We meet again

𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑏𝑦𝑒

"What are you doing here?" I spoke in a more serious tone and sat back in my chair. "Is this how you receive your father?" he bowed his head. "You stopped being my father a long time ago" I leaned back against the back of the chair. "I will never stop being your father, and you know it" he leaned toward me and put his arms on the desk. "What do you want?" I asked again. "I came to say hello" he smiled, crossed his leg, one over the other. "Why today? Twelve years ago mom and I left and you never came to say hello" I felt a lump form in my throat. "Your mom took you away from me Harper, she took custody of you and I couldn't come near you until you were 21, and I didn't want to fight because it was clearly what was best for you" my father explained in a calm tone that dubiously rang true "but when you turned 21 I wasn't here, I moved back to LA a week ago" he added.

"Where were you?" I asked without taking my eyes off him. "I went to live in Mexico" he answered my question. "But you didn't even call me or email me to know that you were ok, that you still loved me" I finally let out a tear "you don't know how many nights I cried for you, how many times I blamed myself for maybe not being the daughter you wanted and that because of me you stopped loving mom" I confessed for the first time in my life what I really came to think and feel regarding my parents' divorce.

"Harper, honey, it was never your fault what came to happen with your mom and I, the fights and my mistake of being an unfaithful man" he came closer to me and knelt down "since you were born you were the most important thing in my life, and you don't know how many times I begged your mom to let me see you or even let you talk to me on the phone, but she never agreed, so I stopped insisting, I only sent money to your mother for your school and for whatever you needed" my father acknowledged with a brittle voice and his crystal clear eyes "nothing is your mother's fault either, I understand why she did it" he took my hand.

And in that moment I remembered all the good times I spent by my dad's side when I was little, the times when only he and I went to eat junk food, all the times I cried on his shoulder when I fell or when something unpleasant happened in my day, when he taught me to skate, to ride a bike and when I learned to swim, all thanks to him. He was my hero and he truly did everything in him to see me happy, even when Elizabeth broke up with me, he took me to the dock to cry and scream all I wanted, he just sat next to me without saying a word, he knew what I needed without me needing to tell him.

"But now I'm here, being the man I was when I met your mom, the best version of me" he added ducking his gaze letting a tear roll down his cheek. "And you just stopped by to say hi?" I blinked carefully. "And to ask you to give me the chance your mom didn't give me, to be able to see you, take you out to lunch and talk to you on the phone" he stood up, his chin quivering and the tears not letting go of his eyes. "Why should I?" I asked uncertainly. "Because you're still my princess" he said matter-of-factly, giving me a half smile.

Florence walked into my office and froze in the doorway. "Hey, I was just coming to see if you were okay?" Flo made eye contact with me, then with my father and they both turned to look at me at the same time. I sniffled, wiped away my tears. "Yeah, I'm fine love, thanks" I smiled. "You guys need anything?" she asked coming up to me. "You're Florence, right?" my dad got excited. "That's right, and you are?" Flo stood behind me looking at my dad. "I'm Harper's dad, we've never met before."

Florence turned to see me with a surprised look on her face. "She knows who you are" I admitted a little embarrassed. "Yes, it's a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Taylor" Flo extended her hand to shake my father's hand. "Oh please, call me Devon, but yes, it's a pleasure to finally meet the woman who makes my daughter happy" he shook her hand and hugged Florence "I have things to do in town but it was nice to see you again Harper and meeting you Flo, I hope we can make up for lost time" my dad suggested to me pulling something out of his backpack "and before I go, I wanted to see if you could autograph my favorite books" he smiled showing me all the books I had written.

I turned to see Flo with a smile on my face and I could see that in hers there was also happiness and even a little bit of disbelief for who was in front of us, but I took the books and signed them, I gave them to my dad and gave him a hug smelling a little bit of his perfume that was still the same as the last time we saw each other.
He said goodbye once more and Flo and I stayed in the office.