The Good Father

“I want, first of all, to thank you,” she said. “For listening the other day.”

“You’re welcome, my dear,” Lila said. “You do understand that it is not my job, nor my training, to give advice...”

“You listened. I think that’s what I needed most.”

“I think so, too.”

She’d spent the last couple nights home alone. Cleaning. Listening to music. Talking to her unborn child. Trying to quiet her mind so she could hear her heart. Brett had been back in town Monday night, and would be again that afternoon. Ever since she’d told him she was pregnant, he’d been keeping her up-to-date on his schedule. He would be calling at some point. Wanting to switch homes with her. She had to know what to tell him.

“Do you think, maybe, we could get dinner or something sometime?”

“I don’t go out much,” Lila said. “But let’s not rule it out.”

Ella took a breath. Wiped her sweaty hand on her scrubs.

“I have one more favor to ask,” she said, resting her hand on the baby mound beneath her shirt.

“So ask.”

“I need to know how I’d go about scheduling a visit for someone at the Stand. Not a woman. Or a child.”

“You want to bring a man here?”

“Yes. My husband. Ex-husband. My baby’s father...” She was blabbering. Talking too fast. Brett was probably never going to agree to the visit.

“I’d like him to meet you and Sara...”

“I’m happy to arrange a visit,” Lila said. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be available, but certainly one of the counselors can be. We don’t often deal with adult male victims since we aren’t equipped to house them here, but we’ve counseled a few.”

“I’m not even sure he’ll agree to come with me.”

“Don’t be disappointed if he doesn’t. From what you tell me, it could be a harder sell than he’s able to take on.”

“Believe me, I know.”

“But if you can get him to agree, you call me. I’ll arrange something.”

“Tonight?”

Lila’s pause prompted her to say, “If I can get him to agree, I want to get him to go before he has a chance to change his mind. I need to try this, before I can move into his home.”

She was listening to her heart.

Brett wouldn’t be allowed down in the bungalows. But that wasn’t what she needed him to see.

“Oh. Okay, fine. Yes, if he agrees, you call, and I’ll get him in.”

“Could you see if Lynn and Sara have plans for tonight? And Maddie? And Darin and Grant? Since they’re the only two men living in the complex? I know they aren’t victims, but... And some of the residents, too? If not, that’s fine, but I thought...I might only get this one shot at this, and I want him to meet some of the others who know and understand and are like...”

Him, she’d been about to say. And stopped herself.

She wanted him to meet the people whose names he’d recognize. People she believed he’d grown to care about—even without having met them.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Lila told her.

And Ella crossed the easiest part of the plan off her mental checklist.

* * *