Travis turned the rose slowly between his fingers.
“I promised myself I’d never make a child feel the way I felt that night.”
I looked at him.
“Then why did you say almost the same thing to Kaylee?”
His eyes filled.
“Because I’ve spent nine years afraid of overstepping.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Every time I wanted to call her my daughter, I wondered what would happen if Ryan came back. What if she resented me for taking his place? What if I claimed something she didn’t want to give me?”
He paused.
“When I said senior night was for real fathers, I wasn’t questioning Kaylee. I was questioning whether I counted.”
I reached across the table.
“Travis…”
He looked at me.
“Then I watched your seventy-nine-year-old father walk across that gym. He didn’t worry about whether he belonged. He just showed up because Kaylee asked.”
