Now he was questioning whether his father believed him.
“I’m not withdrawing the complaint,” I told Derek. “The school needs to address what happened. And from now on, any discussion about Lucas and Tyler goes through the school. No more private arrangements behind our backs.”“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
I told him that any future conversation with Lucas would have to focus on listening, not defending his decisions.
Derek asked whether he could come home.
I wasn’t ready to answer.
Our marriage had problems that wouldn’t disappear because he apologized. He would need to take responsibility for his choices, and I would need time to decide what I wanted for our family.
I wasn’t going to make that decision for Lucas, but I wasn’t going to ask him to pretend everything was fine, either.
A Different Kind of Courage
On Monday, I contacted the school and arranged another meeting.
