember what he ordered on the app. “I wasn’t really thinking, I guess.”
“Seriously, what’s going on? You’re acting weird,” she says and pulls a slice of pepperoni from the top box. “Gross… You ordered one with just onions and peppers?”
“I have to talk to you about something.”
