Father.
Five letters that make me cry like a fool.
Patrick squeezes me in his arms and musses up
my hair.
“Ah, my little whiner,” he teases as I cuddle in
his arms.
“Erin…”
I instinctively close my eyes, hoping the person
who just called me magically disappears and lets
me dream in this little world a bit more.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Patrick moves away from me to face the person
who has just shown up before us.
“I tried calling you. I’ve left messages,” Nate
begins, coming close to us.
Patrick shoots me a look.
“He called you? Have you been in contact with
him?” He’s clenching his jaw.
“Patrick—”
“We ran into each other on campus,” Nate
interrupts.
Patrick looks back at Nate although I am pulling
on his jacket, trying to bring him back to me.
“We have to talk, Erin. About what’s the right
thing to do.”
Patrick closes his eyes and I swear I can hear
him counting mentally to ten, or maybe a hundred
before speaking. Then he looks at me and I no
longer see that light in his eyes that was there just
five minutes ago.
