“There was some traffic. How are you doing, son?”
“Fine.”
“I got two frantic calls from your mother. First time she’s called me in over a decade.” He raises an eyebrow.
“What do you want?” He’s the one who wanted to meet. There’s no way he wanted to talk about my mother.
He leans forward on the table. “I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I didn’t. You were so torn up over Sydney, so much so that I didn’t know if you’d do something crazy enough like give up your one and only dream to chase after her. It was wrong, and I’m sorry. I would like for us to move past this. I would like to know my granddaughter.” He takes a deep breath. “And to apologize to Sydney for what I did.”
The waitress comes to take our drink orders. I use her stopping by as an excuse to take time to look over the menu and avoid talking to him, of course. Man, I wish I could talk to Sydney. She’d tell me to forgive him already, so we can work on getting back on track. Once we order, Dad wastes no time in getting the conversation going again.
“Well?”
“Her name is Savannah and her birthday is tomorrow. She’ll be three. Her party is Sunday. If you want to fly down for it and meet her, you can. I won’t keep her from you, but I’m not going to go out of my way to make sure she knows you. You’re going to have to do the work.”
“No problem.”
“And I don’t want nor do I need your opinions on my life or you’ll be in the same spot as Mom.”
Dad nods. “So, what is your life like now that Sydney and Savannah are in it?”
That begins our our long conversation as I fill him in on what he’s missed. All I keep thinking is it can’t be this easy, right? I’m wary to believe so. He seems interested and happy with how things are in my life, which is surprising to me. He didn’t like Sydney because I spent too much time with her, even with her in another state. What’s changed there? He tells me I have a beautiful daughter when I show him pictures of her on my phone. Mom is mentioned, but only briefly as he recounts their conversations.
“Are you flying down? I’ll just pick you up.”
“Yeah. What kinds of things does she like? I’d like to get her a present.”
Shit. I don’t have her a present yet. It’s official that I suck as a father. Ignoring that for the moment, I say, “She’ll play with nearly anything. We read to her before bed most nights, so she likes books. She loves to color, so anything related to that would be good.”
He nods. “Okay, thanks.”
“Well, I should get going. Let me know about your flight. Her party starts at three, so just be in by one-thirty at the latest.”
I reach for the bill, but Dad snatches it first. “I’ll get it. Go on. Good luck tonight.”
“Thanks.” As I head out of the building to walk to the hotel, since I chose a restaurant within walking distance, I call Sydney.
“How’d it go?” she answers.
“Fine. We’re good again, I guess. He’s flying down for her birthday party. That’s okay, right?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. My parents will be here. There’s no reason why your dad can’t come.”
“You have a point. So, guess what I realized?”
“What?” she asks.
“I’m a shitty dad. I still haven’t bought a present for her. What did you get her?”
“Nothing yet. I’m waiting for you to come home. Logan will watch her while we go shopping together.”
We’re cutting it close between me coming home, going to the airport to pick up my dad, and we have to go shopping while getting ready for a party, too? I like that she’s waiting for me, though. We’ve yet to shop together for Savannah. That will be nice.
“Is that okay, Ian? You’re not saying anything.”
“Yeah, babe. That’s perfect. Who all is coming again?”
“Well, there’s Mom, Chris, Dad, Logan, Carey, her new boyfriend, as well as Meredith, Lizzy, Noah, Marc, Sylvia, her twins, and Scott.” Wait. What? “Her birthday came up while Meredith and Lizzy were helping me, and they seemed like they wanted to come, so I invited them. Then, I figured I could ask Sylvia if she and the girls wanted to come. It kind of exploded.”