“Because I thought you’d hate me.”
“Why would I hate you?”
“Because Caleb and I ended badly.”
I shook my head.
“That had nothing to do with me.”
“It felt like it did then.”
She looked toward the kitchen.
“
My parents told me not to contact you. They said you had suffered enough.”
I let out a broken laugh.
“Suffered enough?”
“I know.”
“No, Sadie. You don’t know.”
She flinched.
I hated that I had hurt her.
But I couldn’t stop.
“Do you understand how many Sundays I’ve sat beside my son’s grave wishing I had one more piece of him?”
Tears slid down her cheeks.
“Yes.”
“While his son was here?”
“I almost called you a hundred times.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
She looked toward the hallway again.
“Because every month I waited made it harder.”
That answer hurt because I understood it.