Chapter 3

“What did you mean when you said you stopped waiting?”

David stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at Ava.

She kept one hand on her bedroom door. “Exactly what I said.”

“Has your mother been telling you not to invite me places?”

“Mom didn’t know.”

Neither did I.

The next morning, an email from Ava’s school appeared on my phone. Her debate team had qualified for the state tournament.

David was copied on the message.

“State?” he asked at breakfast. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Ava reached into her backpack and placed two tickets on the table.

One had MOM written across the top.

The other said GRANDPA.

David picked them up. “Where’s mine?”

“I didn’t get you one.”

His face tightened. “Why?”

Ava continued packing her lunch as if they were discussing the weather.

“Last year’s regional final.”

David looked at me.

I remembered that night. He had promised to sit in the front row. Ten minutes before the competition, Jenna called because Lucas’s bicycle had been stolen outside a store.

Lucas was safe. Jenna was with him. A police officer was taking the report.

David went anyway.

“You said you were coming,” Ava told him. “You texted me three times.”

“I was trying to get there.”

“Twenty minutes. Almost there. Save me a seat.”

She repeated each message without touching her phone.

During the final round, the auditorium door had opened. Ava had looked up, expecting her father.

It was another student’s mother.

Ava forgot the first line of her closing argument. Her team lost by two points.

“I didn’t know that was why you froze,” I said.

“You told me not to let one missed event ruin my night.”

The words sounded familiar because they were mine.

“I thought I was helping.”

Ava met my eyes.

“It wasn’t him missing it. It was me believing you when you said he was coming.”

I had thought I was protecting her from disappointment.

I had only kept it alive longer.

David placed the tickets back on the table. “Your cousin had just been robbed.”

“His bike was stolen.”

“He was upset.”

“So was I.”

“You decided I would fail before giving me another chance.”

Ava zipped her backpack.

“No. I stopped making important things depend on whether you came.”

David looked at me. “You’re allowing this?”

“It’s her competition.”

“I’m her father.”

“Then you should understand why she doesn’t want to watch the door again.”

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Then David pulled out his phone.

“Friday night,” he said. “We’ll do Jamie’s dinner again.”

Jamie looked up from his cereal.

David continued. “I’ll leave work early. My phone stays off. No calls from Owen or Jenna. Just us.”

“This isn’t about one dinner,” I said.

“Then let me start with one.”

He sounded sincere.

That was the dangerous part. David always meant his promises when he made them.

Jamie slid off his chair and walked to the kitchen calendar. On Friday’s square, he drew a small plate.

“Six o’clock?” he asked.

“Before six,” David said. “I promise.”

David smiled as if the problem had already been solved.

Ava studied the little plate.

Then she handed Jamie a pencil.

“Use this.”