Finally, he spoke.
“If he gets scared again, will he leave again?”
I had no answer.
Lily took her brother’s hand.
“Let’s go ask him.”
The three of us went downstairs to the lobby.
Chris was standing near a large window.
He had changed so much that, at first, I almost didn’t recognize him.
He had lost weight. There were dark circles beneath his eyes. Streaks of gray had already appeared in his hair.
When he saw the children, he froze.
For several seconds, no one moved.
Then Chris dropped to his knees.
“Hi, Lily. Hi, Ben.”
Ben didn’t move closer.
“Why did you leave?”
Chris lowered his head.
“Because I was a coward.”
“Were you scared of Lily?”
“No. I was scared that I was going to lose her. But instead of staying beside her, I ran away.”
Ben asked another question.
“And when you found out I was sick too?”
Chris closed his eyes for a moment.
“That was when I realized I was already losing both of you, even though you were still alive. Because I wasn’t part of your lives.”
Lily walked closer to him.
She was still holding the silver bracelet.
“Did you keep this?”
“Yes. Both of them.”
“Why?”
Chris’s voice broke.
“Because I thought about you every single day.”
Lily was silent for a moment.
Then she said,
“If you thought about us, you should have called.”
Those simple words hurt Chris more deeply than any accusation I could have made.
He lowered his head.
“You’re right.”
The next morning, the children wanted Chris to come to the ocean with us.
I wasn’t going to forgive him simply because he had returned.
But this was no longer a story about him and me.
It was Lily and Ben’s story.
On the beach, the children began building another sandcastle.
Chris sat down beside them.
A large wave came in and destroyed half of the castle.
Chris immediately began rebuilding it with his hands.
Ben laughed.
“Relax, Daddy. We can build it again.”
Lily looked at Chris.
