Second Chances

Healing Hearts

Conner sadly watched as Dylan left the party, obviously upset. The whole house was quiet for a moment, before Joey broke the silence. "Well, that's it.", he said. "Party's over. If I know Dylan, he's gonna spend the rest of the day in his room." Others nodded and muttered in agreement.

As people began to leave, M'gann approached Conner, placing a gentle, comforting hand on his shoulder. In spite of everything that had just happened, he smiled at her kind gesture. "You should go talk to him.", she said. Conner shook his head. "I'm pretty sure I'm the last person he wants to see right now." He walked off to clear away the party decorations, leaving M'gann pondering their situation.
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Knock, knock! Dylan lifted his head off his pillow. "Whoever it is, go away." "Dylan?", a sincere voice said from the other side of the door. "Its me, Megan." Dylan groaned. As if she wasn't already annoying. "What do you want?" "Can I borrow five dollars?" That got him mad. He threw himself off the bed and stormed towards the entrance. "Seriously?! You ruined my birthday, and all you care about is money?!" He flung the door open to see a smirking Megan. "No. But I got you to open the door."

She stepped inside before he got the chance to slam the door in her face. "Now, why don't we talk?" "There's nothing to talk about!", Dylan said as he flopped back onto his bed. "My life stinks, and that's all there is to it!" M'gann sat on the bed beside him. "Your life's not so bad. You have a father who loves you very much." "No, he doesn't.", Dylan grumbled. "If he really loved me, he wouldn't have let Mom leave."

"It wasn't his choice to make.", M'gann reminded him. "But we know that she cares a lot about you, too." "No.", he said, slowly rising to sit upright. "She promised to be here when I hit double digits! And all I got was a stupid postcard saying she couldn't make it! You know why she didn't come? Because she doesn't love me!"

"How can you say that after she sent you that sweet letter?" Dylan hung his head. "She didn't." M'gann looked confused. "Huh?" Dylan stared at his knees. "My mom didn't write that letter.", he said slowly. "I did." M'gann gasped. "What?!" Dylan was now crying. "I copied her handwriting and put the letter in the mailbox after Bert left. I thought that if I made it look like Mom was coming back someday, you and Dad would break up."

He looked up, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. "The truth is...I don't know where my mom is. But after today, I know now that she's never coming back to me or my dad or my sisters. She flew the coop, just like Billy said." "Who's Billy?" Dylan wiped his eyes. "Doesn't matter. I feel so stupid and naive. I guess it was easier for to believe a lie I was telling myself, than to face reality."

M'gann smiled at him. "Hey...we've all been there. Its hard to have someone leave you. Believe me, I know." Dylan wiped his nose on his hoodie sleeve. "Its not like that stupid letter actually did anything, anyway. If anything, it only made Dad want you even more." He was all ready to start crying again when he felt two long, slender arms wrap around him.

He looked at Megan hugging him. "Why are you hugging me? Don't you hate me for trying to ruin your relationship with Dad?!" She pulled back, smiling at him softly. "Hey, I've made some mistakes before. Everyone has. That's what makes us human. We don't always realize it at first, because we think we're doing the right thing in the long run. But when it sinks in, it can feel awful."

She stared straight into Dylan's teary eyes. "Look, kid...I've been where you are. I thought I was doing something good, that turned out to be selfish and cruel. It took something huge to make me realize that I was in the wrong. I felt horrible, like my mistakes were unforgivable. I thought I was an awful person." Her eyes glittered. "It was your father who showed me the truth. He said that the guilt I was feeling proved that I was still good at heart, and as long as I learned my lesson and never did it again, others would see it, too."

M'gann had Dylan's full attention as she spoke. "So, you and I did some things we're not proud of. Everyone does bad things once in a while, but you're only a bad person when you keeping doing something after you know its wrong." Dylan felt himself cry again, this time with shame. This woman had every right to hate him, but she didn't. "I'm sorry I tried to break you up with Dad." She stroked his hair lovingly.

