I’d spent years believing my biggest failure was losing money.
But there was something much worse.
My own son had learned not to count on me.
That evening, I applied for the job.
A week later, Helena invited me over to discuss the children’s schedule.
Daniel was there.
We sat around the kitchen table.
I noticed a small mark near the edge where Holly had once pressed a fork too hard.
I remembered how irritated I’d been when it happened.
Now I’d have given almost anything to return to those ordinary evenings.
At one point, I asked Helena something I’d been carrying inside for weeks.
“Would you ever have taken me back if my business hadn’t failed?”
She looked startled.
“Ross, you left long before your business failed.”
I glanced toward Daniel.
“He gets to live here. He gets to take you to Paris. He gets the life I used to have.”
