Between Two Fathers

He left without a goodbye.
calls. No birthdays. No explanations.
Years later... he came back.
But by then, everything had changed.

My mother had moved on.
There was someone else in the house-someone who stayed, someone who tried.
And me?

I didn't know who I was supposed to be anymore.
The daughter he abandoned...
or the girl learning to trust someone new.
Because the truth is

when a father leaves, he doesn't just disappear.
He leaves a space behind.
And sometimes... someone else tries to fill it.

didn't disappear.

He called sometimes.
Checked in. Asked how I was.
Just enough to remind me he was still there...

but never enough to actually feel like a father.
And while he stayed somewhere in between-
not gone, not present-

my mother moved on.
Now there's someone new in our lives.
Someone who shows up.
Someone who stays.

And I don't know what hurts more...
the father who was never really there,
or the fact that someone else is trying to be.