Chapter 8 - The Confrontation at Maple Creek
Joanna tapped her fingernails lightly against the manila envelope. ""The money in here. Did you think this was going to buy your redemption?""
""No,"" Daniel answered immediately, shaking his head. ""I swear to God, Joanna, no. That money was sitting in savings while you were freezing in Pittsburgh. I don't want it back. Even if you tell me to walk out that door right now and drop dead, keep the check. Put it in college funds for Owen and Lucy. Buy them whatever they need. It’s theirs.""
Joanna studied his face intently for a long, quiet minute. For the first time, the icy armor around her features cracked just a fraction. She saw the dark circles under his eyes, the genuine posture of defeat, the total absence of the arrogant defensiveness that had defined him when he packed his suitcase two years ago.
""Owen remembers everything,"" Joanna stated. ""He is eleven. He isn't a toddler who forgets. When I told him this morning that you had found us, his first question wasn't whether you had brought presents. His first question was: Why does he want to see us now? Did his job get boring?""
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, a jagged sob catching in his throat. ""God forgive me.""
""Lucy remembers less,"" Joanna continued. ""She remembers pancake mornings. She remembers you carrying her on your shoulders. But she also knows that Daddy lives in a phone screen, and eventually the phone stopped ringing.""
""Can I see them?"" Daniel pleaded, his voice breaking completely. ""Just for ten minutes. I won't touch them, I won't make promises, I won't confuse them. Just let me apologize to their faces. Let me tell them it was entirely my fault, not theirs.""
Joanna leaned back against the red vinyl cushion, looking out at the gray waves of the lake. ""I will not let you drop into their lives like a bomb, cause chaos, and vanish back to Columbus when reality becomes inconvenient again.""
""I resigned,"" Daniel said quietly.
Joanna looked back at him sharply. ""What?""
""I emailed my vice president this morning before I came here,"" Daniel said, showing her the sent message on his phone screen. ""I gave two weeks' notice. I have enough professional contacts in western Pennsylvania and northern Ohio to find remote consulting work or an entry-level managerial post here in Erie. I’m moving here, Joanna. Not into your house. Not into your life. Not near your neighborhood. I’ll take a small apartment across town.""
Joanna stared at him, genuinely caught off guard. ""Daniel, you hated cold towns. You hated this part of the country.""
""I hated myself,"" Daniel corrected, his voice dropping to a gravelly whisper. ""I thought the town was the problem. I thought the house was the problem. I thought the noise was the problem. But the noise was the only real life I had, and I threw it in the trash. I don't expect you to take me back. I don't expect you to break up with Mark or whoever you choose to let into your heart. You deserve someone who never ran away. But Owen and Lucy need to know their father didn't discard them like yesterday's garbage. Even if it takes me ten years of sitting on the far bleachers at soccer games, I am staying.""
Joanna stared at the manila envelope on the table. A waitress stopped by, pouring steaming fresh coffee into both their mugs. Outside, a gentle rain began to tap against the glass.
""Maple Creek Park,"" Joanna said suddenly, her voice quiet.
Daniel looked up. ""What?""
May you like
""Maple Creek Park. At four o'clock today. The kids will be there with me. Owen knows you might come. He said he would decide when he sees you whether he wants to talk.""
She picked up the envelope, slid it into her handbag, and stood up from the booth. ""Don't be late, Daniel. You've been late for two years.""
