Page 25 of A Very Grumpy Father's Day

“So you’ll be home by five thirty, right? Because I won’t.”

“Yep.”

“And Greta said the baby’s okay?”

“Yep.”

“Okay. Well…have a good lunch, I guess?”

“You too. See you tonight, Mrs. Cannavale.”

“See you tonight.”

We both hang up without sayingI love you, and it feels wrong.

Every kind of wrong.

The light turns red up ahead, so I open up the text app. Just as I do, there’s a text from Maddie telling me she loves me. I reply that I love her too. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell her every time I’ve texted her, ever since the first day she started working for me, whether I realized it or not.

One day I hope to feel as though I’ve finally showed her just how much.

Or maybe I don’t.

Maybe I hope I’ll always keep trying.