I tried to smile.
“Of course.”
He hugged me before leaving.
But the hug felt different.
Final.
Then he drove away.
Days passed.
Then weeks.
My calls went unanswered.
Texts remained unread.
Every morning I checked my phone.
Nothing.
Every night I sat alone wondering whether my greatest fear had finally come true.
Maybe the money had changed everything.
Maybe he had realized I wasn’t really his father.
Maybe I had lost him.
I didn’t tell anyone how much it hurt.
I just carried on.
Twenty-five days after he left, I was sitting in the living room when my phone rang.
It was my neighbor, Carol.
She sounded frantic.
“Get home. Right now.”
My heart immediately sank.
“What happened?”
“Just come. There’s someone sitting on your front steps.”
I rushed outside and drove home faster than I probably should have.
As I pulled into the driveway, I saw him.
Noah.
He was sitting on the porch steps with a suitcase beside him.
His head was lowered.
His hands were clasped tightly together.
For a moment I simply stared.
Twenty-five days of fear, anger, and heartbreak vanished all at once.
I jumped out of the car.
“Noah?”
He looked up.
His eyes were red.
“Dad.”
That one word almost broke me.
I hurried towards him.
“What happened? Are you okay?”
