Chapter 20 - The Last Call
Before reporting to federal prison, Brandon called me once with permission.
“Dad.”
“Yes.”
“I keep thinking about birthday.”
“So do I.”
“I thought if I hit you hard enough, you’d stop looking at me like I was failing.”
I closed eyes.
“I wasn’t.”
“You corrected me about house.”
“That was a fact.”
“I heard failure.”
“I’m sorry for everything I did that made correction feel like rejection.”
He cried.
“So this is partly your fault?”
“No.”
Silence.
Then a weak laugh.
“Fair.”
I continued:
“I failed by rescuing you. By hiding adoption. By letting you believe ownership and love were same thing.”
“And punches?”
“Yours.”
“Fraud?”
“Yours.”
He inhaled.
May you like
“Okay.”
That was the most adult conversation we ever had.