"A-hem."  Their heads turned to see Conner standing in the doorway, his eyes locked on Dylan.  M'gann coughed nervously.  "I should go."  Excusing herself, she patted Dylan on the hand before getting up.  As she walked past Conner, she whispered in his ear, "Good luck.", and left.

Dylan avoided looking into his father's eyes.  "How much of that did you hear?"  Conner sighed as he crossed the room towards his son.  "All of it."  Dylan scowled as his dad sat next to him on the bed.  "Are you gonna ground me for life now?  For trying to chase Megan away and faking the letter?"  Conner was silent for a moment before he said, "Do you remember the day your mom moved out?"

Dylan looked at his dad, who was hunched over and staring at nothing in particular.  "I'll never forget the date.  November twenty-third, 2027.  She had all of her suitcases packed, and there was a taxi parked right outside the house.  She'd told me the night before she needed some space, to figure things out.  Up until that morning, it had felt like a bad dream.  Now, it was suddenly real."

"I told you and Becky not to come downstairs, but you didn't listen.  You saw the suitcases and asked if we were going on vacation.  You were smiling so wide, I didn't want to tell you the truth.  Luckily, your mom did that for me.  At first, you thought that it was some sort of prank.  But when your mom got into the cab, you figured it out.  You ran after her and tried to open the car door, but it was locked.  Your mom said goodbye and gave you one last kiss before the taxi drove off.  And that was the last time we saw her."

"You were hysterical.  You chased the cab for three blocks, screaming for her to come back, until you ran out of energy.  When I caught up with you, you were staring at the car driving away into the distance.  You had the saddest look on your face, a look that was etched into my mind forever.  As I led you home, you didn't say a word.  You just ran right up to your bedroom and slammed the door, and didn't come out until the next day."

Conner sighed heavily, Dylan hanging on his every word.  "I remember I spent the rest of the day on the sofa, just staring into space.  For the first time since we moved in, the house felt so big, and I felt so small.  I was terrified.  I had no idea what the future held for us.  I knew there would be times that'd I'd screw up with you.  I knew there would be certain spaces your mom left behind that I couldn't fill.  And I knew I would come up short a million different ways."

Dylan felt his stomach churn.  He felt so selfish.  Ever since Summer had left, he had been going on about him, and how he felt about it.  He had never thought of how the divorce had affected his father.  Conner went on.  "But then something happened that changed everything.  That night, I went to tuck Becky into bed, and just when I was about to turn out the lights, she sat up and asked me..."  He trailed off before continuing.  "She asked me if another taxi would come to our house to take me away, too."

Dylan scooted closer.  "What did you say to her?"  Conner looked at him and smiled.  "The same thing that I'm gonna say to you."  With that, he took Dylan's hand, locked eyes with him and said with gentle care, "You don't have to worry about a thing, kiddo.  Your dad's not going anywhere."  He chuckled softly, tears coming to his own baby blue eyes.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Dylan broke down crying once more.  He buried his face in his father's shirt and sobbed, letting Conner hug him gently and rock him back and forth.  "And its true.", he whispered gently.  "Dylan, no matter what happens, no matter where we are, no matter what or who the world throws at us...I'm always going to be here for you, even when you don't want me.  I promise."

Dylan sniffled as he rested his head on Conner's shoulder.  "Dad...do you really love Megan?  Like, really love her?"  Conner hesitated before answering.  "Yeah.  I really do."  Dylan pulled away, composing himself.  "Than you should marry her."  Conner's eyes grew wide.  "Really?  You're okay with it?"  Dylan smiled genuinely.  "I am now.  I won't stand in your way anymore.  I'm ready to let go of the past."

Conner smiled as he joined hands with his son.  "I love you, Dylan."  Dylan gave him another hug.  "I love you, too.  I take back what I said. You're the best father a kid could ask for."