You have until the end of the assembly. Funds will be transferred immediately afterward if you fulfill the agreement.”
“I don’t have time for this.”
“Claire… I was a kid,” he said weakly.
“So was I.”
I could see the war inside him. Pride versus fatherhood. Image versus reality.
Mark stared at the contract for a long time. Then he looked up.
“If I do this,” he said slowly, “we’re done?”
“Yes.”
Pride versus fatherhood. Image versus reality.
Mark picked up the pen. For a second, his hand hovered. Then he signed.
As he slid the contract back to me, his voice cracked. “I’ll be there.”
I nodded once, and then he left.
I sat there mulling the conversation over. For the first time since I was a teenager, I felt something close to fear. Not of him, but of what I was about to relive.
Either way, the following day would decide who we both became.
