“I know.”
“Then explain it.”
Boston. Toronto. Zurich. Berlin.
He looked down. “Because I came back once.”
“When?”
“Four years ago. You were working. I saw Hailey.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
“I found a program in Switzerland. I was convinced it was different. I told her they might be able to help.”
None of this explains why you stopped being her father.
I remembered that year.
Hailey had shut everyone out after the program fell through.
“The program lost funding before her intake,” Ethan said. “When I told her, she said, ‘Then don’t come back with another maybe.’”
“And that was enough for you to disappear again?”
“No.” His eyes dropped. “But I pretended it was.”
I told her they might be able to help.
“Y-you used that as an excuse?”
“I told myself I was respecting what she wanted. Really, I was terrified of disappointing her again.”
“So you stopped being her father?”
“I kept searching.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
‘Then don’t come back with another maybe.’
He looked down. “Every month I stayed away made coming back harder. Eventually, I was more afraid of facing what I’d done than losing more time.”
“You weren’t protecting Hailey.”
