Time to Reconnect
To her surprise, dinner went well and there was plenty of conversation going on. Autumn was smiling, and Jessie noticed Tom was relaxed and seemed happy. Melissa even smiled here and there, and then laughed outright when Autumn told them about something funny that happened in school.
After dinner, Jessie and Autumn cleaned up, and Melissa and Tom went into the living room to talk. They raised their voices in anger a couple of times, which made Autumn nervous, but Jessie put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she nodded. She knew her parents had jumped right from heated arguments to the divorce. There were bound to be things that had to be worked out.
Sam sat in the corner of the kitchen playing with his blocks and little toy cars. After a moment, Melissa came in and picked him up.
“Autumn, your father wants to talk to you,” she said. Autumn walked into the living room and saw her father sitting in his usual chair. It made her smile.
“Sit down, honey. I want to talk with you about school.”
“Okay.”
“I hear they have discovered you’re dyslexic and that you’re on some kind of education plan.”
“Yes.”
“How are things going?”
“Fine.”
“No problems then with your schoolwork?”
“No.”
He nodded and then reached into his pocket to take out a phone.
“I talked to your mother, and she said it was all right to give you this.”
He handed her the phone, and she reached out and took it.
“Mom said I was not getting a phone until my sixteenth birthday,” said Autumn, frowning.
“I know, but we talked about it, and I pointed out that with my work hours, it would be easier if I could just call you when I had the chance.” He looked down at the floor now.
“I have been a terrible father. I haven’t called or tried to come and see you after your mother and I split up. I’m so sorry.”
“So, you think buying me a phone will make up for that?”
“No … I know it won’t. But I wanted you to know you could call me anytime. I programmed my number into your phone already. It’s under ‘Dad.’ I’m paying for the bill too. I just wanted to be sure we don’t ever lose contact again.” He looked over at her and tried to smile. “I love you, Autumn. I’m so sorry about all this. I hope to do better in the future.”
“Why didn’t you ever call me or come and see Sam or me?” Autumn bit her lip. “Did we do something wrong? I know you were mad at Mom, but …”
“No, no. Nothing like that.”
“Then why?”
He sighed, trying to find the right words.
“Your mother and I were in such a bad place, I just wanted to get away from it all and clear my head. After some time had gone by, I realized I had just dumped my kids, and I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me again.” He looked down at the floor again. “I guess it was easier to just hide away and pretend everything was fine instead of facing the truth.”
“The truth?”
“The truth is, I was just a high school dropout with no prospects, and your mother could do better.”
“But she loves you.”
“I know that now. I finally listened to what she was telling me. You see, I saw her smiling and talking to my friend Benny, and I thought there was something going on between them.”
Autumn shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Wait, Dad, you don’t have to tell me all this.”
“Yes, I do, because it’s about time I come clean about some things. I already talked to your mother, and I think you’re old enough to know what happened.”
He glanced over at her and she nodded reluctantly.
“Well, to make a long story short, I thought your mother was cheating on me. One of my friends tried to make trouble for her and told me that she was, and when I saw her with Benny, well … Anyway, I jumped to what I now know was the wrong conclusion. I wouldn’t listen to anything your mother said, and then I let my insecurities get the best of me. I ran out the door and never looked back. I let my lawyer talk to hers and tried to get on with my life.”
“Mom would never …”
“I know that now. I found out my friend had lied to me because he wanted to be with her. He tried to get her to go out with him afterward, but she wasn’t having any of that.” He smiled faintly. “She didn’t want to be with anyone but me.”
He got up and started to pace. “I have made such a mess with my life and my lack of self-confidence.” He glanced over at her now.
“I’m so glad you found yours. You tried out for that play? You’ll get in; I’m sure of it. I’m so glad you took a different road than I did.”
“What do you mean?”
“You had problems. But when you realized there was nowhere to hide from them, you came out fighting for the life you wanted. You didn’t hide yourself away from the world. You went out and confronted it head on.”
“Thanks to Aunt Jessie.”
Her father stopped in front of her now. “Yeah, she’s a special person. I don’t know what I would do without her. My beautiful cloud. She knew if she didn’t come and pick me up, I wouldn’t have come here tonight. She told me it was time to stop being a coward and own up to my part in the mess my marriage was in.”
“Yeah, she seems to be right all the time,” grumbled Autumn, and her father nodded and then grinned at the expression on his daughter’s face.
“And I call her my ‘beautiful cloud’ too,” she added.
She slipped the phone into her pocket and reached out to hug her dad.
“Can you stay?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“No, but I will be back next weekend. I’m going to start seeing you guys every other weekend.”
“Okay.” Autumn pulled away and sighed.
“What is it?”
“I wish we could see you all the time.”
“You know I work.”
“Well, yes, but …”
“Listen,” he said, pulling her close again, “I plan to work on your mother. I know she still loves me. Maybe I can fix this mess and come home permanently.”
Autumn grinned and hugged him again. “I sure hope so.”
“Me too.”
Her father broke away and went to say goodbye to everyone. He pulled Melissa in for a quick kiss, which made her blush and made Jessie and Autumn grin. Then he reached down to give Sam a kiss on the forehead and winked at Autumn.
“Call me,” he said, and she nodded with a smile.
And then, with one last smile for each of them, he left.