“I brought something for the kids,” she said.
I didn’t take it.
“All three?” I asked.
Her eyes filled.
“Yes. All three.”
That mattered.
But it was not enough.
I let her in for coffee after she apologized without using the word misunderstanding. She admitted she had liked Allison’s message because avoiding conflict felt easier than defending children she had not tried hard enough to know. She admitted she had accepted my payments because it was convenient to separate my money from the family that came with me.
It was a painful apology because, for once, it was honest.
