Chapter 8 - BRIAN’S REASONBrian finally agreed to sit with me and Nina.
No Melissa.
No relatives.
He said:
“I was scared you’d see me differently.”
“For having a child?”
“For everything.”
He had been thirty-three when April became pregnant.
Separated from Melissa after a two-year relationship.
Drinking too much.
Career unstable.
He and April were casual.
Then he reconciled with Melissa.
April called.
Pregnant.
Brian insisted the child might not be his.
After birth, he delayed testing.
Then tested.
Positive.
He panicked.
Melissa did not know.
Elaine found out when April wrote us.
Brian feared losing both his mother’s respect and Melissa.
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
“To me.”
“Yes.”
“To Mom.”
His face collapsed.
“Yes.”
“For eleven years.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever intend to tell me?”
“I told myself I would.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Before or after I died?”
He flinched.
Good.
Then Brian said something I did not expect.
“I didn’t hide him because I didn’t care about him.”
“Then why did you barely see him?”
“Because every visit made the next lie harder.”
That was pathetic.
Also believable.
Avoidance can become architecture.
May you like
Each closed door requires another.
Eventually a person lives inside the structure and calls it necessity.
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