Sillow put his hand on Kyle’s forearm. “Listen, I know how much I messed up when you were little. I didn’t know either of my parents. I was lucky I had an aunt who gave a shit, but instead of correcting my parents’ mistakes, I just did the same old shit.”
“Sillow . . . Dad . . . whatever . . . I don’t care about that right now,” Kyle said. “Everyone’s still dead.”
“But, you tried! And, I tried,” Sillow said. “We even gave those kids a few extra minutes . . . And now, I’m trying now to make things right with you.”
Kyle put his head in his hands. It was too much for him right now. He’d prayed for years that his father would come back like this. Anytime there was an unexpected knock on the door growing up, he hoped. Every time he got an interesting looking piece of mail. Every single time the phone rang . . .
He looked up at Sillow and saw tears in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Kyle asked.
“Don’t you understand? I’ve been waiting to have this conversation with you for two years,” Sillow said. “Waiting to have any conversation with you.”
Kyle thought about how they’d each messed up. He got to go back in time to try to erase his one, huge mistake. Sillow didn’t have that option, so here he was. How could he blame his father for wanting a second chance too?
“We’re good,” Kyle said. “I told you we were square if you did what I asked.”
“But, it didn’t work,” Sillow said. “And, I don’t wanna be square with you. I wanna be your father. That’s why it kills me that I couldn’t get this done for you.”
“You showed up, dad,” Kyle said.
“Showed up?” Sillow asked. “That woman didn’t weigh a hundred pounds wet and I let her stop me.”
“You did all you could,” Kyle answered.
“Maybe there’s another way,” Sillow said. “A way we could get one more chance.”
“Myrna, the woman who sent me back, said this was it,” Kyle answered. “I’m lucky I got a second chance. Most people only get one.”
Sillow looked at Kyle and smiled. “People say a lot of things, son . . . Thing to remember is, they ain’t always true.”
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
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