Episode 764: All You Had To Do Was Stay

"I’m sorry," Paul said." I know it isn’t right to just show up at your workplace, but I’m not going anywhere, not yet."

"This is so over the line. You know, we do have security here. I could call them right now." She placed a hand on the phone for emphasis.

"Don’t, okay? Don’t. Please. You wouldn’t talk to me. I needed to talk to you, I didn’t know any other way to get to you, so I came here, I told them my family might be interested in making a donation, which, who knows, maybe we will, so the school probably won’t be as keen on having security show me the door as you are."

"You lied and manipulated your way in here, seems pretty criminal to me."

"I lied and manipulated for a good cause. She’s getting older every day, Lucy, and we’re missing out on it. That has to bother you. I know it bothers me. I want to do something about it."

"You’ve waited too long to do something, Paul." Lucy threw up her hands. "Where was this loving, devoted dad who’d do anything for time with his kid back when I first told you she was on the way. You weren’t knocking down my door then, calling me forty times a day, doing anything it took to reach me and convince me you wanted to be a dad to her. You didn’t do any of this when it would have counted, when it would have made a difference. You were too busy running away. That left it on me. I had no family support. No job. I wasn’t finished college, and I had to make this life-altering decision on my own. I made the best decision I could for her. It’s done."

"It doesn’t have to be done," Paul argued in a calm voice, as if contesting the adoption was a totally doable and rational option. "That was the best decision at the time when you were alone in this, but you’re not alone anymore, Lucy. I’m ready now. I promise we can do this together, we can get our daughter back where she belongs. Help me do that. Help me make it right."

Episode 765: These Words