“Oh my dear. You’ll see that she’ll be well soon
and you’ll be able to bring her home. Come on,
let’s walk for a bit.” And they set off while
everyone looks at them sadly.
“Uh, Patrick, could we talk for a minute?” Nate
comes over to me.
“Sure,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.
We distance ourselves from the group and sit
down on some plastic chairs in the hallway.
Nate runs his hand through his hair and sighs.
“I wanted to ask you something,” he starts
saying before turning to look at me. “I’d like to ask
you to take care of them.”
“Nate, this is not the moment for that.”
“She has decided,” he says, smiling at me with a
tight face. “She always has chosen you, even when
I tried my hardest to convince her we could make
it. I care for Erin and for Lily’s sake I would have
tried a million times, but it wouldn’t have been the
right thing for either of us. And Erin has always
known that. I wanted you to know that she never
wanted me, Patrick.” He says this as he looks at
me again. “I don’t want there to be any doubts
about that.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want Erin and Lily to be happy, to
know that they have a family who love them and
can always be there for them their whole life.”
“Nate, you’re her father, of course you’re going
to be part of her life, no matter what Erin decides,
