Dad left without asking me to reassure him that everything was forgiven.

At the door he turned back.

“I’m going to speak to your mother and Vanessa.

Not about making them apologize to you.

About what I’ve allowed.”

“That would be a start,” I said.

After he drove away, I stood alone in the workshop listening to the hum of the small heater.

I was relieved and unsettled.