“What’s wrong?”, I finally said.

“When are we going to buy the food for Carmen’s surprise? And you promised me that we would go to WAX later.”, he said.

“Yeah, I didn’t forget it. Don’t worry. Come on get dressed and I’m going to call a cab.”, I told him.

We both got dressed and the cab arrived. First we went to a grocery store where I bought the ingredients I needed to prepare the dinner for Carmen. Then I bought Shay’s present. As promised we went to WAX where I talked with Chase. It made me realize how much I missed this place and how much I missed my work.

Around 5 P.M we left so that I had enough time to prepare the dinner. Shay helped me by washing and cutting the salad. It was such a simple thing to do but doing it with him makes it very special and I enjoyed every minute.

Dad arrived earlier than expected but Shay was happy to see him. Once again it made me realize that I’m doing the right thing by letting him live with dad.

“Hey…come here Shay. I have a little present for you.”, I said smiling at him.

“Wow. A cell phone! Look what Shane gave me, dad.”, he said excitedly.

“That’s the so called emergency cell phone, alright. Whenever you want to talk to me you dial this number, okay? I want you to know that I’m always available for you.”, I told him.

“Thanks, Shane.”, Shay said happily.

I hugged him tightly.

“Shane, Carla is going to be out of the hospital soon. She wants you to know that she’s sorry for what she did to you and we’d like you to come around some day.”, dad said.

“Tell her that she did a favor to me. Shay is the one she should apologize to.”, I said.

“Okay…Listen I know it doesn’t mean a lot to you but I wanted to thank you again…And I want you to know that I really do love you, although I didn’t show it in the past. I’m proud of you, Shane.”, he said.

I just nodded. What did he expect from me? Did he think that I would give him a hug and tell him that I love him, too? No…This is not going to happen soon. He’s a good father to Shay, but that doesn’t change the fact that he wasn’t there for me when I needed him. Maybe I will forgive him one day, but I will never forget.
When they left the house felt empty. Max was on a business trip and Jenny was surely at the Planet. I felt lonely but thank god I invited Carmen.