Liam read the letter, folded it, and put it in his desk drawer.

“I’m not ready to see him,” he said.

“That’s okay,” I answered.

He went back to the cardboard airplane he was repairing.

I realized I didn’t need an immediate happy ending between father and son to know we were moving carefully in the right direction.

Liam had been given something he deserved: the chance to decide how he felt, without someone else rushing him.