Chapter 13 - Daniel’s Apology Still Had the Word “But” in It
His first letter began:
I am sorry for what happened, but I never intended—
I stopped reading.
Months later another arrived.
No but.
I pushed you.
Then:
I have spent most of my life believing that if I could solve every problem before anyone saw it, then I was protecting the people I loved.
I read farther.
He wrote about Margaret.
His father.
Being fourteen and hiding overdue bills because his mother was too ashamed to tell anyone she had gambled again.
Being twenty-three and paying her rent.
Being thirty-six and believing nobody outside the family had the right to judge how they survived.
Then he wrote:
None of that explains my hand on your shoulder.
May you like
That sentence mattered.
It did not restore anything.
