Secrets

“Don’t worry, I know them all.” He sounded so casual.

“Oh, you had time to talk to them when you came?”

“No, not really.” There was a shadow across his face, his eyes shifted and looked behind her. She turn around, he was staring at Ash.

“Dad, what’s going on?” She could see the silent conversation they were having, the trepidation in their faces was so evident it couldn’t have been clearer if the word were stamped on their foreheads.

Ash stood up and moved toward them slowly, dragging out the seconds he had left to reach her. He sat on the table facing her. He took her hands in his and buried his face in them, her palms felt wet, was he crying? She’d seen him sad, angry and in agony, but this was very new to her. He kissed the inside of her palms and whispered in them. The words sounded like ‘forgive me’, but she couldn’t be sure. He was scaring her.

She plac