“I will.”
I thought about all the Saturdays I’d spent waiting for my own father.
All the promises.
All the disappointments.
All the years I’d dreamed of building a family where nobody felt forgotten.
Then I looked at my husband.
“I spent my childhood wishing someone would show up for me, Tony. I’m not going to encourage another little girl to spend hers waiting for the same thing.”
He nodded.
Then he walked outside.
I watched him leave.
For the first time in our marriage, I didn’t follow him or ask him to stay.
I went back to the dining table and picked up Lily’s photograph.
She was smiling brightly, unaware of the difficult conversations happening between the adults in her life.
I studied her face.
She hadn’t chosen any of this.
Neither had I.
But we both deserved a future built on something more reliable than promises that never became actions.
