I love you, Dad

Harold felt his heart ache as he listened to his daughter's broken sobs.

“Cass… hey… hey, sweetheart,” he said softly. “Don’t cry like that.”

But hearing his voice only made the tears worse.

“I don’t want to go!” she choked out. “I don’t want to leave you!”

Harold leaned back in his chair, closing his tired eyes.

The bar around him buzzed with low chatter and the clinking of glasses, but he barely heard any of it. All he could hear was his daughter crying on the other end of the line.

“I know,” he said quietly. “I know you don’t.”

Cass wiped her face with the sleeve of her hoodie, trying to calm down.

“They’re acting like you’re some kind of monster,” she said bitterly. “You’re not like that. You’re not.”

Harold’s hand tightened around the phone.

For a moment, he didn’t answer.

“Dad?” Cass whispered.

“I messed up, Cass,” he finally said.

His voice was calm, but heavy.

Cass shook her head even though he couldn’t see her.

“No,” she said quickly. “You didn’t. You’re just going through a hard time. That’s all.”

Harold gave a small, tired chuckle.

“You always did believe in me more than I deserved.”

Cass sniffed and sat cross-legged on her bed, still holding the guitar loosely in her lap.

“I mean it,” she said stubbornly. “You’ll get better. Everything will go back to normal.”

Harold wished he believed that.

But he didn’t.

“You should listen to your mom,” he said after a moment. “She’s doing what she thinks is best for you.”

Cass frowned.

“So you’re just okay with us leaving?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Then why aren’t you stopping it?”

Harold didn’t answer immediately.

Cass could hear him exhale slowly.

“Because maybe… this is the only way you kids get some peace for a while.”

Her chest tightened at his words.

“Dad…”

“I don’t want you growing up around my mistakes,” he said quietly.

Cass gripped the edge of her guitar.

“You’re not a mistake.”

Silence stretched between them again.

To break it, Cass lightly brushed her fingers across the strings of the guitar.

A soft melody drifted through the phone.

Harold’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

“You’re playing again?”

“Yeah.”

“You used to play that one when you were little,” he said, his voice softening. “Back when you could barely reach the strings.”

Cass gave a small laugh through her tears.

“I remember. You said I sounded like a dying cat.”

Harold chuckled.

“Well… you did.”

She played the melody a little longer.

The notes floated gently around the room.

“Sounds better now,” Harold admitted.

Cass looked around her bedroom as she played.

The posters on the wall.

Her old bookshelf.

The tiny scratches on her desk.

Every memory felt like it was staring back at her.

“We’re leaving tomorrow morning,” she said quietly.

“I heard.”

“I hate it.”

“I know.”

Her fingers slowed on the guitar strings.

“Will you… come visit?”

Harold hesitated.

“Maybe,” he said eventually.

Cass frowned slightly at his uncertain answer but didn’t push.

Instead, she asked softly,

“Are you drunk right now?”

Harold gave a low sigh.

“…Maybe a little.”

“Dad.”

“Don’t start sounding like your brother,” he muttered.

“I’m serious.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Cass wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t argue.

Not tonight.

She didn’t want their last conversation before the move to turn into another fight.

“Take care of Mom and Raymond for me,” Harold said after a moment.

Cass blinked.

“You should be the one saying that to them.”

“Maybe,” he replied quietly.

The melody faded as Cass stopped playing.

Her fingers rested gently on the guitar strings.

“Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“…I’m still on your side.”

Harold closed his eyes.

That sentence hit harder than anything else she had said.

“You shouldn’t have to pick sides, Cass.”

“But I did.”

There was a long pause.

Finally, Harold spoke again, his voice softer than before.

“I love you, Cass"

Cass felt her throat tighten again.

“I love you too, Dad.”

The call ended a few moments later.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***