𝑯𝒆𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒉 | ᴹᴰᴳᶜ

TRACK FOURTEEN: Sweet Child 'O Mine

Logan and I have been dating for a year now, and we're both thirteen. I got back home at almost ten at night since we had gone to see Top Gun: Maverick, and the only showing that wasn't sold out was at seven thirty. His dad was nice enough to take us and be our unofficial chaperone.

I saw the light in the kitchen was on, and I assumed Dad had just forgotten to turn it off. I went inside, holding a bouquet of Delilah's Logan had brought me. I heard Dad and another man's voice coming from the kitchen. I closed the door, walking towards their voices to put the flowers in a vase of water.

"Del, you're home." Dad said. He was sitting at the table across from the man I didn't recognize. "Did you have fun?" He asked as the man at the table watched my every move. "Yeah. Logan got me flowers, and we went to see Top Gun: Maverick. It was pretty cool. Logan's dad says hi, by the way." I told him as I put water from the faucet in the vase, then put the flowers into it as well. "I bet it was." He replied.

He and the man rose from their chairs, and Dad cleared his throat. "Delilah, honey... there's someone I really want you to meet." He said, looking at the man and nodding.

"Hi, Delilah." The man said quietly. "I'm your dad." He added, trying not to cry. My face softened, not knowing if this was a sick joke and he was lying or if he was being serious and telling the truth. I looked at Dad, and he nodded his head.

When the man who was claiming to be my dad walked closer, I got a good look at his face. The man who was claiming to be my dad was Dean Portman. This can't be real. Dean Portman is claiming to be my father?

🏒

DEAN

I was working on a construction job in Chicago when I saw a woman who looked like Nicole walking down the street. I did a double take, but it wasn't her. A guy I was working with saw me do it.

"Look like someone you know?" He asked.

"Yeah." I answered. "Who?" "My ex-fiance." "Ouch. What's her name?" "Nicole." "Nicole? Like Nicole Parker?" My heart stung a little. It's been so long since I heard her name outloud and not in my head. "Yeah, why?" "You do know what happened to her, right?" "No? What about her?" "She killed herself like thirteen years ago. She did it in a hospital bathroom because of stress I heard."

I had blocked that news from my memory. People would always try to tell me more about the situation, but I always stopped them once they brought up her name since I always knew what would follow.

I still remember the night I left her. We had been fighting about how much I've been working. She said I needed to take a break and spend time with her. She told me that if I wanted a family in the future, I'd have to be there too.

We were fighting in the living room of the trailer we had at the time since that was all I could afford for us. I knew I could've just reached out and asked for help, but I didn't need pity. I told Nicole that if we were going to have a family, I needed to make money to provide for them.

If we ever had kids, I wanted them to grow up in a house and enjoy watching morning cartoons on a TV. They would deserve a big backyard to run around in and tear up. Even lights that could afford to be flickered on and off.

Nicole deserved to be a mother. She was so sweet, caring, and kind. She was a great baker, too. She loved it. If I hadn't known better, I would've thought she was trying to bribe me into never leaving. She used to bake with Carmen all the time because she loved Carmen's big kitchen and all her baking gadgets.

Nicole and I argued back and forth for a good hour before I packed a bag and left, never looking or coming back. I got into my car and drove away. I didn't know where I was going or where I'd end up. I ended up crashing at a hotel for the night while I came up with a plan.